Glycol dehydrator emissions: Sampling and analytical methods and estimation techniques. Volume 1. Topical report, August 1991-April 1994

Increasing regulatory pressure has made organic compound emissions from glycol dehydrators a major concern for the oil and natural gas industry. The Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 have been the impetus for air toxics regulations, and several states are regulating or considering regulating emissions from glycol units. A key issue for glycol dehydrators is measuring or estimating emissions, since no standard methods have been established by regulatory agencies. The program involved extensive field testing at ten sites to compare sampling and analytical methods for measuring and estimating emissions. The results of the research show that GRI-GLYCalc is a cost-effective means of estimating emissions if the natural gas sampling is performed properly. However, GRI-GLYCalc may overpredict emissions, so the atmospheric rich/lean (ARL) glycol method may be used to more accurately quantify BTEX and VOC emissions for units with flash tanks.