SPECIAL FOCUS: GREEN TECHNOLOGIES
Reduce emissions and save energy with an
unconventional flare gas recovery system
A. H. AL-TIJANI, Saudi Aramco, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia; and
I. ASHIQ, Yanbu NGL Fractionation Plant, Saudi Aramco, Yanbu, Saudi Arabia
An unconventional flare gas recovery
system (FGRS) can be designed without
a gas compressor to collect the boiloff
gas from the ethane tank to the boilers at
the utility area. This innovative recovery
system will provide significant capital
and operating cost savings by eliminat-
ing the installation and operation of a gas
compressor as part of the conventional
FGRS. The FGRS scheme includes the
use of a gas ejector with high-pressure
motive gas to boost low-pressure ethane
flare gas to the intermediate pressure,
which is required to return the gas to the
boilers at the utility area.
The case study included here ex-
plains how the unconventional FGRS
was applied at Saudi Aramco’s Yanbu
NGL fractionation plant to continuous-
ly recover approximately 1.1 MMsft3d
of valuable C2+, which is equivalent to
1,961 MMBtu/d in fuel energy savings.
The proposed FGRS scheme will also
minimize greenhouse gas emissions and
provide positive environmental benefits.
Project introduction. Flare systems are
essential parts of any oil and gas process-
ing plant. These systems, which essen-
tially consist of flare headers and laterals,
liquid knockout drums and flare stacks,
serve as one of the last layers of protec-
tion for the plant to safely relieve pres-
sure from plant equipment during an
overpressure condition. As part of safety
requirements, flare headers are normally
provided with continuous purging to
prevent vacuums within the system, keep
air out of the system and prevent possi-
ble explosions.
The major component of any conven-
tional FGRS is the gas compressor. It is
required to compress the low-pressure
flare boiloff gas to a pressure that can re-
turn the gas to the process. The recovery
gas compressors have recurring main-
tenance, operating spare and reliabil-
ity issues, similar to any other rotating
equipment in a process plant. It would,
therefore, be an attractive and economic
venture if the use of a gas compressor can
be eliminated from the FGRS without
jeopardizing the performance and safety
of the system. To this end, a scheme was
evaluated using a gas ejector that can
provide additional operating flexibility
and reliability to the system.
At the Yanbu NGL fractionation
plant, the purge gas used is ethane.
To ensure no air ingress into the flare
headers, a minimum flowrate of purge
gas must be continuously maintained
for each flare system at the plant. One
100% ethane tank flare system is in use.
The system has a flare header of 12 in.–
16-in. diameter; therefore, the maxi-
mum continuous load of ethane boiloff
to flare system is 1.1 MMsft3d. The total
flared gas is available to be continuously
collected and routed back to the boiler
utility area.
The study revealed that it is feasible to
recover the continuous flared gas by con-
necting new piping from the flare system
upstream of the flare knockout drum to
the boiler utility area, to allow continu-
ous boiloff and utilize it as fuel for the
boilers. FIG. 1 shows a schematic of the
ethane tank flare system arrangement at
the Yanbu NGL processing facility.
The unconventional FGRS scheme
was established and carefully evaluated
through hydraulic and process simula-
tions, using both in-house programs and
proprietary software,a as described in the
following section.
Ejector-based FGRS. The scheme
was developed by utilizing a suitable
ejector to collect the 1.15 MMsft3d of
continuous flare gas at 0.48 psig, using
0.95 MMsft3d of available high-pressure
gas as motive gas. The process scheme
was modeled, simulated and confirmed
possible, using proprietary software.a
To this end, a recovery system utilizing
high-pressure gas at 380 psig as motive
gas—in an ejector to transport the gas
from the flare site to the boiler utility
area—was established. FIG. 2 shows the
calculated flowrates and pressures for
the feeds and outlet streams of the ejec-
tor. FIG. 3 shows the flow scheme for the
ejector-based FGRS.
This flare gas recovery approach is
possible based on the fact that there is
enough room in the boiler utility area
to accommodate the flared gas volume.
Flare gas recovery at the plant requires
V85-F-196 Flare
stack
PCV-002
Knockout
drum
Ethane
tank (T-501)
FIG. 1. Schematic of ethane tank flare system
at the Yanbu NGL processing plant.
Collected gas
from ethane tank
0.48 psig, Gas to boilers
HP motive gas 1.1 MMsft3d utility area
380 psig, 0.95 MMsft3d 8 psig, 2.05 MMsft3d
Ejector
FIG. 2. Calculated flowrates and pressures
for the Yanbu FGRS ejector.
