Last week’s blog was an overview of how the State of Pennsylvania plans to cut methane emissions throughout their state’s oil and gas industry. Their Governor, Tom Wolf, and his Environmental Protection Secretary, John Quigley, rolled out their four step plan to ensure that the bustling Marcellus Shale Play doesn’t ruin the air quality for the entire state. This week I want to drill down a bit more on those four steps. What are some of the Best Available Technologies or BAT’s in emission regulation right now? What is a Tier 4 diesel engine & where is it used on a well site? And what does LDAR stand for? You may know but I didn’t until this week. So let the sharing begin.
First Question:
- What are some of the Best Available Technologies currently being used by companies in the oil and gas industry?
It is kind of hard to nail this one down. BAT’s are constantly morphing to keep up with technology. There seems to be a new and better way to do things all the time. Question 2 & 3 kind of answer question 1.
Second Question:
- What is a Tier 4 Diesel Engine?
The Tier 4 part refers to federal air emissions standards from the EPA. These standards apply specifically to diesel engines used in off-road equipment. So, generators, bulldozers, mining trucks, you get the idea. The EPA is requiring manufactures to reduce the levels of particulate matter (pm) and oxides of nitrogen (NOx) to a level that is 50-96% lower than the existing generation of diesel engines. PM is that black smoke or soot looking stuff in engine diesel engine exhaust. NOx is nitrogen monoxide or nitrogen dioxide. I did see that this regulation is ONLY for new products. This is not being enforced on engines that are already on sites. To paraphrase, any O&G companies that purchase new diesel engines for well sites have to ensure they are purchasing Tier 4 diesel engines.
Third Question:
- What does LDAR stand for?
It stands for Leak Detection and Repair. This is a big one. In all the reading and writing I have done on methane emissions, fixing the leaks is where everyone thinks the biggest changes in air quality can happen. There is a lot of old and overused equipment on oil and gas well sites. For companies to be compliant on this front they will have monitor locations to determine what equipment like valves or connections are leaking and need to be replaced. There is a whole industry dedicated to monitoring. The naked eye can’t see the gas being emitted so there are thermal imaging cameras that can detect leaks. With the popularity of camera drones, this is an easy way the company can spot problem spots at refineries or well sites.
I have an easy way to avoid all these regulations and issues. How about you invest in a unit with ZERO emissions. Crazy idea huh?! Croft Production Systems has its Passive Dehydration System or PDS that will dehydrate your natural gas and you don’t even need an air permit.
