Flare Gas Recovery from an Existing Oil Plant using Gas Compressors

Global warming is nowadays one of the main and important issues. As the increase in the concentration of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere as a result of the combustion of these gases causes such phenomena. Therefore, oil and gas plants need to be constantly reviewed over time to maintain high performance and operability, especially while changing feed composition and rate to meet standard product specifications. The aim of this study is to study the effect of flare gases recovery using gas compressors on the economic and environmental performance of an existing oilfield plant. A commercial simulation program aspen HYSYS Version 11 was used. The Kalabsha Central Processing Facility (KCPF) in the Western Desert of Egypt is the studied plant. This plant handles 30 million standard cubic feet per day (MMSCFD) from free water knock out drum and 1.6 MMSCFD of gases from heaters. 20 MMSCFD from gas is charged to the gas pipeline and 10 MMSCFD is sent to the flare with the 1.6 MMSCFD. It is proposed to install gas compressors to capture the gases from the free water knock out drum and heaters before sending them to the flare. Such technology can be used as a guide in upgrading existing and new oil and gas plants to reduce gas flaring. In addition, environmental protection also adds more economic profits from burning the recovered gas besides increasing the life of the flare equipment.

Policy Implications of the Clean Heating Transition: A Case Study of Shanxi

This study provides empirical evidence of the impact of recentralized governance on environmental performance by examining the implementation of a clean heating transition. It investigated the impact of a centralized clean heating transition on sulfur dioxide (SO2) levels in Shanxi province from January 2015 to March 2021. Using a difference-in-differences approach, this study found that the centralized clean heating transition led to a significant improvement in air quality; however, the excessive response of Shanxi province prevented adequate heating supply for residents. As a result, the Chinese government had to reverse its initial plans for a coal ban and the promotion of gas plants. This outcome implies that recentralization cannot control the autonomy of local governments in responding to and achieving the central targets, even though it may provide incentives to prioritize environmental issues. The recentralization proved to be ineffective, in contrast to what was theoretically anticipated, and even undermined the energy transition efforts.

Estimation of Shutdown Schedule to Remove Fouling Layers of Heat Exchangers Using Risk-Based Inspection (RBI)

Oil and Gas plants consist of a set of heat exchangers, which are used in recovering the waste heat from product streams to preheat the oil. The heat transfer coefficient of exchangers declines considerably during the operation period due to fouling. Fouling in heat exchangers is a complex phenomenon due to the acceleration of many layers of chemical substances across tubes of heat exchangers resulting from chemical reactions and surface roughness. In this paper, the fouling process was determined as a critical failure in the heat exchanger. Failure is an accelerated fouling layer across the heat exchanger tubes, which can be the reason for the clogging of tubes. Hence, a risk assessment was conducted using the Risk-Based Inspection (RBI) approach to estimate the probability of fouling in heat exchangers. The results showed that the RBI approach can be used successfully to predict the suitable time to shut down the plant and conduct the fouling cleaning process.

The Research of Blast Resistant of Reinforcement Concrete Beams in Concrete Structures at Off-site Oil and Gas Plant

In the recent decades, blasts and gas explosions at the off-site of oil and gas plants have increased leading to destruction of important concrete structures, essential equipment and loss of human life. In response, structural engineers have come up with different ways of reinforcing beams of concrete structures using fiber reinforced polymers composite materials to produce blast resistant structures to minimize the impact of the blast loads, due to their unique and individual characteristics like high flexural and shear strength. This paper seeks to research the dynamic behavior, response and performance of reinforce concrete beams strengthened with Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer composites when subjected to blast loading. The study aims at proposing a design model of strengthening reinforce concrete beams with Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer in supporting concrete structures at off-site oil and gas plants against hydrocarbon explosions. Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer composites exhibit higher modulus of elasticity, higher energy absorption capacity, resistant to all forms of alkali and higher tensile strength compared to all other fiber reinforced polymers reinforcements and therefore the need to assess its capacity in protecting concrete structures at oil and gas plants against dynamic loads. The research will be carried out through numerical analysis using the finite element analysis computer program, ANSYS.

Catalysts and Processes for H2S Conversion to Sulfur

The hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is one of the main byproducts in natural gas plants, refineries, heavy oil upgraders, and metallurgical processes [...]

Seasonal Challenges for a Zero-Carbon Grid in California

<div><div><div><p>Today resource adequacy is most often maintained by installing natural gas plants to meet the peak load. In California, the current risk of inadequate electricity supply is highest around sunset in late summer. In a zero-carbon grid, resource adequacy will increasingly require adequate stored energy throughout the entire year. Here we seek to develop an intuition about the times of the year when resource adequacy may be most challenged for a solar-dominant system. We use a simplified approach and show that the month of the biggest challenge occurs in winter and can shift by more than two months depending on the amount of solar and storage that are built.</p></div></div></div>

Seasonal Challenges for a Zero-Carbon Grid in California

<div><div><div><p>Today resource adequacy is most often maintained by installing natural gas plants to meet the peak load. In California, the current risk of inadequate electricity supply is highest around sunset in late summer. In a zero-carbon grid, resource adequacy will increasingly require adequate stored energy throughout the entire year. Here we seek to develop an intuition about the times of the year when resource adequacy may be most challenged for a solar-dominant system. We use a simplified approach and show that the month of the biggest challenge occurs in winter and can shift by more than two months depending on the amount of solar and storage that are built.</p></div></div></div>