서브메뉴
검색
Assessing and Improving Performance of Non-Assisted Utility Flares: Fundamental and Applied Insights and Design Modifications for Methane Emissions Reduction
Assessing and Improving Performance of Non-Assisted Utility Flares: Fundamental and Applied Insights and Design Modifications for Methane Emissions Reduction
상세정보
- 자료유형
- 학위논문 서양
- 최종처리일시
- 20260202105418
- ISBN
- 9798291567845
- DDC
- 620
- 서명/저자
- Assessing and Improving Performance of Non-Assisted Utility Flares: Fundamental and Applied Insights and Design Modifications for Methane Emissions Reduction
- 발행사항
- [Sl] : University of Michigan, 2025
- 발행사항
- Ann Arbor : ProQuest Dissertations & Theses, 2025
- 형태사항
- 187 p
- 주기사항
- Source: Dissertations Abstracts International, Volume: 87-02, Section: B.
- 주기사항
- Advisor: Wooldridge, Margaret S.
- 학위논문주기
- Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Michigan, 2025.
- 초록/해제
- 요약Oil and gas (O&G) flaring emits up to five times more methane than currently estimated by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Low-flow (≤100 thousand standard cubic feet per day, MSCFD), non-assisted utility or 'pipe' flares are often used at O&G production sites yet are often overlooked by bottom-up emissions inventories and top-down measurement campaigns. Understanding the factors affecting the performance of these flares is key to reducing greenhouse gas and other emissions from flaring.This work presents new experimental data on utility flare performance using novel testing methods, explores methane mitigation strategies informed by theory and experiments, and scales results to estimate methane emissions under real-world conditions. The thesis is organized into three components to meet the objective of assessing and mitigating methane emissions from low-flow flares. The first study introduces a novel indoor testing facility designed to provide the first baseline measurements of flare plume emissions and associated combustion efficiency (CE) and methane destruction removal efficiency (DRECH4) across conditions relevant to upstream O&G flaring. Natural gas (NG, 910 BTU/ft3) and propane-fueled (2,370 BTU/ft3) non-assisted flares were studied at flow rates from 1.8 to 113 MSCFD and crosswind speeds ≤13.1 miles per hour (MPH). A 3-inch utility flare served as the baseline, and new engineered flare tips designed based on theory and prior literature were tested to assess geometry effects on performance. CE and DRECH4 values fell below EPA-assumed thresholds (96.5% and 4.6 MPH crosswind). Engineered burners significantly improved performance. Trend-wise agreement was observed with existing wind-tunnel pipe-flare studies, but existing scaling relations failed to capture the complex relationship between operating conditions and flare efficiency.The second study extended indoor testing to an outdoor environment to enable testing at higher crosswind speeds. For the first time, the effect of adding a shroud (wind-shield) to a utility flare on CE and DRECH4 was evaluated. The shroud consistently improved DRECH4~98% across all tested conditions, including flowrates ≤50 MSCFD, NG or propane/NG blend, and crosswinds ≤~35 MPH. The findings highlight that a shroud is a cost-effective methane mitigation solution for utility flares. Additionally, the study identified crosswind turbulence intensity as a key input parameter for predicting utility flare CE, demonstrating efficacy in both empirical scaling relationships and machine learning models.Lastly, a case study of production flares in North Dakota combined reported local flaring and wind data with the experimental utility flare performance results to estimate methane emissions at real-world conditions. Results show utility flares may emit twice as much methane relative to current EPA assumptions. However, the addition of a shroud can reduce emissions by half, further emphasizing the shroud as an impactful mitigation strategy. The study also compares bottom-up and top-down flaring estimates, revealing that existing satellite-based top-down methods may significantly undercount low-flow (≤100 MSCFD) flares by over two orders of magnitude, highlighting a critical flare monitoring gap.The results from these studies provide new insights into the parameters affecting low-flow utility flare performance and their impact on methane emissions inventories. The new high-fidelity quantitative data generated can inform the development of improved scaling relationships, enhance the accuracy of machine learning models for CE prediction, provide a validation benchmark for computational fluid dynamics simulations, and support the advancement of best practices for methane emissions mitigation.
- 일반주제명
- Engineering
- 일반주제명
- Mechanical engineering
- 일반주제명
- Energy
- 기타저자
- University of Michigan Mechanical Engineering
- 기본자료저록
- Dissertations Abstracts International. 87-02B.
- 전자적 위치 및 접속
- 로그인 후 원문을 볼 수 있습니다.
MARC
008260126s2025 us c eng d■001000017360283
■00520260202105418
■006m o d
■007cr#unu||||||||
■020 ▼a9798291567845
■035 ▼a(MiAaPQ)AAI32271948
■035 ▼a(MiAaPQ)umichrackham006485
■040 ▼aMiAaPQ▼cMiAaPQ
■0820 ▼a620
■1001 ▼aStolzman, Jenna E.
