(31) CONSIDERATIONS FOR INCREASED EFFECTIVENESS OF TANK VAPOR COMBUSTION SYSTEMS AT PRODUCTION FACILITIES

With the recent proliferation of federal and state regulation in regards to allowable emissions limits from oil and gas production facilities, sound emissions control methods and their utilization have become increasingly more important.  Operator environmental compliance has been frequently emphasized by regulatory agencies, and using vapor combustion units (VCU’s) to limit the atmospheric exposure of volatile organic compounds (VOC’s) from on-site storage tanks is a practice that is seen with increasing regularity. The installation of VCU’s can be time sensitive to ensure regulatory compliance and, because of this, it is not uncommon for the importance of key variables to be underestimated or overlooked.  Throughout this paper, considerations are provided to bring several of these factors to the operators’ attention to ensure that the unit and associated piping is installed with maximum effectiveness.