Experimental measurement of nitrogen oxide emission factors for lab-scale flares

Abstract

NOx emissions are a factor in all combustion systems, and uncontrolled stoichiometric combustion in typical upstream oil and gas (UOG) industry flares has the potential to produce the higher temperatures needed for thermally dependent NOx formation. The applicability of these factors to flares typical of the UOG industry is questionable based on the fuels used and the Froude numbers studied. The subset of flares that operate in a continuous manner burning solution gas that is a by-product of oil production were investigated. Experimental NOx emission data were collected for laboratory-scale flares at Froude number conditions representing UOG flaring conditions based on two independent studies and measurements of real world flares. An adjusted scaling law for NOx emissions based on the theoretical correlation with Fr3/5 fitted well to the data measured. The scaling factor obtained was lower than previously published results by up to a factor of six; however the accuracy of the measurements precludes recommendations as to its application before additional experiments and analysis can be conducted. This is an abstract of a paper presented at the 105th AWMA Annual Conference and Exhibition 2012 (San Antonio, TX 6/19-22/2012)