Flaring is one of the most controversial ,yet important, parts of operating an active oil or gas pumping operation. The volatile gases produced during drilling and pumping build up and pressurize, creating both fire and explosion risks unless they’re safely disposed of on a regular basis. The safest way to do this is to funnel the gas into a long pipe and burn it off in a process known as flaring. While this is simply the process of using up small amounts of excess gases, it’s commonly seen as a wasteful and harmful practice. It’s far less of a pollution risk than many people assume, as long as the flare stack itself is surrounded by a pit. Learn why a flare stack pit is a necessary feature and why it needs a liner of its own.
Protection from Concentrated Runoff
Flare stacks don’t contain any liquids on their own, so it’s easy to assume there’s no need for spill protection. However, the burning process creates plenty of liquid residues that drip down the flaring stack pipe and gather at the base of it. This residue is heavily concentrated with all sorts of hazardous chemicals, heavy metals, and hydrocarbon by-products. As a highly hazardous waste, it should be handled just like other processed water products and sealed in a pit or well at the end of the oilfield’s operation. Yet, you can’t do that if the wastewater simply drips on the bare soil and soaks into it. Building a pit around the flare stack gives you a chance to gather and remove this highly caustic, black sludge before it can damage the flaring equipment as well.
Choosing a Liner
These flare stack pits need the same kind of hydrocarbon compatible, tear resistant liners as any other pit in the oilfield. However, this pit is relatively shallow compared to other reserve ponds and will likely see less wear and tear over time. As long as you choose a reinforced liner material, you can most likely try a thinner and less durable material than you would use for other types of more intensive waste storage pits. Don’t skip the reinforced design though, since these pits tend to be highly exposed and at an elevated risk for weathering from the elements. Reinforced polyethylene, or RPE, is a particularly good fit for this kind of pit.
Emptying the Pit
Unless the drilling operation is flaring day and night, it’s likely not going to produce enough waste products to need any real emptying until the end of the operation. As long as the pit is a few feet deep and stretches out around the footprint of the flare stack, it should have enough volume to capture the small amount of runoff produced during each flaring. There’s no sludge or solid waste to take up most of the space in the pit, so it should have a much lower risk of overflow even when the flare stack is operated daily.
Watch out for the concentrated, waste liquid produced by safety features like the flare stack on an oilfield. Runoff isn’t a problem as long as you excavate a small pit around the base of the stack and keep it properly lined to stop the liquid from soaking into the ground. Our petroleum-resistant liners here at BTL Liners are up to the task.
