Waste and produced gas managment on offshore platforms

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

As conventional oil and gas reserves diminish, focus has turned to unconventional sources such as remote offshore and the Arctic. In offshore operations, space for processing equipment is limited and therefore equipment footprint, chemical use, and wastes produced required are factors in the type of processing possible. Along with the approximately 15.5 million cubic meters of oil produced offshore Newfoundland and Labardor (NL) in 2011 approximately 4.5 billion cubic meters of gas was also recovered. 90% of this gas is re-injected, 8-9% used for fuel, and 1-2% flared. Them lack of space limits gas treating to dehydration and compression, however gas quality impacts the gas injection and utility infrastructure. Gas contaminants such as water, carbon dioxide, and hydrogen sulphide requires injection of hydrate control chemicals, specialized alloy for piping, and reduces gas injection or enhanced oil recovery effectiveness. Gas recovery for use on shore is determined by the feasibility of the various gas transport options which are in turn governed by gas quality to meet the standards for transport.The focus of this work is to develop gas processing systems capable of achieving gas quality while meeting the infrastructure/space limitations on the platforms. The underlying principle is green processing, where chemicals used are sustainably sourced, energy requirements and waste are minimized. The research is in two areas; gas treatment using a dual membrane contactor, and gas treatment via adsorbents derived from waste materials (e.g. fly ash and biochar). The advantage of these systems is very high surface area to volume/weight ratio and low operational complexity making them ideal for use in remote locations. The research will be comprehensive in addressing energy used/wastes generated of the proposed systems, from adsorbent/membrane sourcing to final re-use or disposal through life cycle analysis. Through the proposed research program, we will advance the design of offshore gas processing systems and develop systems suitable for use in harsh and remote locations