As operators extend their development beyond the established “fairways” of unconventional shale plays, they are increasingly encountering oil and gas resources containing high levels of hydrogen sulfide (H2S), otherwise known as “sour” assets. Sour oil and gas resources are especially prevalent in the Delaware Basin portion of the Permian Basin, located in New Mexico and West Texas.
Because it is poisonous and highly corrosive, sour gas presents a threat to both human health and infrastructure. When produced with crude oil, sour gas must be treated and transported off the production facility or flared for safety purposes. However, operators are increasingly encountering barriers to developing sour oil and gas resources in the forms of sour takeaway capacity and initiatives to eliminate routine flaring.
In this article, we cover the challenges operators face when developing their sour crude and natural gas assets and offer a solution to help them alleviate the constraints in an environmentally friendly way.
The Constraint of Sour Takeaway
Sour gas requires treatment before it can be distributed to residential, commercial, and industrial customers. Traditionally, sour gas has been flared or combusted to convert the contaminated gas into less harmful substances. However, flaring sour gas produces other pollutants such as sulfur dioxide (SO₂), which contributes to acid rain; volatile organic compounds (VOCs); and nitrogen oxides (NOx), which can react with particulates and sunlight to form ozone. Additionally, incomplete combustion may release raw H2S where it can accumulate at the production facility and present a threat to worker safety.
Instead of flaring sour gas, it can be treated and sold as pipeline quality gas. Traditionally, sour gas treating occurs downstream at a gas processing plant operated by the midstream partner. The contaminated gas must be transported using equipment that has been treated and coated to withstand the corrosive effects of sour gas, also known as sour takeaway. Sour takeaway, however, is expensive to install and even if it is available, downstream H2S treating capacity in many regions has not kept pace with the development. Both lack of sour takeaway capacity and downstream H2S treating bottlenecks create significant hurdles for operators.
Without a treating solution in places where flaring is not an option because of regulatory restrictions or voluntary emissions reduction practices, developing sour gas resources must come to a halt.
Debottlenecking – Removing Sour Gas Takeaway Constraints
Operators can debottleneck sour production by installing H2S treating capacity at the well site or production pad for “sweetening” sour gas, effectively removing midstream capacity constraints.
In our article, Gas Sweetening, Sour Gas Treatment Strategies by Volume, we identified the three primary categories of traditional gas treating methods for removing H₂S from produced gas, including (a) scavengers and adsorbents, (b) catalytic reactions, and (c) mechanical destruction or injection. These methods, however, have numerous downsides, including:
- Create negative downstream processing effects.
- Require the use of chemicals that can be expensive and present a safety risk.
- Require the disposal of contaminated media, creating environmental and safety risks.
- Operational complexity, requiring frequent oversight on location and problem solving.
VALKYRIE® H2S Technology for Debottlenecking Sour Gas Production
VALKYRIE H2S treatment technology helps oil and gas operators overcome the constraint of limited sour takeaway capacity, unlocking the value of their sour oil and gas assets. Because VALKYRIE technology safely and effectively treats H2S without flaring or injecting acid gas, it facilitates the achievement of voluntary emissions reduction initiatives and regulatory compliance.
The Liquid Redox (Reduction-Oxidation) process converts H₂S into elemental sulfur and water vapor byproducts using chemistry (Reduction) that can be regenerated and used again with exposure to air (Oxidation).
Using a Next Generation Liquid Redox process, sour gas is directed into a treating vessel containing specialized chemistry and then exits the system sweet (without H₂S) into a gas sales line. The elemental sulfur byproduct is filtered out of the liquid, and the chemistry is then regenerated with exposure to oxygen. The regenerated chemistry is then recirculated back into the treating vessel to perform the reaction again. The regenerative nature of the chemistry reduces media changes, disposal costs and reduces chemical handling requirements on the well site.
The VALKYRIE® H₂S treating solution from Streamline Innovations utilizes relatively recent technological advances in automation control to create the “Next Generation Redox” system. The VALKYRIE system utilizes TALON® chemistry, our non-toxic, biodegradable Redox chemistry.
VALKYRIE technology is a true green solution, by reducing the flaring of sour gas and related emissions at oil and gas production sites by converting H₂S into harmless byproducts, including elemental sulfur certified for use in food production.
The Streamline VALKYRIE H₂S removal system is the next generation of Liquid Redox (Reduction-Oxidation) to cost-efficiently help oil and gas operators unlock the value of sour gas resources and reduce emissions from oil and gas operations.
VALKYRIE Technology Applications
In addition to debottlenecking sour crude and natural gas production, VALKYRIE H₂S treating units for sour gas sweetening and reducing emissions from oil and gas operations are suitable for a variety of oil and gas applications, including:
- Field gas conditioning for Gas Lift.
- Tail Gas treating.
Benefits of the VALKRYIE gas treating system:
- A green solution that converts H₂S into benign substances including water and elemental sulfur.
- Universal application for biogas, landfill gas and oil and gas production.
- Widest operating envelope of any H₂S gas treating method extending across the full spectrum of pressures, flow rates and H₂S concentrations.
- Treating to established specifications for sales pipelines, gas lift and fuel gas.
- Flexibility of placement along the production stream whether at the anaerobic digester, at a landfill, wellhead, refinery, in a direct or tail gas treating configuration.
- Meets the most stringent outlet specifications.
In our 2023 Sustainability Scorecard, the VALKYRIE fleet helped operators avoid 39.7 million pounds of SO2 emissions by eliminating flaring of sour gas, among other benefits.
READ MORE: Streamline Innovations 2023 Sustainability Scorecard
Contact us today to learn how VALKYRIE H₂S treating technology can help you reduce emissions from your oil and gas production operations and debottleneck your operations.
About Streamline Innovations
Streamline Innovation’s vision is Reducing Emissions Through Technology. We help heavy industry around the world achieve environmental performance objectives, improve sustainability, and transition to a sustainable, low-carbon economy. Streamline Innovations Leads TIME’s List of America’s Top GreenTech Companies of 2024.
H₂S is present in almost every industrial process in the world. Our technology can be applied across industries, delivering a sustainable solution that eliminates H₂S, the leading cause of acid rain, a deadly greenhouse gas dangerous for work and living environments.
Streamline believes that achieving the E (“Environmental”) in ESG requires data. Creating intelligent systems that operate effectively and efficiently without human intervention is critical to reducing emissions that harm the environment. We integrate advanced data collection, process control, and analytics in our technologies to provide a total solution for customers.
We serve organizations in multiple sectors, including Energy/Oil & Gas, Biogas, Landfill Gas & Renewable Fuels, Municipal Wastewater and Industrial Air & Water.