Study and Design of Flare Reduction Initiative in the Region: A Case Study of Gas Flaring Reduction at Oman Liquefied Natural Gas Company

In this paper examines the feasibility of eliminating flaring at Oman LNG Company by capturing the CO 2 present in the incoming gas during LNG ship gassing up operation. The gas containing CO 2 is flared to prevent CO 2 ice up and blockage at lower temperature. The project proposes a design and installation of two exchangers to cool the CO 2 present to de-sublimation temperature of -132°C at which 99% of CO 2 solidifies on the heat exchanger fins which then direct the free CO 2 gas to fuel gas system. A stream of cold LNG product available at -161°C on loading line was utilized as cooling medium to achieve the target temperature. The design takes into consideration energy optimization and efficiency of the system by which a multi-passes stream exchanger is used to precool the incoming gas before it’s further cooled to CO 2 frosting point in the main exchanger. A Honeywell UniSim software was used to simulate the process and the outputs were outlined. The results were found to be optimistic and targeted temperatures for 99% removal of CO 2 were found to be achievable. The 7% of the total flaring responsible by gassing up operation can be eliminated.