FLARING

What is Flaring????
Flaring is used to consume waste gases in a safe and reliable manner through combustion in an open flame. In the petroleum industry, flaring occurs during well testing and production operations. It is routinely used to dispose of flammable gases that are either unusable or uneconomical to recover. Flaring can also be used to depressurize gas processing equipment during routine maintenance and emergencies.

 Flaring is the controlled burning of natural gas in the course of routine oil and gas production operations. This burning occurs at the end of a flare stack or boom. A complete flare system consists of the flare stack or boom and pipes which collect the gases to be flared.

 The flare tip at the end of the stack or boom is designed to assist entrainment of air into the flare to improve burn efficiency. Depending on the design, one or more flares may be required at a production location. A flare is normally visible and generates both noise and heat. During flaring, the burned gas generates mainly water vapor and carbon dioxide.

Sources of Flaring
excess to that which can be supplied commercially to customers. unburned process gas from the processing facilities. vapors collected from the tops of tanks as they are being filled. process upsets, equipment changeover or maintenance. Occasionally, a production shutdown may require the temporary flaring of all the gas stored on or arriving at a facility, to release high pressure and avoid a catastrophic situation occurring.

Flaring Efficiency
The efficiency of a flare is a measure of how effective that flare is in converting all of the carbon in the fuel to C02. Previous studies have indicated that flares have highly variable efficiencies, on the order of 62-99%.

Factors Affecting Flaring Efficiency

The tips of the flare can be exposed to wind, humidity, and temperature variations that reduce efficiency and increase variability. The composition of the waste gas stream entering the flare, which varies from site to site. Improper flaring practices that cause unsteady combustion conditions.

Bi-products of Flaring
particulate matter volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such as benzene, toluene and xylene polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) small quantities of sulphur compounds such as carbon disulphide (CS2) and carbonyl sulphide (COS)

Concerns with Gas Flaring

Flaring Practices in Petroleum Industries

The option to release gas to the atmosphere by flaring is a necessary practice in the production of oil and gas. Most developing countries that produce oil also flare and vent large volumes of associated gas, a blend of hydrocarbons released when crude oil is brought to the surface. This practice of burning gas or releasing it into the atmosphere not only harms the environment, including by adding significantly to greenhouse gas emissions. The World Bank estimates the annual volume of natural gas being flared worldwide at about 110 billion cubic meters (bcm), enough to provide for the annual gas consumption of Central and South America or that of Germany and Italy