Open Ground Flare systems - Hystorical review of a recent project from the concept to the commissioning, passing through R&D activities Presentation and Discussion of the Results of R&D activities as a basis for design and execution stage.

The more and more restrictive environmental laws and regulation applied in most of the projects all over the world led in the last years to the need to increase on one hand smokeless performances of assisted flares, to guarantee smokeless combustion up to Ringelmann 0, and, on the other hand to install staged enclosed ground flares or staged opened ground flare with totally hidden flames to avoid visible flames.

HAMWORTHY COMBUSTION ENGINEERING " O p e n G ro u n d F lare s y s te m s - H y sto ric a l re v ie w o f a re c e n t p ro je c t fro m th e c o n c e p t to th e c o m m is s io n in g , p a s s in g th ro u g h R & D activ itie s P re s e n ta tio n a n d D is c u s s io n o f th e R e s u lts o f R & D a c tiv itie s a s a b a s is fo r d e s ig n a n d e x e c u tio n s ta g e ." Enrico Giovanardi Engineering M a n ag e r Flares, Thermal Oxidisers a n d Acid G a s Burners Hamworthy C om bustion Italy AFRC 2011 Open Ground Flare systems Technical Paper HAMWORTHY COMBUSTION ENGINEERING 1. F o re w o rd T h e m ore a n d m ore restrictive environm ental laws an d regulation applied in m o st of the projects all over th e world led in th e last y e a rs to the n e e d to in cre a se on o n e hand s m o k e le s s perfo rm a n c e s of a s s is te d flares, to g u a ra n te e s m o k e le s s com bustion up to Ringelm ann 0 , and, on the o ther hand to install s ta g e d e n c lo se d ground flares or s ta g e d o p e n e d ground flare with totally hidden flam es to avoid visible flames. Hamworthy w a s a w a rd ed from P e tro b ra s - Brasil for the Design of the biggest ground flare of South America, disposing 750 Tons/Hr of hydrocarbon. This presentation will show, a s a key study, the d e v e lopm ent of the project, the highly successfully results achieved and the sy n ergies s h a re d b e tw e en the involved disciplines like CFD analysis and modelisation, te s ts and test rig preparation, design a n d prototype fabrication, radiation software prediction an d validation a g a in s t d a ta acquired, p o st­ p ro ce ssin g site testing an d site a c c e p ta n c e test. T h e full presentation shall detail all the following sh o rte n e d su b je c ts of this technical paper, with e x p o s u re of pictures a n d short videos. 2 . Presentation C ontent • S y s te m description • M echanical & Structural Design vs. P r o c e s s an d Thermal Design • 3 D Modelling • Flare/Burners Prototype Testing • CFD Simulation • Com m issioning • L e sson lea rn t AFRC 2011 Open Ground Flare systems Technical Paper HAMWORTHY COMBUSTION ENGINEERING 2. System description T h e d e s ig n e d ground flare consists mainly in th e following p arts a. b. c. d. e. f. A s ta g e d W e t Flare disposing 750 Tons/Hr of hydrocarbons a t max. rate. A sm aller sta g e d Cold Flare disposing 149 Tons/Hr of h ydrocarbons a t m ax.rate. A F e n c e with perim eter of 68 x62 mt. an d 18 mt. Height, e n o u g h to totally hide the flames. 307 "S pider" burners (300+ 7 wet+cold flare), s h a re d on 6+2 s ta g e s (wet + cold flare) Staging S ystem Autom atic FFG/HE Pilot ignition sy ste m with Fuel Skid & PLC for ignition control 3. 3D Modelling System was designed 100% with aid of 3D modelling to harmonise all involved disciplines AFRC 2011 Open Ground Flare systems Technical Paper HAMWORTHY COMBUSTION ENGINEERING 4. Simulating to scale test rig To finalise p ro c e s s design: a. Burner Type a n d Drilling w a s first se le c te d with single burners firing te s ts b. S e le c te d burner/drilling w a s again te s te d with different type of fuels from m e th a n e to heavy un sa tu ra te d hydrocarbons (P ropylene) c. a to s c a le G round F lare w a s built to perform flaring testing u n d e r different conditions The flame length - Propane - Test#1 AFRC 2011 Open Ground Flare systems Technical Paper HAMWORTHY COMBUSTION ENGINEERING 5. CFD CFD of Ground Flare emission has been simulated on large scale FLUENT6/3(3d*pbrisfspe.^Vel 6. Comm issioning Enrico Giovanardi is Flares and Thermal Oxidiser Engineering Manager at Hamworthy Combustion Italy. He has an MSc degree in Aerospace Engineering from Politecnico of Milan (Italy) and 15 years experience in design of combustion equipment. AFRC 2011 Open Ground Flare systems Technical Paper