Flaring \u2014 a common practice within the oil and gas industry \u2014 is a process in which unwanted gases, primarily methane, are burned on site through controlled flares in an open-atmosphere flame. This process converts methane, a\u00a0 <\/span>potent greenhouse gas, to carbon dioxide, a much less environmentally harmful gas. <\/span><\/p>\n Collection of these unwanted gases for flaring occur during oil and gas extraction. Wells that are typically found at upstream oil and gas facilities produce of a mixture of crude oil, natural gas, flowback fluids and formation water. Separation vessels then direct and separate each substance into their respective storage tanks for further processing.<\/span><\/p>\n Unfortunately, this separation process is often imperfect, leading to fluids being leaked into flare gas streams. These fluids typically contain strong concentrations of sodium ions. Previous studies have revealed that flames doped with sodium aerosols drastically disrupt the flaring process, resulting in increased emissions due to inefficient combustion. <\/span><\/p>\n The research team at EERL are conducting lab-scale experiments using hydrocarbon gas mixtures, similarly to those found in upstream oil and gas flaring in Alberta. Aqueous solutions containing Sodium Chloride & Sodium Hydroxide are released into the flare gas stream prior to flaring. Emission rates and emitted particulates are then analyzed, providing a further understanding of how these compounds negatively affect flaring efficiency, leading to increased greenhouse gas emissions. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Impact of Entrained Sodium Solutions on Gas Flare Emissions Flaring \u2014 a common practice within the oil and gas industry \u2014 is a process in which unwanted gases, primarily methane, are burned on site through controlled flares in an open-atmosphere flame. This process converts methane, a\u00a0 potent greenhouse gas, to carbon dioxide, a much […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"yoast_head":"\n