US 11,814,591 B1
Recovering gaseous hydrocarbons as fuel on site
Darren Schmidt, Williston, ND (US)
Assigned to Energy and Environmental Research Center Foundation, Grand Forks, ND (US)
Filed by Energy and Environmental Research Center Foundation, Grand Forks, ND (US)
Filed on Feb. 17, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/171,019.
Application 18/171,019 is a continuation in part of application No. 18/047,378, filed on Oct. 18, 2022, granted, now 11,697,773.
Application 18/047,378 is a continuation of application No. 17/811,016, filed on Jul. 6, 2022, granted, now 11,505,750.
Int. Cl. C10G 5/06 (2006.01); C10G 31/06 (2006.01)
CPC C10G 5/06 (2013.01) [C10G 2300/4012 (2013.01); C10G 2400/28 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
 
1. A method of recovering gaseous hydrocarbons from tank headspace as fuel on-site, the method comprising:
flowing a hydrocarbon gas composition from headspace of a tank fed by a secondary separator into a compressor to form a compressed mixture, wherein the secondary separator accepts a crude liquid hydrocarbon input stream from a primary separator, wherein the primary separator comprises a crude hydrocarbon input stream and comprises an output stream comprising the crude liquid hydrocarbon stream that is inputted to the secondary separator;
flowing the compressed mixture into a cooling unit to cool the compressed mixture, to form a cooled composition comprising liquid hydrocarbons;
flowing the cooled composition to a buffer tank to form a buffered fuel composition;
removing a fuel gas composition from headspace of the buffer tank; and
combusting the fuel gas composition as an on-site fuel.