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ACEE – Volume 01 - P 13- 21

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Cost emission assessment of NOx and SOx pollutions from gas flare, Case study South Pars Industiries, The Persian Gulf, Iran Hassan Hoveidi 1*, Ali Ahmadzaheh1,2, Javad Kazemzadeh Khoei3, Alireza Aslemand1, Seyed Masoud Tayefeh3, Mehdi Esmaeili Bidhendi1 1*

Graduate Faculty of Environment, University of Tehran, P.O. Box 14155-6135, Tehran, Iran 2 Department of Research and Technology, Pars Special Economic Energy Zone (PSEEZ), National Iranian Oil Co. (NIOC), Iran 3 Department of Environmental Engineering, Academic Center of Education, Culture and Research (ACECR), Sharif University Branch, Tehran, Iran *

Corresponding author, Tell: +98 912 199 5673 E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract Gas flares are one of the main sources of air pollutions such as SOx, NOx and CO2. Proper managing of flares is essential to reduce the drawbacks. In this research, the effects of SOx and NOx pollutants on human health which are spread from a gas flare located in phase 9 & 10, South Pars, the Persian Gulf, Iran, are considered. The Scope of this study is a circle with a radius of 50 km. with respect to the results; the selected flare generates NOx pollutant about 666916 tons per year whereas the SOx amount is 1.7 tons per year. In addition, due to the RiskPoll model the cost emission of these air pollutants is calculated more than 958000 $/year. The mortality Years of Life Lost (YOLL) is founded as the most drawback.

Keywords Cost Emission Assessment - Gas Flare Sox – Nox - Risk Poll

Volume 01 – Year 2013 copyright©2013 Jacee.us official website.

Hassan Hoveidi, et al / ACEE Volume 01- P 13 – 21

41

Lower

1 Introduction Due to the consumption growth of fusil

respiratory

symptoms

(children

asthmatics) (Roemer et al, 1993).

fuels and hydrocarbon materials, the oil and

The quantification of damage costs has

petrolium industries are developed fastly

many important applications, such as guide the

around the world. However, these industries

environmental

are known as one of the biggest pollutant ones

determining the optimal level of the limit for

which lead to generate huge amounts of wastes

the emission of a pollutant), estimating the

and pollutions (Reis, 1996). One of the most

socially optimal level of a pollution tax,

significant sources of air pollutants are gas

identifying technologies with the lowest social

flares. Gas flares are mainly used to decrase

cost, evaluating the benefits of improving the

the system’s shock and flame the waste gas.

pollution abatement of an existing installation

Pars Espesial Economy Enery Zone (PSSEZ)

such as a waste incinerator, optimizing the

is one of the biggest center of gas and

dispatching of power plants or "Green

petrolium industries in the world. There are

accounting", i.e. including corrections for

many gas flares are located in this area which

environmental damage in the traditional

cause significant air pollitions.

accounts of Gross National Product (GNP).

regulations

(for

example,

SOx and NOx are known as the two

Air pollutants can cause enormous

pollutants generated from the gas flare in the

social-economic and environmental losses. For

refineries (Reis, 1996). They are generated

instance, the emission costs on human health

from the flaming the waste gases. Moreover,

due to the air pollutants in United States of

SOx and NOx emissions have significant

America (USA) was fluctuated between 55

drawbacks on human health which lead to

and 670 million Dollars from 1990 to 1991

heavy emission costs to the society such as

which was calculated by the USA’s damage

Mortality Years of Life Lost (YOLL) (Pope et

estimation function (Chestnut & Rowe, 1990).

