Flare Burner Emission Measurement With Feedback Combustion Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Evaluating the performance of flare burners in the oil and gas industry is challenging due to unpredictable waste fluid content and external factors, leading to inefficient combustion and pollution from unburned emissions and fallout.
Innovation Solution
An emission controller apparatus that measures gas emissions from flare burners by using mast-supported probing tubes to sample flue gases, calculates emission flow rates, and adjusts burner parameters to optimize combustion efficiency and reduce pollution.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If flare burners are used to handle waste fluids, then waste fluid processing capability is improved, but hazardous gas emissions and pollution increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system continuously measures emissions using gas intake probes and analyzers, then feeds this data back to automatically adjust burner parameters (air flow, fuel flow, burner position) to minimize hazardous emissions while maintaining waste fluid processing efficiency
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically changes operational parameters including air-to-fuel ratio, burner elevation height, and burner orientation based on real-time emission measurements and environmental conditions to optimize combustion efficiency and reduce harmful emissions
2Reliability
If real-time emission measurement and control systems are implemented, then emission reduction effectiveness is improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs self-diagnosis and self-adjustment by automatically monitoring its own emissions and correcting suboptimal combustion conditions through automated control of burner parameters, reducing the need for external intervention and manual operation
Solution Approach 2:
The emission controller apparatus integrates multiple functions including emission measurement, data analysis, combustion optimization, and automated control into a single multi-functional system that handles both measurement and correction tasks
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Improves combustion efficiency and reduces hazardous gas emissions and fallout by providing real-time data-driven adjustments to flare burner operations.
Implementation Method 1
measuring gas emissions from a flare burner by disposing a plurality of gas intake probes in a flue gases plume generated by the flare burner to obtain gas samples of the flue gases
Implementation Method 2
determining concentrations of gas species included in the gas mixture by identifying a reference gas with a known chemical composition and/or known flow rate
Implementation Method 3
measuring gas emissions from a flare burner while burning waste fluid flows
Data Source
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AI summary
Methods, apparatus, systems, and articles of manufacture are disclosed to measure gaseous emissions of a flare burner. An example apparatus includes a data collector to obtain emission data corresponding to an emission gas generated by a flare burner, a parameter calculator to calculate a concentration of the emission gas relative to a reference gas, calculate a flow rate of the emission gas based on the reference gas, and determine whether the flow rate satisfies a threshold. The example apparatus further includes a burner configurator to adjust at least one of a configuration or an operational parameter of the flare burner when the flow rate does not satisfy the threshold, and operate the flare burner with at least one of the adjusted configuration or the operational parameter.