Swiss-roll Flare Gas Incinerator
Critical Need:
REMEDY (Reducing Emissions of Methane Every Day of the Year) aims to reduce methane emissions from three sources in the oil, gas, and coal value chains: (1) exhaust from 50,000 natural gas-fired lean-burn engines used to drive compressors, generate electricity, and increasingly repower ships, (2) the estimated 300,000 flares required for safe operation of oil and gas facilities, and (3) coal mine ventilation of air and methane exhausted from 250 operating underground mines. These sources are responsible for at least 10% of U.S. anthropogenic methane emissions. Reducing emissions of methane, which has a high greenhouse gas warming potential, will ameliorate climate change. The intent is to de-risk and identify economies of scale for the proposed systems so they can advance to commercialization.
Project Innovation + Advantages:
Advanced Cooling Technologies proposes an innovative Swiss-roll incinerator that effectively recuperates the heat from combustion products to fully combust the flare gas over a wide range of flow rates and concentrations. The design comprises a spiral heat exchanger surrounding the incinerator, which effectively minimizes the heat losses from flue gas, incinerator wall convection, and radiation. The excess enthalpy in the reactants significantly extends the range of flammable mixtures to provide a complete methane combustion. The heat recirculating Swiss-roll incinerator also provides low heating value waste gases or volatile organic compounds destruction of industrial flares with extremely low carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxides emissions. The team will use a novel 3D printing method to produce a large-scale ceramic-metal composite that withstands temperatures over 2500ºF. The team will also investigate material improvements that can potentially expand thermal capabilities. The full-scale system will be field tested under actual conditions.
Potential Impact:
REMEDY addresses methane emissions from domestic oil, gas, and coal value chains, accounting for 78% of U.S. primary energy.
Security:
REMEDY systems will reduce the environmental footprint from the production and use of domestic resources.
Environment:
A key REMEDY process performance metric is to reduce net greenhouse gas emissions > 87% on a life cycle basis. This metric ensures proposed solutions provide a holistic environmental benefit. If successful, REMEDY processes have the potential to reduce U.S. methane emissions by at least 60 million tons of CO2e (carbon dioxide equivalents) per year.
Economy:
REMEDY goals call for 99.5% methane reduction while meeting a levelized cost less than $40/ton of CO2e.