1
|
Omobolanle OC, Ikiensikimama SS. Gas flaring: technicalities, challenges, and the economic potentials. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND POLLUTION RESEARCH INTERNATIONAL 2024; 31:40838-40850. [PMID: 38834926 DOI: 10.1007/s11356-024-33784-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/28/2023] [Accepted: 05/20/2024] [Indexed: 06/06/2024]
Abstract
Gas flaring has been identified as a major contributor to global warming and climate change. It is used either as a safety measure or as a means of disposal for technical or economic reasons. Over 250 toxins have been directly/indirectly associated with gas flaring and its associated emissions. Most of these toxins have been known to have significant inimical impacts on humans' health, plant biodiversity, and the environment. With the recent rise in global energy insecurity, several EU countries have either returned to coal power generation or extended the lifetime of their coal-fired plants thereby increasing anthropogenic carbon emissions. This increase in carbon emission has necessitated the re-evaluate of gas flare practices vis-à-vis the environmental challenges and the financial potentials. This paper presents a holistic review of gas flaring, its types, composition, systems design, estimation methods, social and environmental challenges, the abatement measures, and the re-utilization strategies. It identified the potential to save a minimum of US$10.4 billion globally if more stringent gas flare abatement measures were pursued. Furthermore, the paper highlights the recent trends in flare gas re-utilization technologies such as the production of bioproducts which has been reported to hold a potential for an annual production of about 148 million bbl of biocrude and 67 million metrics of algae protein from 140 bcm of globally flared gas. Finally, it explored the possible way forward and stringent measures that can be pursued to disincentivize gas flare and also increase investments in gas processing technologies.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Oluwasegun Cornelious Omobolanle
- World Bank Africa Centre of Excellence, Centre for Excellence in Oilfield Chemicals Research, University of Port Harcourt, Choba, Rivers State, Nigeria.
| | - Sunday Sunday Ikiensikimama
- World Bank Africa Centre of Excellence, Centre for Excellence in Oilfield Chemicals Research, University of Port Harcourt, Choba, Rivers State, Nigeria
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Aktar KF, Basak R, Ara S, Mahmud A. Impacts of gas flaring on soil physicochemical and microbial properties: A case study on kailashtila gas field. Heliyon 2024; 10:e28032. [PMID: 38524604 PMCID: PMC10957438 DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e28032] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/20/2023] [Revised: 02/17/2024] [Accepted: 03/11/2024] [Indexed: 03/26/2024] Open
Abstract
Gas flaring, a common practice in many countries, has been associated with environmental and health concerns. A recent study in Bangladesh's largest gas field, Kailashtilla, assessed the influence of gas flaring on soil quality in the surrounding areas. Physical, chemical, and microbiological characteristics were assessed on soil samples collected from three union zones. Considerable influences have been found on soil quality, with several physical and chemical characteristics failing to meet the standards for healthy plant growth. Heavy metal contamination in the earth's soil was identified, specifically cadmium and lead, having a risk index indicating a moderate risk to the ecosystem in the future. Gas flaring also impacted the amount of bacteria in the soil, with the highest number being found farthest from the flaring zone. The soil was only marginally contaminated and potential health risks found. AAS and digestion methods were used to estimate the content of heavy metal contamination in the soil. To depict the geographically distributed abundance of heavy metals in the study area, the Kriging spatial interpolation procedure was utilized, and PCA and CA were used to assess the condition of soil. Findings indicate that particular gas flaring may have a deleterious influence on soil bacteria, which could have further consequences for the ecosystem. The study is likely to contribute to our understanding of the current state of soil's surrounding gas fields and serve as a platform for future research in this area emphasizing the necessity for sustainable energy methods and the importance of limiting environmental repercussions.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Kanij Fatema Aktar
