Gas flaring: a mounting environmental concern in Western Canada. (Technology).

Gas flaring is one of the hottest environmental issues in Western Canada. In Alberta in particular, hostility to the practice from farmers and ranchers has prompted reactions ranging from protest to industrial sabotage. With approximately 1,000 gas flares in Saskatchewan, compared to 5,200 in Alberta, public opinion here has been less vocal, but mounting evidence linking flaring to environmental and health problems could lead to opposition in Saskatchewan as well.

Flaring is the controlled burning of the waste natural gas associated with oil production. One of the main sources is the "solution gas" trapped in underground oil supplies, which is released when oil is brought to the surface. Flaring is used to eliminate gas when the volume is insufficient to warrant recovery or collecting it would be uneconomic. Worldwide, some 115 billion cubic metres of gas are flared or vented into the atmosphere every year.

Until recently, flaring was thought to be environmentally benign. In recent years, however, the expansion of oil drilling has resulted in more flaring, triggering public reactions ranging from annoyance to allegations of serious health consequences for cattle and people. Flaring sometimes results in an unpleasant, "rotten egg" smell. There is no conclusive evidence of chronic or long-term effects to human health.

Concern about flaring has spurred efforts to quantify its atmospheric environmental impacts. One method involves "open path" air quality laser monitoring techniques, for which Saskatoon has become a centre of research and development. Open path monitoring uses laser light beams to observe air pollution. Equipment set up near a flare site sends beams through the atmosphere to absorb a series of specific air pollution molecules, making it possible to determine the concentration of pollutants of various types near flares. Monitoring by this method and others has provided conclusive evidence that a number of toxic pollutants can be found near a flare site.

One method of improving efficiency is to contain the flare in a kind of incinerator that allows for better control of some variables and a cleaner burn. However, some researchers believe that it may never be possible to achieve a reliably efficient flare given the extreme nature of weather variables typical in Western Canada; consensus is therefore growing that the ultimate solution to this problem will probably involve the reduction of flaring.

Using flare gas for commercial purposes is probably the best alternative. This can be done by collecting the gas from a cluster of wells and delivering it to a central point where technologies applicable to larger gas volumes can be employed. Another option is to use the gas on site to produce electricity.

Another option is to inject the gas into a disposal well. Capital and operating costs for this method can be prohibitive and since the resource would be lost, there would be no payback involved.

It has been estimated that economic or marginally economic alternatives to flaring currently have the potential to reduce total emissions by 30 to 50 per cent; to achieve these results, however, substantial investments would be required.

One thing is certain: the atmospheric environment-related problems associated with flaring -- and public concern -- are only going to increase as our understanding of the implications of the practice grow. The environment and potential health issues associated with flaring therefore create a range of opportunities for business to become involved in environmental monitoring, in improving flaring technologies or in developing alternatives to flaring.

At least one Saskatchewan business is already playing an important role in ameliorating this problem. Kipp and Zonen Inc., which has a major management and manufacturing presence in Saskatoon, is a successful, world-leading scientific instruments firm involved in providing equipment for environmental monitoring in the oil industry.

Expertise and technologies being developed in Saskatchewan stands to find a large, international market, given the wide range of oil production around the world.

Stan Shewchuk is the Section Leader of Atmospheric Processes at the Saskatchewan Research Council.