Purpose of the FLEX

Bold developed the FLEX (Flare Extinguisher) as a solution to decrease emissions on H2S treating locations during preventative maintenance or any upset scenario. The FLEX is a trailer mounted horizontal treater filled with a static bed of SGT-281. The FLEX can be included as part of the initial installation at the production facility or can easily be transferred in and out as needed.

Preventative maintenance is needed periodically on all equipment operated with non-regenerative H2S scavengers to remove byproducts and any contaminants from the vessel. Routine preventative maintenance also ensures maximum treating efficiency throughout operations. Our team has optimized the time between maintenance specifically for our equipment. The frequency between maintenance dates is based on the pounds of sulfur produced by the well and size of Bold’s Continuous Treating Systems (CTS) or other H2S scavenging equipment that is treating the gas.

Operations

Bold forecasts maintenance dates based on operating conditions, which helps our customers with budgeting for the year. At the time of maintenance, the FLEX is mobilized to location, if not already installed, and placed in series to Bold’s permanent H2S treating vessel, the CTS. The sour gas flows through both the CTS in series with the FLEX. Once the FLEX bed temperature is equalized with the CTS bed temperature, the CTS is bypassed and treating continues through the FLEX. The CTS is then depressurized, and the preventative maintenance process begins. Once completed, the process is reversed, the CTS is put back in service, and the FLEX is bypassed.

Impact of the FLEX on Customers

When a traditional preventative maintenance is needed, the customer must bypass the H2S treating vessel and send the sour gas to flare. Our FLEX solution allows customers to continue to sell gas throughout the maintenance process without sending sour gas to flare. This accomplishes four things:

1. Increased revenue from selling gas during maintenance
2. Decreased emissions
3. More predictable production forecast
4. Savings on permits needed to flare gas

Below is an example of a Bold treating application with the simulated emissions eliminated. The operating conditions and gas analysis used in the simulation are from one of Bold’s treating sites in the Permian Basin.

Table 1. A treating application for Bold

Bold’s 72” CTS can remove 25,000 pounds of sulfur from a gas stream before needing maintenance. In this application, the 72” CTS would need maintenance approximately every 2 months assuming no production upsets or other downtime from the well or pipeline.

A typical maintenance of a 72” CTS takes 12-48 hours. This entire maintenance period lasted approximately 24 hours from initial bypass into the FLEX to bringing the CTS back into full service. The simulated emissions assumed a flare combustion rate of 98%. Without the FLEX, the gas would be sent to flare which would result in the following emissions:

Table 2. Emissions Saved using the FLEX

The total emissions eliminated using the FLEX was 245,552 lbs. for this maintenance cycle.

Assuming 6 preventative maintenance events throughout the year, this results in 736 tons of emissions saved per year.

Other than decreasing emissions, the FLEX also increases revenue from selling gas during maintenance. At $4 / MMBtu and a gas flow rate of 1.5 MMSCFD, the FLEX resulted in $6,240 of revenue in additional gas sales for that 24 hour maintenance period.

Overview

A modular approach to Engineering and Manufacturing is one of Bold’s key differentiators. Modular equipment drastically reduces on location construction time and total scope, leading to significant savings versus a traditional unit comprised of multiple pieces of equipment requiring civil work and interconnecting piping. We saw the benefits of this methodology when our customer called us with a challenge.

The customer that contacted us provides clean fuel power solutions. Upon startup at one of their locations they began experiencing issues with their natural gas fuel source having excessive amounts of water saturated in the stream. This led to operational headaches and downtime. They contacted Bold around 7PM asking if we could provide a solution. After discussing the application and desired outcome, our B-DRY Modular 300MBtu/hr Glycol Dehydration Unit was determined to be the solution by our Engineering team.

As we began to establish the project timeline, the challenge only grew. When asked when the solution was needed by, the answer was “yesterday.”  At 10PM all the disciplines from Operations met to divide responsibilities and execute planning the project. By 12AM logistics, construction equipment, lease crew, glycol initial fill, and project management had all been organized and confirmed for an 8AM pickup and a 10AM start of work.

At 10AM all parties were on location to complete our JSA and outline the scope of work and responsibilities for the day. Over the next 6 hours the dehydration unit was offloaded, assembled, filled with glycol, instrumentation and electronics were completed, and the unit was ready to be brought into service. The customer tied the unit into the facility and by the end of the day the unit was in service dehydrating the fuel gas stream to 2 lb H₂O/MMSCF. In addition to meeting the required process conditions, the customer also had access to remote readings for all instrumentation on the unit. The outlet gas water content was measured and monitored continuously allowing the customer to ensure the unit was performing and they would not experience any additional operational challenges with the power generation unit.

The modular design was the key enabler for the execution of this project. If multiple trucks, cranes, and additional on location mechanical and civil work would have been required we could not have executed in less than a 24 hour period. When paired with flawless and safe execution from Operations the project was a tremendous success.

Our customer was grateful and impressed we were able to pull this project together overnight.  We are grateful for partners like them challenging us and placing their trust in Bold to help them provide solutions and solve problems, regardless of how insurmountable they might seem.