- Department of Geography and Environment, Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, Sylhet, Bangladesh
| | - Rony Basak
- Department of Geography and Environment, Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, Sylhet, Bangladesh
| | - Sabrin Ara
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, Sylhet, Bangladesh
| | - Asif Mahmud
- Department of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, Sylhet, Bangladesh
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Tran H, Polka E, Buonocore JJ, Roy A, Trask B, Hull H, Arunachalam S. Air Quality and Health Impacts of Onshore Oil and Gas Flaring and Venting Activities Estimated Using Refined Satellite-Based Emissions. GEOHEALTH 2024; 8:e2023GH000938. [PMID: 38449816 PMCID: PMC10916426 DOI: 10.1029/2023gh000938] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/05/2023] [Revised: 01/28/2024] [Accepted: 01/31/2024] [Indexed: 03/08/2024]
Abstract
Emissions from flaring and venting (FV) in oil and gas (O&G) production are difficult to quantify due to their intermittent activities and lack of adequate monitoring and reporting. Given their potentially significant contribution to total emissions from the O&G sector in the United States, we estimate emissions from FV using Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite satellite observations and state/local reported data on flared gas volume. These refined estimates are higher than those reported in the National Emission Inventory: by up to 15 times for fine particulate matter (PM2.5), two times for sulfur dioxides, and 22% higher for nitrogen oxides (NOx). Annual average contributions of FV to ozone (O3), NO2, and PM2.5 in the conterminous U.S. (CONUS) are less than 0.15%, but significant contributions of up to 60% are found in O&G fields with FV. FV contributions are higher in winter than in summer months for O3 and PM2.5; an inverse behavior is found for NO2. Nitrate aerosol contributions to PM2.5 are highest in the Denver basin whereas in the Permian and Bakken basins, sulfate and elemental carbon aerosols are the major contributors. Over four simulated months in 2016 for the entire CONUS, FV contributes 210 additional instances of exceedances to the daily maximum 8-hr average O3 and has negligible contributions to exceedance of NO2 and PM2.5, given the current form of the national ambient air quality standards. FV emissions are found to cause over $7.4 billion in health damages, 710 premature deaths, and 73,000 asthma exacerbations among children annually.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Huy Tran
- Institute for the EnvironmentThe University of North Carolina at Chapel HillChapel HillNCUSA
| | - Erin Polka
- Department of Environmental HealthBoston University School of Public HealthBostonMAUSA
| | - Jonathan J. Buonocore
- Department of Environmental HealthBoston University School of Public HealthBostonMAUSA
| | - Ananya Roy
- Environmental Defense FundWashingtonDCUSA
| | - Beth Trask
- Environmental Defense FundWashingtonDCUSA
| | | | - Saravanan Arunachalam
- Institute for the EnvironmentThe University of North Carolina at Chapel HillChapel HillNCUSA
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Milani Z, Conrad BM, Roth CS, Johnson MR. Fence-Line Spectroscopic Measurements Suggest Carry-Over of Salt-Laden Aerosols into Flare Systems Is Common. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY LETTERS 2023; 10:1068-1074. [PMID: 38025957 PMCID: PMC10653271 DOI: 10.1021/acs.estlett.3c00613] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/26/2023] [Revised: 09/28/2023] [Accepted: 09/29/2023] [Indexed: 12/01/2023]
Abstract