al, 2002), restricted activity days (Ostro,

Moreover, in 1992 the annual value of a

1987), chronic Bronchitis (Abbey et al, 1995),

human life is appraised at 3 million Dollars in

respiratory hospitalization (Dab et al, 1996),

America which is known as statistical value of

Chronic cough, children (Dockery and Pope,

life whilst in Italy the cost of mortality is

1994), adult asthmatics cough (Dusseldurp et

estimated at 16443.8 million Dollars (Borger

al,

(adult

& Wouters, 1998). In addition, in New

asthmatics) (Dusseldurp et al, 1995), Lower

Zealand every year, air pollution from all

respiratory

asthmatics)

sources was estimated to cause more than

(Dusseldurp et al, 1995), Bronchodilator use

1,600 premature deaths, 930 hospitalizations

(children asthmatics) (Roemer et al, 1993), and

and 2.6 million restricted activity days in

1995),

Bronchodilator

symptoms

(adult

use


41

urban areas

which

the costs

of these

drawbacks are estimated roughly $1.62 billion

(population, crops, forests, buildings, etc.) (ExternE 1995; 1998; 2000).

per year (Kuschel & Mahon, 2010). Due to the

This study aimed to evaluate the

recent World Bank estimations air pollution in

emission costs of the produced gases and air

Tehran causes more than 3.3 billion dollars

pollutants namely; NOx and SOx for the gas

which obviously increased each year (Hastaie,

flare located in South Pars based on the

1993). Furthermore, Iran’s Ministry of Health

ExternE methodologies (RiskPoll Model).

estimates that between 4,000 and 5,000 people die every year in Tehran due to air pollution

2 Material and methods

(WWW.MOHME.gov.ir).

The South Pars field is a natural gas

There are other studies which evaluate the external costs of energy are conducted in Europe and US in recent years such as ExternE and ORNL/RFF researches (ExternE 1995; 1998; 2000; ORNL/RFF, 1994; Rowe, 1995). In addition, some researches such as Pope et al (Pope et al, 1995) which measure the chronic effects of air pollution on mortality YOLL lead to major changes of the methodology. Thus,

within

methodology

ExternE

known

as

a

bottom-up

Impact-Pathway-

Approach, has been developed and applied to assess impact and damage cost of a pollutant, tracing the passage of the pollutant from where it is emitted to the affected receptors

condensate field located in the Persian Gulf. It is the world's largest gas field, shared between Iran and Qatar. The phases 9‫ ‏‏‬and 11 ‫ ‏ ‏‬were startded

in

September

‫‏‬ 2112 .‫‏‬

However,

investment value is more than 2‫ ‏‏‬billion US$ based on EPCC by the method of financing. Finally, it became fully operational in 2112‫‏‬ (http://www.pseez.ir/en/gas)‫‏‬.

The

area

is

illustrated in Figure 1. These phases produce more than 50 million barrel of gas per day which during the process lots of gas waste is generated

which

needs

to

be

flared.

Additionally, to control and reduce the shock of input gases to the system some of them are brougth to the falres.

Figure 1. Study area


41

The methodology is divided in two

Project of the European Commission and the

sections. First, based on the data gatherd from

multimedia impact assessment is based on the

the PSEEZ the ratios of gases emission are

transfer

calculated. Second, by using the RiskPoll

Environmental Protection Agency (Spadaro,

software which is based on the EXTERNE

2004).

methodology the imapcts of pollutants on

factors

published

by

the

US

Riskpoll model is also calibrated for the

human health are estimated. It should be noted

South Pars regional conditions.

For the

that the RiskPoll Software needs to be

countries that have not damages’ costs such as

calibrated for the local conditions.

Iran, we can use the other countries damages’

In section one the input materials to the

costs data (Europe Union’s data based on the

flare are founded and due to the the mass and

EXTERNE project was chosen to use) and

energy equations in adiabatic conditions with

calibrated with the following formula:

an efficiency of 90% the ratios of gases Unit cost in country = Unit cost in EU

emission are obtaned. In section two the applied software is

(1)

* (PPPGNPcountry/PPPGNPEU)

discussed. RiskPoll (Version1.05; Jan 2004) is a very usful software to estimate the various human

health

impacts

due

to

where PPPGNP is Purchasing Power Per

the

capita equivalent to Gross National Product in

environmental emissions including SO2, NO2,

dollar terms. With respect to central bank of

CO and PM10 or the heavy metals in the air

Iran PPPGNP for Iran is 13053$ and according

such as Pb, Ni, Mg, Cr, As.

