Achieving 99.5% Methane Destruction Efficiency with a Novel Hybrid Flare Controlled by Advanced Automatic Control

Methane emissions from flaring operations pose significant environmental and regulatory challenges for the oil and gas industry. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas—more than 80 times as impactful as carbon dioxide over a 20-year period[1]. Methane is also a reactive chemical that can react with NOx in the presence of sunlight to form particulate matters (such as PM10, PM2.5), which can lead to smog and lung cancer. While flaring is a widely used mitigation technique, conventional flare systems often struggle to achieve optimal methane Destruction and Removal Efficiency (DRE, aka DE) during low or variable flow conditions, leading to unnecessary greenhouse gas emissions and Waste Emission Charges (WEC)[2]. The Department of Energy (DOE) initiated the REMEDY (REducing Methane Every Day of the Year) program in 2021 and started funding the REMEDY program in 2022, aiming to develop practical and commercially viable technologies to address the issues of excessive methane emissions from flares, engines and active coal mines[3]. Cimarron Energy Inc. (hereafter referred to as "our company") was one of the 12 teams selected to receive funding under the REMEDY program. This paper introduces a "Hybrid Flare" system that leverages advanced mechanical designs and a DRE-MaxTM automatic controller (hereafter referred to as "the controller") to achieve a groundbreaking 99.5% methane DE, significantly outperforming traditional technologies. This work was funded by DOE ARPA-E (Project # DE-AR0001530) under the REMEDY flare program.