Pollutant emissions from gas flares in the upstream oil and gas (UOG) industry can be exacerbated by aerosols of coproduced liquid hydrocarbons and formation water that survive separation and enter the flare. Of noteworthy concern is the potential impact of salt-laden aerosols, since the associated chlorine may adversely affect combustion and emissions. Here, we use a novel approach to remotely detect carry-over of salt-laden aerosols into field-operational flares via flame emission spectroscopy targeting two of the most abundant species in produced water samples, sodium and potassium. Ninety-five UOG flares were examined during field campaigns in the Bakken (U.S.A. and Canada) and Amazon (Ecuador) basins. For the first time, carry-over of salt species into flares is definitively detected and further found to be concerningly common, with 74% of studied flares having detectable sodium and/or potassium signatures. Additional analysis reveals that carry-over strongly correlates with reported flared gas volume (positive) and well age (negative), but carry-over was also observed in flares linked to older wells and those flaring relatively little gas. Given the scale of global UOG flaring and the risk of salt-laden aerosols affecting emissions, these findings emphasize the need to review separation standards and re-evaluate pollutant emissions from flares experiencing carry-over.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Zachary
R. Milani
- Energy and Emissions Research Laboratory,
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON, Canada K1S 5B6
| | - Bradley M. Conrad
- Energy and Emissions Research Laboratory,
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON, Canada K1S 5B6
| | - Cameron S. Roth
- Energy and Emissions Research Laboratory,
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON, Canada K1S 5B6
| | - Matthew R. Johnson
- Energy and Emissions Research Laboratory,
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON, Canada K1S 5B6
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Alola AA, Onifade ST, Magazzino C, Obekpa HO. The effects of gas flaring as moderated by government quality in leading natural gas flaring economies. Sci Rep 2023; 13:14394. [PMID: 37658056 PMCID: PMC10474027 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-38032-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/27/2023] [Accepted: 07/01/2023] [Indexed: 09/03/2023] Open
Abstract
This study seeks to address pertinent economic and environmental issues associated with natural gas flaring, especially for the world's leading natural gas flaring economies (i.e. Russia, Iraq, Iran, the United States, Algeria, Venezuela, and Nigeria). By applying relevant empirical panel and country-specific approaches, the study found that fuel energy export positively impacts economic growth with elasticity of ~ 0.22 to ~ 0.24 for the panel examination. It is further revealed that environmental quality in the panel is hampered by increase in economic growth, gas flaring, fuel energy export, and urbanization. Moreover, for the country-wise inference, government quality desirably moderates economic and environmental aspects of gas flaring in Venezuela and Nigeria, and in Russia and Iran respectively. However, government quality moderates gas flaring to cause economic downturn in the USA. Additionally, economic growth increased with increase in urbanisation (in Iraq and the USA), gas flaring (in Iran and the USA), government quality (only in the USA), and fuel energy export (only in Algeria) while economic growth downturn is due to increase urbanisation in Russia and the USA, increase in fuel energy export in the USA, and increase in government quality in Russia. Meanwhile, environmental quality is worsened through intense carbon dioxide emission from increased urbanisation activity (in Iraq, Iran, Algeria, and Nigeria), increased fuel energy export (in Nigeria), increased natural gas flaring (in Algeria and Nigeria), increased GDP (in Russia, Iran, USA, Algeria, and Venezuela), and high government quality (in Iran). Interestingly, the result revealed that increase in GDP (in Nigeria), increase in urbanisation (in the USA), and increase in gas flaring (in Algeria and Nigeria) dampens environmental quality. Importantly, this study offers policy insight into sustainable approaches in natural gas production, government effectiveness, and regulatory quality.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Andrew Adewale Alola
- CREDS-Centre for Research on Digitalization and Sustainability, Inland Norway University of Applied Science, Elverum, Norway.
- Faculty of Economics, Administrative, and Social Sciences, Nisantasi University, Istanbul, Turkey.
- Adnan Kassar School of Business, Lebanese American University, Beirut, Lebanon.
