New Study Will Look At Flare Emissions
Scientists in Houston Texas will be looking into emissions from flares at refineries and chemical plants to asses how they contribute to smog.
The study is funded by the Texas Environmental Research Consortium, a nonprofit group founded in 2002 with a goal of studying ozone, a key ingredient in smog.
Note: Ozone is helpful in the upper atmosphere in protecting the planet from harmful UV rays. The industrial generation of this invisible gas here on the planet's surface contributes to lung damage in humans and animals.
It is estimated that 1,600 tons of smog-forming nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds, including benzene, are released into Houston's skies daily.
According to a University of North Carolina study formaldehyde from the flares mixes with other pollution increasing Houston's ozone levels by up to 30 parts per billion. Texas's current plan for smog reduction does not take emissions from the flares into account.
“If there is a problem with flares, it upends the entire regulatory strategy,” - Harvey Jeffries, atmospheric chemist
So far researchers have been finding high levels of benzene in the plume emissions. Benzene is an organic solvent known to cause a wide array of blood disorders such as myelodysplastic syndromes, aplastic anemia, and acute myelogenous leukemia.