to the World Bank stats for Europe Union

Health impacts of air pollution are

(EU)

PPPGNP

is

31607$

in

2011

calculated using an impact pathways analysis,

(www.wikipedia.com & www.worldbank.org).

which traces the fate of a pollutant in the

So, the unit cost in Iran is 0.413 than the EU.

environment from point of emission into the

So, the unit cost of damage in Iran can be

air, to atmospheric dispersion and eventual

obtained from multiplying 0.413 to the EU’s

receptor uptake. Health impacts such as loss of

unit of damage.

life expectancy (mortality YOLL) and various morbidities (e.g., asthma attacks, chronic

( (

) )

11410

‫)‏‏‏‏‏‏‬2(

bronchitis and hospital visits) are considered as the main calculation in this model. However, quantification of the impacts and damage costs in the Riskpoll software follows the methodology developed by the ExternE

3 Results and Discussion The selected flare (Low pressure) is located in the phase 9 & 10 at South Pars. The input materials due to the data gathered from


41

the refinery are given in Table 1. Table 1. Input materials Input Materials

(mol/hr)

Efficiency (%)

2O

250167

90

Nitrogen

00111

90

Carbon Dioxide

1714

90

H2S

1114

90

C1

721112

90

C2

51150

90

C3

29171

90

iC4

512

90

C4 C5+

13

90

260162

90

In this section, due to the input gases of flare

chemical

reactions

(complete

and

incomplete) are identified and balanced. It should be mentioned that 90 percent efficiency in the reactions is assumed in this study. Complete reactions based on the materials

H 2 S  O2  H 2O  SO

‫) ‏‬3(

CH 4  2O2  CO2  2H 2 O

‫) ‏‬4(

7 C 2 H 6  O2  2CO2  3H 2 O 2

‫) ‏‬5(

C3 H 8  5O2  3CO2  4H 2 O

‫) ‏‬6(

13 O2  4CO2  5H 2 O 2

C5 H12  8O2  5CO2  6H 2 O

‫) ‏‬10(

7 C3 H 8  O2  3CO2  4 H 2O 2

‫) ‏‬11(

9 C 4 H 10  O2  4CO2  5H 2 O 2

‫) ‏‬12(

C5 H 12 

mentioned in Table 1are as follows:

C 4 H 10 

5 C 2 H 6  O2  2CO2  3H 2 O 2

‫) ‏‬13( 11 O2  5CO2  6 H 2 O 2

As regards to these reactions the final outputs of flare are estimated and given in Table 2. The results indicate that 69.3 percent of the

‫) ‏‬7( ‫) ‏‬8(

output gases after burning is N2 which can be predicted that N2 would have a noticeable affects on the area. In the next step the SOx and NOx generated amounts are obtained which are given in Table 3. To estimate the

On the other hand, the incomplete reactions

amounts of SOx and NOx from Table 2, it

are given as follows:

should be considered that each mol of H2S and

3 CH 4  O2  CO2  2 H 2 O 2

‫) ‏‬9(

N2 changes to two molls of SOx and NOx, respectively.


41

Table 2. Output materials Materials

Mol/hr

Portion (%)

H2O

4327.17

19.7

CO2

2158.83

9.8

H2S

0.04

1.8E-6

CO

237.82

1

N2

15235.43

69.3

According to Table 3, there is a massive

by using the RiskPoll software the impacts of

rate of NOx generation which leads to

SOx & NOx emissions are modeled to assess

significant costs on human health and the

the impacts on human health. The damage

nearby environment. Moreover, due to the

costs of the SOx & NOx are given in Table 4

local conditions and the above achieved data

and 5, respectively.

