Feasibility Study on Possibility of Using Flare Gas as a Source of Energy

Gas is usually flared because it is thought to bewaste. In the oil and gas industry, flare
is an essential safety system, used for the safe disposal of flows from pressure safety
valves and depressurization of processing equipment. Researches and studies show that
flare has the potential to be a source of energy. It is proven bythe development of the
technologies that reuse fcnd recover :the flare gas and use it as source of energy. In the
early stage of this project, the characteristic of the flare gas will be analysed. The
characteristics that need to be studied are the compositions ofthe flare gas, the heating
value for the flare gas. Afterwards, this project evaluate each option that available that
can be use to maximize the usage offlare gas. Every option is evaluated referring to the
practicability, efficiency, economically and effect to environment. This project will
bring up the best solution on how to maximize the usage of flare gas. The results from
the analysis of the gas show that flare gas has the similarity of the composition of the
natural gas which has referred as the fuel gas for the equipment on the platform. Even
though the composition of the flare gas has the similarity of the natural gas, but the
value for the heating value differs from the heating value of the flare gas. This is
because the difference in the composition of the other component gas in the flare gas
has made the difference. To apply the recovery system for flare gas currently is not
economical since flare the gas is the cheapest way of handling flare-gas. But then,
referring to the trend of the carbon dioxide (C02) emission in Malaysia, it is possible
that in the future, Malaysia may need to apply the C02 tax scheme to control the C02
emission. This study will be a good reference for the petroleum sectorto refer to for the
flare gas recovery.