Flare-to-hydrogen in oil and gas industries: Techno-economic feasibility of a net-negative alternative

Abstract

Gas flaring causes economic losses and energy wastage and is responsible for 1.5 % of the total industrial greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. However, the increasing role of low-carbon hydrogen in the energy sector has led to innovative approaches for utilizing flare gas (FG). This study proposed a net-negative and self-sufficient multigeneration system for converting FG into hydrogen and deploying captured CO2 for enhanced oil recovery (EOR). In addition, a comprehensive global comparative analysis for the three FG-to-hydrogen production scenarios was performed to address the impact of CO2 emission policies: autothermal reforming with CO2 capture (AACP), autothermal reforming with CO2 capture and EOR utilization (AACPE), and autothermal reforming. The results showed that the AACPE scenario is a promising carbon-reduction alternative, producing 1.31 $/kg and 3.09 kgCO2/kg H2 GHG emission. The deployment of this system results in a 72 % CO2 capture rate. The sensitivity analysis showed that carbon tax policies exceeding 86.2 $/ton CO2 encourage the adoption of carbon-capturing (CC) modules for hydrogen production. Furthermore, because of the flare availability and low energy prices, countries with abundant fossil fuel reserves are particularly well-suited for AACPE implementation. Deploying AACPE in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries-plus regions could significantly reduce carbon emissions by up to 138.72 Mton/year while generating 12.62 Mton/year of hydrogen at an average cost of 0.94 $/kg H2. The widespread use of flare-to-hydrogen systems is expected to help mitigate anthropogenic climate change. However, further studies are essential to explore the industrial feasibility of the plan.