Table 3. The ratios of SOx & NOx emissions Materials

Emission ratio (ton/year)

NOX SOX CO

555915102 11202 4711172

Table 4. Damage cost of SOx pollutant Exposure Response Function

Impact

Damage Cost

Mortality YOLL

2.39E-04

4.94E+00

Chronic Bronchitis

3.08E-05

2.16E+00

Restricted activity days

1.64E-02

7.39E-01

Respiratory hospitalization

1.71E-06

3.05E-03

Chronic cough, children

3.42E-04

3.38E-02

Congestive heart failure, elderly

2.14E-06

2.88E-03

Cough, adult asthmatics

7.71E-03

1.39E-01

Bronchodilator use, adult asthmatics

3.76E-03

6.20E-02

Lower respiratory symptoms, adult asthmatics

1.40E-03

4.62E-03

Cough, children asthmatics

1.54E-03

2.86E-02

Bronchodilator use, children asthmatics

4.47E-04

8.27E-03

Lower respiratory symptoms, children asthmatics

5.93E-04

1.96E-03

Total

8.12E+00


41

Table 5. Damage cost of NOx pollutant Exposure Response Function

Impact

Damage Cost

Mortality YOLL

2.76E+01

5.71E+05

Chronic Bronchitis

3.73E+00

2.61E+05

Restricted activity days

1.88E+03

8.53E+04

Respiratory hospitalization

1.98E-01

3.53E+02

Chronic cough, children

3.94E+01

3.90E+03

Congestive heart failure, elderly

2.47E-01

3.33E+02

Cough, adult asthmatics

8.93E+02

1.66E+04

Bronchodilator use, adult asthmatics

4.34E+02

7.16E+03

Lower respiratory symptoms, adult asthmatics

1.61E+02

5.33E+02

Cough, children asthmatics

1.78E+02

3.31E+03

Bronchodilator use, children asthmatics

5.16E+01

8.51E+02

Lower respiratory symptoms, children asthmatics

6.85E+01

2.26E+02

Total

9.51E+05

12 different illnesses caused by exposing

asthmatics,

respiratory

hospitalization,

to SOx & NOx pollutants are considered. The

Congestive heart failure (elderly) and lower

orders of the impacts intensity for both

respiratory symptoms regards to children

pollutants are the same. With respect to the

asthmatics are founded as the other costs on

Tables 4 and 5, mortality YOLL has the most

human health, respectively.

proportion of damage costs rather than the

To sum up with respect to Table 6, the

other illnesses which stands at 571005 $/year.

total emission cost caused by NOx is

After that, Chronic Bronchitis stands as the

95100000 $/year whereas the SOx cost is 8.12

second damage cost at 261002 $/year. The

$/year.

third significant costs are caused due to the restricted activity days. The cost emission of

4 Conclusions

NOx is much more than the SOx. In other

Emission costs of the SOx and NOx

words, the impacts of SOx can be neglected. In

pollutions are assessed for a gas flare located

addition, adult asthmatics cough is placed at

in the South Pars. The ratios of gases emission

the

pollutants.

are calculated due to input materials of the

Bronchodilator use (adult asthmatics) leads to

flare and the regional conditions. The amount

fifth major costs on human health whereas

of NOx emission is 555915102 ton/year

Chronic cough (children) stands at the sixth

whereas the ratio amount of SOx is 11202

place. Moreover, cough and Bronchodilator

ton/year. In the next step, according to the

use caused by children asthmatics, lower

EXTERNE methodology (RiskPoll Software),

respiratory

the NOx emission cost is 950635.9 $/year and

forth

place

for

symptoms

both

caused

by

adult


02

the SOx cost is 8.1 $/year. It can be concluded that managing the NOx generation caused by the gas flare is needed to be focused by the local authorities.

‫ ‏‬Table 6. the final emission costs caused by SOx & NOx Emission

Costs ($/year)

SOx

8.121452

NOx

950635.9

Acknowledgements The work was supported by the research and technology department of NIOC. We also acknowledge the sub companies of NIOC who have kindly provided data.

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