■24510▼aAssessing and Improving Performance of Non-Assisted Utility Flares: Fundamental and Applied Insights and Design Modifications for Methane Emissions Reduction
■260 ▼a[Sl]▼bUniversity of Michigan▼c2025
■260 1▼aAnn Arbor▼bProQuest Dissertations & Theses▼c2025
■300 ▼a187 p
■500 ▼aSource: Dissertations Abstracts International, Volume: 87-02, Section: B.
■500 ▼aAdvisor: Wooldridge, Margaret S.
■5021 ▼aThesis (Ph.D.)--University of Michigan, 2025.
■520 ▼aOil and gas (O&G) flaring emits up to five times more methane than currently estimated by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Low-flow (≤100 thousand standard cubic feet per day, MSCFD), non-assisted utility or 'pipe' flares are often used at O&G production sites yet are often overlooked by bottom-up emissions inventories and top-down measurement campaigns. Understanding the factors affecting the performance of these flares is key to reducing greenhouse gas and other emissions from flaring.This work presents new experimental data on utility flare performance using novel testing methods, explores methane mitigation strategies informed by theory and experiments, and scales results to estimate methane emissions under real-world conditions. The thesis is organized into three components to meet the objective of assessing and mitigating methane emissions from low-flow flares. The first study introduces a novel indoor testing facility designed to provide the first baseline measurements of flare plume emissions and associated combustion efficiency (CE) and methane destruction removal efficiency (DRECH4) across conditions relevant to upstream O&G flaring. Natural gas (NG, 910 BTU/ft3) and propane-fueled (2,370 BTU/ft3) non-assisted flares were studied at flow rates from 1.8 to 113 MSCFD and crosswind speeds ≤13.1 miles per hour (MPH). A 3-inch utility flare served as the baseline, and new engineered flare tips designed based on theory and prior literature were tested to assess geometry effects on performance. CE and DRECH4 values fell below EPA-assumed thresholds (96.5% and 4.6 MPH crosswind). Engineered burners significantly improved performance. Trend-wise agreement was observed with existing wind-tunnel pipe-flare studies, but existing scaling relations failed to capture the complex relationship between operating conditions and flare efficiency.The second study extended indoor testing to an outdoor environment to enable testing at higher crosswind speeds. For the first time, the effect of adding a shroud (wind-shield) to a utility flare on CE and DRECH4 was evaluated. The shroud consistently improved DRECH4~98% across all tested conditions, including flowrates ≤50 MSCFD, NG or propane/NG blend, and crosswinds ≤~35 MPH. The findings highlight that a shroud is a cost-effective methane mitigation solution for utility flares. Additionally, the study identified crosswind turbulence intensity as a key input parameter for predicting utility flare CE, demonstrating efficacy in both empirical scaling relationships and machine learning models.Lastly, a case study of production flares in North Dakota combined reported local flaring and wind data with the experimental utility flare performance results to estimate methane emissions at real-world conditions. Results show utility flares may emit twice as much methane relative to current EPA assumptions. However, the addition of a shroud can reduce emissions by half, further emphasizing the shroud as an impactful mitigation strategy. The study also compares bottom-up and top-down flaring estimates, revealing that existing satellite-based top-down methods may significantly undercount low-flow (≤100 MSCFD) flares by over two orders of magnitude, highlighting a critical flare monitoring gap.The results from these studies provide new insights into the parameters affecting low-flow utility flare performance and their impact on methane emissions inventories. The new high-fidelity quantitative data generated can inform the development of improved scaling relationships, enhance the accuracy of machine learning models for CE prediction, provide a validation benchmark for computational fluid dynamics simulations, and support the advancement of best practices for methane emissions mitigation.
■590 ▼aSchool code: 0127.
■650 4▼aEngineering
■650 4▼aMechanical engineering
■650 4▼aEnergy
■653 ▼aOil and gas flaring
■653 ▼aMethane emissions mitigation
■653 ▼aCombustion efficiency
■653 ▼aEnvironmental impact
■653 ▼aDesign modifications
■690 ▼a0537
■690 ▼a0548
■690 ▼a0791
■71020▼aUniversity of Michigan▼bMechanical Engineering.
■7730 ▼tDissertations Abstracts International▼g87-02B.
■790 ▼a0127
■791 ▼aPh.D.
■792 ▼a2025
■793 ▼aEnglish
■85640▼uhttp://www.riss.kr/pdu/ddodLink.do?id=T17360283▼nKERIS▼z이 자료의 원문은 한국교육학술정보원에서 제공합니다.