| | - Stephen Taiwo Onifade
- Department of International Trade and Logistics, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, KTO Karatay University, Konya, Turkey
- School of Finance and Accounting, University of Vaasa, 65200 Vaasa, Finland
| | - Cosimo Magazzino
- Department of Political Science, Roma Tre University, Rome, Italy
| | - Hephzibah Onyeje Obekpa
- Department of Agricultural Economics, Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi, Nigeria
- CIPESS-Center for Innovation in Procurement, Environmental and Social Standards, Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi, Nigeria
| |
Collapse
|
6
|
Faruolo M, Genzano N, Marchese F, Pergola N. Multi-Temporal Satellite Investigation of gas Flaring in Iraq and Iran: The DAFI Porting on Collection 2 Landsat 8/9 and Sentinel 2A/B. SENSORS (BASEL, SWITZERLAND) 2023; 23:5734. [PMID: 37420907 DOI: 10.3390/s23125734] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/05/2023] [Revised: 06/12/2023] [Accepted: 06/16/2023] [Indexed: 07/09/2023]
Abstract
The synergic use of satellite data at moderate spatial resolution (i.e., 20-30 m) from the new Collection 2 (C2) Landsat-8/9 (L8/9) Operational Land Imager (OLI) and Sentinel-2 (S2) Multispectral Instrument (MSI) provides a new perspective in the remote sensing applications for gas flaring (GF) identification and monitoring, thanks to a significant improvement in the revisiting time (up to ~3 days). In this study, the daytime approach for gas flaring investigation (DAFI), recently developed for identifying, mapping and monitoring GF sites on a global scale using the L8 infrared radiances, has been ported on a virtual constellation (VC) (formed by C2 L8/9 + S2) to assess its capability in understanding the GF characteristics in the space-time domain. The findings achieved for the regions of Iraq and Iran, ranked at the second and third level among the top 10 gas flaring countries in 2022, demonstrate the reliability of the developed system, with improved levels of accuracy and sensitivity (+52%). As an outcome of this study, a more realistic picture of GF sites and their behavior is achieved. A new step aimed at quantifying the GFs radiative power (RP) has been added in the original DAFI configuration. The preliminary analysis of the daily OLI- and MSI-based RP, provided for all the sites by means of a modified RP formulation, revealed their good matching. An agreement of 90% and 70% between the annual RPs computed in Iraq and Iran and both their gas-flared volumes and carbon dioxide emissions were also recorded. Being that gas flaring is one of the main sources of greenhouse gases (GHG) worldwide, the RP products may concur to infer globally the GHGs GF emissions at finer spatial scales. For the presented achievements, DAFI can be seen as a powerful satellite tool able to automatically assess the gas flaring dimension on a global scale.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Mariapia Faruolo
- Institute of Methodologies for Environmental Analysis, National Research Council, 85050 Tito Scalo, Italy
- Satellite Application Centre (SAC), Space Technologies and Applications Centre (STAC), 85100 Potenza, Italy
| | - Nicola Genzano
- Satellite Application Centre (SAC), Space Technologies and Applications Centre (STAC), 85100 Potenza, Italy
- School of Engineering, University of Basilicata, 85100 Potenza, Italy
| | - Francesco Marchese
- Institute of Methodologies for Environmental Analysis, National Research Council, 85050 Tito Scalo, Italy
- Satellite Application Centre (SAC), Space Technologies and Applications Centre (STAC), 85100 Potenza, Italy
| | - Nicola Pergola
- Institute of Methodologies for Environmental Analysis, National Research Council, 85050 Tito Scalo, Italy
- Satellite Application Centre (SAC), Space Technologies and Applications Centre (STAC), 85100 Potenza, Italy
| |
Collapse
|
7
|
Black Carbon Emissions and Associated Health Impacts of Gas Flaring in the United States. ATMOSPHERE 2022. [DOI: 10.3390/atmos13030385] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/23/2023]
Abstract
Gas flaring from oil and gas fields is a significant source of black carbon (BC) emissions, a component of particulate matter that damages health and warms the climate. Observations from the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) satellite instrument indicate that approximately 17.2 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas was flared from upstream oil and gas operations in the United States in 2019. Based on an emissions factor equation that accounts for the higher heating value of the gas, that corresponded to nearly 16,000 tons of BC emitted, though estimates vary widely across published emissions factors. In this study, we used three reduced-form air quality and health effect models to estimate the health impacts from the flaring-emitted BC particulate matter in the United States. The three models—EASIUR, AP3, and InMAP—predict 26, 48, and 53 premature deaths, respectively, in 2019. The mortality range expands from 5 to 360 deaths annually if alternative emission factors are used. This study shows that reduced-form models can be useful to estimate the impacts of numerous dispersed emissions sources such as flares, and that further research is needed to better quantify BC emissions factors from flares.
Collapse
|