LPP Combustion unveils new technology to comply with flaring caps

LPP Combustion, LLC presented a live demonstration of the company's Lean, Pre-Mixed, Pre-vaporized (LPP) solution on Friday, October 3, 2014, at North Dakota State University. The company’s Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Richard (Rick) Roby, led the demonstration titled, LPP Oilfield Power System fueled by NGLs/Y-grade.

The demo showcased the ability of LPP combustion technology to convert liquid fuels, such as Bakken Flare Gas, into a substitute for natural gas, which can then be used to fuel virtually any combustion device in place of natural gas yielding emissions, comparable to that of ordinary natural gas.

LPP's technology maximizes the potential of natural gas liquids (NGLs) while mitigating risk and need for capital investment. It also enables energy and petroleum companies to comply with more stringent flaring caps. LPP also provided live demonstrations from October 4-6, 2014, in the Bakken region.

It is estimated that 30 percent of the over 1 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas produced in the Bakken shale field is lost to flaring. Collected and used in Dry Low Emission (DLE) power generation gas turbine engines, this fuel represents approximately 1.2 GW of collective power.

The main reason that much of this fuel is flared is that the infrastructure in the Bakken lacks sufficient capacity or compression to combine and transport the gas streams. One of the reasons that this fuel cannot be utilized on-site for power generation is that it contains significant amounts of natural gas liquids (NGLs) which makes the gas unsuitable as a fuel for natural gas fired gas turbine engines.

Dr. Roby said burning the fuel used in the flare gases in the Bakken locally in a power generation combustor, for example, would provide electricity for drilling (and fracking) operations.