New projects always bring a sense of urgency and excitement. When the project is with a new customer that feeling is amplified. After pursuing a customer for we were finally awarded an opportunity with them in the Permian Basin. Being a new customer we had a significant Bold presence on location: HSE, Sales, Engineering, Operations, and upper management including CEO all showed up to assist and execute the project.

Our objective with this project was to reduce the total treating cost for the location. The H2S concentration and total gas flow were both higher than anticipated, which made the existing treating provider uneconomical. One challenge that made our solution attractive was difficulty disposing the existing hazardous chemical after it was spent. With SGT-281 they spent chemical byproducts are non-hazardous and can be disposed of easily at a salt water disposal or via other methods. Bold’s turnkey model was also another major driver. The customer had grown quickly and was having the same difficulty as everyone else at the time – finding quality people. Bold providing full operations and service allowed them to lean on a third party and not add any additional stress to their existing resources.

With all hands on deck the project was executed safely and efficiently. As you will see in the timeline the unit was set and ready to be commissioned within 6 hours from first stepping on location.

The customer was impressed with the modular equipment and ease of installation. Once the unit was brought online the operations were seamless and the unit consistently stayed within the outlet H2S specification. After a month of run time the numbers were accumulated and presented to the customer showing a significant cost savings in total spend as well as the key metric of dollars spent per pound of sulfur removed.

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The Timeline

8:00 AM – BOLD arrived on location
8:15 AM – JSA complete
8:20 AM – Crane mobilize
8:30 AM – Truck on location
9:15 AM – Main skid set
9:30 AM – Spent solution scrubber offloaded
9:40 AM – Inlet/outlet flanges bolted up
9:50 AM – Spent solution scrubber set in place
9:50 AM – PSVs bolted up
10:00 AM – Skids bolted together
10:00 AM – Inlet/outlet piping complete
10:20 AM – Tower stood
10:45 AM – Chemical make-up tank and stand set
11:10 AM – Tubing complete
11:30 AM – CTS mechanically complete
12:15 PM – Chemical make-up tank filled with 800 gallons
1:45 PM – I&E complete
2:00 PM – Contactor filled with 4200 gallons and BOLD off location

Customer is ready to open up and start treating!!

This is the first of many installs/projects we’ll be blogging about!  Each will present a new challenge and we welcome it.

Cost Savings.  This will be a topic of conversation for quite some time.  That’s ok though, because BOLD has a solution.

Let’s talk coolers.  Gas coolers and liquid coolers…the industry standard has been a conventional skid mounted gas or liquid cooling unit that is powered by an engine driven motor that is attached to it.  We thought, “How can we reduce our customer’s costs with this type of product?”

Logistics, telemetry, maintenance fleet, safety…these were all important measures we looked at.

A). Conventional Cooling Units will cost thousands of dollars to mobilize.  You need either a winch truck or a large double drop trailer with a crane to load and offload, yet still have to pay for a permit load.  Those are substantial costs our Customers had to worry about.  What happens if a cooler is set and the well ends up needing an intervention?  Guess what, that truck and crane have to come back out, wait, and reset.  That’s right…sky rocketing costs incur, including down time that nobody can afford right now.  Then what happens if the cooler needs to be moved to a new well?  Same costs.  See the pattern?

BOLD SOLUTION? Our B-Cool Total Flow Mobile Coolers are on trailers that can be hauled with a 3/4 ton (F-250).  The trailer connection is a standard 2 5/16 gooseneck ball.  This simplified logistics for our Customer and eliminated thousands of dollars they would typically incur.

B). Conventional Cooling Units have their own engine driven motor attached to each unit.  This means multiple PM’s, and emissions from each unit. On a 9 well pad with 9 BOLD Coolers we will have one natural gas generator with 1 PM.  The conventional approach is 9 skid or block mounted coolers with 9 engines that will all need PMs and the emission footprint is a note-worthy topic for most Operators.

BOLD SOLUTION?  We have mobile natural gas powered electric generators that we can deploy and have the capability to power up to 9 mobile coolers.  That’s 1 PM and substantial emissions reduction (i.e 9 conventional coolers will have 9 sources of emissions vs 9 BOLD total flow coolers with 1 mobile natural gas generator; having 1 source of emissions)

C). Conventional Cooling Units may not all have redress documentation and updated certifications.  Nor will they all be equipped with the robust technology to monitor flow data 24/7/365.

BOLD SOLUTION?   SAFETY is key.  With our B-Cool Fleet being new and still growing, the tube quality and piping infrastructure is superior.  In addition, we provide all redress documentation and certifications on each unit before they deploy.  Also, each unit has full scale telemetry where you can monitor, inlet/outlet pressure and temperature, ambient temperature, vibration, and VFD speed.   This can eliminate the need/liability for manpower on location to check cooler status.

There are so many “cool” features to this product and the fact that we have reduced our Customer’s project expenses on a rental asset, service costs, and emissions is a big win for both parties!

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