Technology to Dramatically Reduce Flare Emissions Demonstrated

ElectraTherm, a leader in distributed, waste heat to power generation, completed a project in the Bakken oil field demonstrating how the Power+ Generator reduces flaring while generating low-emission electricity. The company partnered with the Environmentally Friendly Drilling Program, managed by the Houston Advanced Research Center (HARC), Gulf Coast Green Energy, and the Hess Corporation to operate ElectraTherm's Power+ Generator at a Hess oil well in North Dakota. The Power+ utilizes raw gas that would otherwise be flared to generate low-emission electricity. The same Power+ system can run on biogas at wastewater treatment plants and landfills to cost-effectively reduce flaring and emissions while generating clean electricity.

In North Dakota, both the state regulators and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) are pushing to reduce open flaring of natural gas. The Texas A&M Institute of Renewable Natural Resources (IRNR) conducted research and collected data from the Hess test site in the Bakken Shale during September 2015. The data was part of an emissions research study for comparing emissions from the Power+ system to the emissions from open flaring.

According to the report, "It is important to note that the emissions from the Power+ Generator system's boiler are lower (comparatively less harmful to the environment) and would provide the added utility of power generated for use from the raw gas or fuel gas which would otherwise be wasted." The report includes the percentage of reduced emissions as a result of the Power+ Generator, with an 89% reduction in CO, 48% reduction in NOX and 93% reduction in VOCs.