Weekly Update: The Bleeding Edge

U.S. EPA and DOE Join Forces to Combat Methane Emissions: A Process Ecology Perspective

In a significant move towards combatting climate change and curbing the harmful effects of methane emissions, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) have recently announced an unprecedented partnership. This collaboration, which allocates over $1 billion in funding from President Biden's Investing in America Agenda, is aimed at reducing wasteful methane emissions originating from the oil and gas sector, a major contributor to the climate crisis. This groundbreaking initiative reflects the government's commitment to protect the environment and promote sustainable practices. From a Process Ecology perspective, this joint effort holds grea...

article author information By Mariana Domínguez, B.A.

Relief Calculations: What to expect

IntroductionRelief calculations pose a unique engineering problem. In almost all other process calculations we have the benefit of actual performance to guide the refinement of our calculations. This is a luxury we don’t have for typical relief calculations. That is, even though the engineering prin...

By Mo Abouelhassan

Air emissions management November 18, 2020

Summary of Alberta's TIER Regulations

BackgroundIncreases in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions due to the use of fossil fuels is a key contributor to climate change. To limit catastrophic impacts of climate change in the future, carbon pricing has emerged as the most cost-effective approach to mitigate the impact of GHG emissions.Alberta a...

By Samaneh Hajipour, Ph.D. P.Eng.

Natural gas processing November 16, 2020

Hydrogen Production through Electrolysis

Hydrogen: An efficient alternative fuel As companies looked toward a more sustainable future, hydrogen gained popularity as a viable alternative fuel. It is clear to see the appeal of hydrogen energy since it produces zero carbon emissions when it is combusted. The question then is, how is hydrogen...

By Gabriel Mathias

Training and support October 30, 2020

Simulating Pressure Profile in HYSYS

Updated 2020For most unit operations in HYSYS (Steady-State), pressure profiles and/or pressure changes in equipment are specified parameters. Often one needs to more accurately model pressure profile, such as when plant pressure drop is estimated in order to determine compression requirements. This...

By James Holoboff, M.Sc., P. Eng.

PSV Sizing for Fire Cases: Is a dynamic model worth the time?

Pressure Safety Valve Sizing For many in our field, Pressure Safety Valve (PSV) sizing is considered to be a relatively simple task that can be performed in a matter of minutes by process engineers with enough experience. Many myths and misconceptions about this task have appeared over the years, as...

By Jairo Duran, PhD

Air emissions management September 28, 2020

Estimating Heat Losses in Heavy Oil Pipelines

It goes without saying that we are in a major energy transition as the drive to reduce carbon emissions and focus on other energy sources is intensifying. Many companies and jurisdictions have pledged to be “net-zero emissions”, with widely varying plans to actually accomplish this.Oil and gas will...