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SPECIAL FOCUS: GREEN TECHNOLOGIES
FIG. 3. Flow scheme of ejector-based FGRS at the Yanbu facility.
FIG. 4. Ethane recovery system simulation.
only the means to transport the gas
from the ethane tank flare system site to
the boiler utility area at the gas plant (a
total distance of approximately 1.7 km)
within the limited differential pressure.
Appropriate pipe sizes within the avail-
able differential pressures were deter-
mined by careful analysis of the hydrau-
lic simulation results. The results show
that 2.05 MMsft3d of mixed high-pres-
sure fuel gas and ethane at 17.5 psig will
arrive at 8 psig at the utility area, using
6-in. piping.
In the proposed recovery system,
the pressure control valve already exists
between the flare gas offtake points and
the flare knockout drum. This design
maintains a slight positive pressure in
the flare header and prevents both an
undesirable opening condition for the
control valve and the release of eth-
ane to the flare system. Whenever the
amount of gas released into the flare
system exceeds the capacity of the re-
covery system (1.1 MMsft3d), a pres-
sure control valve on the flare recov-
ery line will act to maintain the flow at
1.1 MMsft3d. The proposed recovery
scheme is illustrated by the flow scheme
shown in FIG. 3.
16MARCH/APRIL 2021 | GasProcessingNews.com
Simulation results. The ethane recov-
ery system is designed to take ethane
from the ethane storage tanks and com-
press it for firing at 1.5 psig–2 psig and
for delivery at approximately 3.7 psig to
the two boiler skids.
The ethane recovery system was
simulated, using proprietary softwarea
to perform the hydraulic analysis and
predict the process conditions (FIG. 4).
Actual pipe lengths for the existing and
new pipes are taken from an isomet-
ric drawing, to account for the pres-
sure losses from the ethane tank to the
boilers at the utility unit. The design
flow used to size the recovery system is
0.4 MMsft3d–1.1 MMsft3d, with an eth-
ane composition of 98%.
The results of the hydraulic analysis
indicated that new and existing pipes are
of adequate size to avoid backpressure on
the ethane tank under normal operation,
and they are able to deliver the mixed
gas stream at a pressure of 3.7 psig to the
boiler skids. A sensitivity analysis, in-
cluding summer and winter conditions,
was also run to calculate the system pres-
sure drop. The calculated pressure drop
for the 8-in. ethane line from the tank
vapor line to the ejector skid inlet is 0.1
psig. The simulation results also validate
the pressure drop calculation performed
by a third party.
Takeaway. The established FGRS
scheme has multiple economic ben-
efits. First, it will recover approximately
1.1 MMsft3d of valuable C2+, which is
equivalent to 1,961 MMBtu/d in fuel
energy savings.
Second, the system will operate with-
out any energy consumption or rotating
equipment (all installations are static
equipment—i.e., no moving parts). The
system will utilize energy that would
otherwise have been wasted or flared
since plant startup.
Third, the flare gas recovery system
will improve the reliability and life span
of the flare tip, thereby reducing the re-
curring cost of flare tip replacements.
The proposed system will minimize
greenhouse gas emissions and provide a
positive environmental impact.
Finally, operation of the established
FGRS at the Yanbu NGL fractionation
plant will provide an operating experi-
ence base within Saudi Aramco for oth-
er facilities to adopt. GP
NOTE
a
HYSYS
ABDULAZIZ H. AL-TIJANI is
an Engineering Specialist at
Saudi Aramco’s Process and
Control Systems Department in
Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. He holds a
BS degree in chemical engineering
from King Fahd University of
Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM) and a MS degree
in oil and gas surface facilities from KFUPM
(in partnership with IFP). Mr. Al-Tijani supports
company operations and project design, mainly in
flare and relief systems and flare gas recovery
applications. He supports Saudi Aramco and joint-
venture oil and gas operational facilities, pipelines,
process simulations and various phases of projects.
IRFAN ASHIQ is a Senior
Operations Engineer for Saudi
Aramco at the Yanbu NGL
fractionation plant. He has more
than 22 yr of professional
experience in process design,
operation and commissioning
for upstream oil and gas, heavy oil and
petrochemicals. Prior to joining Saudi Aramco,
he was the Lead Process Engineer at SNC Lavalin
in Canada and a Senior Process Engineer at
Propak Systems Ltd. in Canada. He holds an
MS degree in chemical engineering from the
University of Calgary in Canada and a professional
certification from the Association of Professional
Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta (APEGA).