Process systems engineering for transforming industrial flares into a source of energy by managing uncertain abnormal situations

Abstract

Advancement in technology always influences the world energy market by making excess to the valuable untapped resources. Profound research on potential unexploited/waste energy can lead the world to a new direction of energy sources; shale gas production is a very recent example of modern technological advancement and cutting-edge research efforts. Flaring is a very wasteful practice and a significant source of GHG emissions from oil, gas and petrochemical plants. The World Bank recently has identified flare gas as a key untapped resource to meet the worlds increasing demand of fossil fuel energy while reducing harmful emissions and has announced an ambitious goal of Zero routine gas flaring by 2030. Therefore, further investigation on flare recovery and mitigation techniques/tools has become eminent and can open the doors of huge opportunity to turn the unproductive non-renewable flare streams into valuable commodity. This recovered flare gas can be an excellent source of heat or power generation using energy alternative tools. This approaches will be viable economically if an eco-industrial park is developed to exchange by-products and wastes. The resources and wastes of multiple plants may be integrated in different ways. It is also possible to use common utility and treatment systems. This park can provide clear economic and other advantages over the current stand-alone processing model. However, the application of industrial ecology at factory level is absent from the literature.