Recent Developments and Current Insights in Ethylene Flare Technology: The Impact of Burner Design Vent Gas Variability and Ancillary Equipment

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Title Recent Developments and Current Insights in Ethylene Flare Technology: The Impact of Burner Design Vent Gas Variability and Ancillary Equipment
Creator Martin, M.
Contributor Beck, B.
Date 2016-09-13
Spatial Coverage Kauai, Hawaii
Subject 2016 AFRC Industrial Combustion Symposium
Description Paper from the AFRC 2016 conference titled Recent Developments and Current Insights in Ethylene Flare Technology: The Impact of Burner Design Vent Gas Variability and Ancillary Equipment
Abstract Pressure-assisted burners are used within multipoint flares in large numbers to provide smokeless operation without the use of steam or assist air. In the United States of America flares must conform to the regulations in 40 CFR 60.18 and 40 CFR 63.11 (40 CFR).; General observation has led to the conclusion that burner design and vent gas variability play a role in the performance of the system with regard to the thermal radiation emitted from the flame, the cross-lighting capability of the flare burners, the stability of the flame and the longevity of the flare fence and ancillary equipment.; Previous evaluation of flares for the region of stable operation has resulted in the use of exit velocity as the means of determining a stable flame. Pressure assisted flares violate the exit velocity criterion long used for flare flame stability determination, and as such the velocity limit method for determining DRE and flame stability cannot be applied.; As previously published and again reviewed for this work, neither combustion zone net heating value nor combustion zone flammability limit is a good predictor of combustion efficiency for pressure-assisted flares. While the style of the burner head is likely also significant in determining the combustion efficiency of the flare, all of the data available shows all burners of commercial quality outperformed current EPA requirements.; Analysis of thermal radiation data for a burner head of alternate design versus that of conventional design shows that for a given heat release, thermal radiation can be reduced by 15% with 95% confidence. Similarly a 49% reduction in flame length is possible with the same 95% confidence. The variability in the flame height for the burner head of alternate design is also reduced for a given vent gas flow rate.; A 16% reduction in the heating value required for cross lighting of burner flames is demonstrated through physical testing for a new burner of alternate design.; Further physical testing and data incorporated from public sources show it is plausible that the mole weight of only the flammable components of the vent gas provides an approximation to the maximum inert fraction of the vent gas allowable for stable flame.
Type Event
Format application/pdf
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ARK ark:/87278/s6q570jk
Setname uu_afrc
ID 1387938
Reference URL https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6q570jk
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