Landfill gas extraction flare

Abstract

A landfill methane burner flare has a methane riser within a shroud. The methane riser terminates in a series of spuds that are bent to promote turbulence and mixing in methane passing through and out of the spuds. Louvers can be positioned in the riser to selectively establish a methane gas pressure within the riser, and / or louvers can be positioned between the methane riser and shroud to selectively establish combustion air flow in the flare.

Description

I. FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0001] The present invention relates generally to landfill gas extraction systems. II. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] Landfills produce methane gas which must be extracted from the landfills. In some cases, this can be done passively, simply by placing open pipes in the landfill through which the methane can vent. For environmental reasons, however, many localities require that the methane be eliminated as much as possible by actively directing the methane through a flare, which burns the gas. [0003] Two types of flares are generally provided. The first type is referred to as a utility flare, which has a cylindrical shroud with an open top, above which a flame appears when the flare is burning gas. A methane riser extends from the ground into the shroud, with the bottom of the shroud generally being above the ground and supported on the riser. The methane is pumped up through the riser and out of an outlet into the shroud, where an ignition device ignit...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

The reason that better turndown ratios have not been achieved are many, but include the fact that most flares cannot be optimized for any particular methane flow rate, but instead must be able to burn methane at what often are widely varying and unpredictable methane flow rates.

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