WorldWide Drilling Resource

The Last of Flares? Adapted from Information by NewsWire Today North Dakota state regulations will require oil and gas companies to significantly reduce flares over the next several years or face steep penalties and potential curtailment of oil production for wells not meeting reduction requirements. Environmentally Friendly Drilling Systems (EFD), Gulf Coast Green Energy, and ElectraTherm, partnered with the HESS Corporation to test the ElectraTherm Power+ Generator™, a waste- heat-to-power technology, at a North Dakota oil well in an attempt to reduce oil and gas flaring. The project captures the natural gas which would otherwise be flared, and uses it to generate electricity, reducing or eliminating onsite flaring. Funding for the project came from the Research Partnership to Secure Energy for America program and the HoustonAdvanced Research Center’s Environmentally Friendly Drilling Program. The project’s goal is to demonstrate the Power+ Generator as an effective means of reducing flared gas. Texas A&M Universi ty’s Agr i l i fe Research Institute of Renewable Natural Resources is conducting emission mon- itoring, and comparing emissions from direct flaring verses the Power+ solution. The Power+ Generator appl ies Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) and pro- prietary technologies to generate power from low-temperature heat ranging from 170-252°F (77-122 °C). At the oil well, natural gas, which would otherwise be flared, is used instead to fuel a low-emission industrial boiler. The boiler heats water to run the Power+ Generator, and produces energy which can be used for on-site processes, offsetting the cost of elec- tricity from the grid or diesel generators. EFD is encouraged about the pre- liminary results of the demonstration. Ac- cording to Dr. Rich Haut, Director of EFD, “Projects like this allow us to evaluate new technologies for the [oil and gas] in- dustry, and to find science-based solutions to industry challenges, which is our primary mission.” The Power+ Generator produces energy from captured natural gas at a North Dakota oil well. Photo courtesy of ElectraTherm. +3$ (1 -.2 )312 /0("$ !32 2'$ .4$0 ++ 1$04("$ -# $6/$0($-"$ .%%$0$# !7 '0../ ."* (2 .,/ -7 - $&(12$0$# 0& -(8 2(.- .6 9 .-* 5 6 , (+ 1 +$1 2'0../0."*!(2 "., 555 2'0../0."*!(2 "., Happy Fathers Day! Sunday, June 19, 2016 To all the dads out there... 35 WorldWide Drilling Resource ® JUNE 2016