Module 11B Flare System

Training Program on
Basic Process Engineering Practices

July 25, 2017 1

 What is Flaring?
Flaring is a combustion control process in which waste gases are
piped to a remote, usually elevated location and burned in an open
flame in the open air.
A specially designed burner tip, auxiliary fuel, and steam or air are
used to promote mixing for nearly complete combustion (>98 %).
The flaring process can produce undesirable by-products, including
noise, smoke, heat radiation, light, SOx, NOx, CO, and an undesired
source of ignition. However, proper design can minimize these.

Flare Tip

Process Equipment

Flare Header

Process Equipment Water

Flare K.O Drum
seal

July 25, 2017 2

 Purpose of Flare System

Process plant can be subjected to excessive overpressure or

under-pressure due to process upset conditions.

Safety Valves or Rupture Discs prevent the equipment from

reaching overpressure condition i.e. protects it from exceeding
design pressure by releasing the excess gases.

The gases released in a process plant is generally hazardous.

Primary purpose of flare system is to safely take the released
gases to a flare stack and burn it.

Flare system is also used for burning gases due to emergency

venting. Example of emergency venting- Gas flaring when a
consumer shuts down.

July 25, 2017 3

 Causes of Over-pressure

External fire

Blocked Valve

Process abnormality or mal-operation

Equipment or service / utility failure

Changes in ambient conditions

Runaway chemical reaction

Flare system is used to destroy flammable, toxic or corrosive

vapors, from relief valves or emergency venting.

July 25, 2017 4

 Flare System Design Factors

Key design factors to ensure flare safety and performance

include:

Smokeless operation

Flame stability

Flare size, capacity, stack diameter

Thermal radiation

Noise level

Reliable pilot and ignition system

Flashback protection
July 25, 2017 5
 Flare Network Components
Pilot
Flare Tip Burner
Process (Unit 1)
Mol Seal

Fuel Gas
Unit Flare HDR

PC

Main
Flare
HDR
Flare
Stack

Air
Process (Unit 2)

Flare
Fuel Gas
Unit Flare HDR Ignition
System

Flare K.O Drum Water

seal

Incinerator
Fuel Gas (2) Pump

July 25, 2017 6

 Flare Types

Flares are generally categorized in two ways:

1) by the height of the flare tip (i.e., ground or elevated) and
2) by the method of enhancing mixing at the flare tip (i.e., steam-
assisted, air-assisted, pressure-assisted, or non- assisted).

Elevating the flare can prevent potentially dangerous

conditions of high radiation at ground level or operating area of
a process unit. The distance and height of the flare stack is set
by radiation calculations (API RP 521)
Further, the products of combustion can be dispersed above
working areas to reduce the effects of noise, heat, smoke, and
objectionable odors. Dispersion and ground level concentration
of pollutants from flare also may set the height of the flare
stack.

July 25, 2017 7

 Flare Types, Contd...

Smoke problem

Cracking can occur with the formation of small hot particles of

carbon that give the flame its characteristic luminosity. If there is an
oxygen deficiency and if the carbon particles are cooled to below
their ignition temperature, smoking occurs.Non-assisted flares are
more prone to smoking.

Non- assisted flares

The non-assisted flare is just a flare tip without an auxiliary
provision for enhancing the mixing of air into its flame. Its use is
generally limited to gas streams that burn readily without
producing smoke.

July 25, 2017 8

 Flare Types, Contd...

Assisted flares
In assisted flares, induction of air for combustion and mixing are
enhanced by various means described below.

Steam assisted flares

Steam is injected into the combustion zone to promote turbulence
for mixing and to induce air into the flame.

Air assisted flares

Some flares use forced air to provide the combustion air and the
mixing required for smokeless operation.

Pressure assisted flares

Gas pressure is kept high at the battery limit of the flare to promote
mixing at the burner tip.
July 25, 2017 9
 Flare Hardware Components

Steam
Assisted
Flare

Safety Relief and

Flare Header

July 25, 2017 10

 Steps on Designing Flare System
Identify Systems
For Relief
Protection

Determine
Identify Cases Select Set
Controlling Load
For Over-pressure Pressures
For Each Relief

Select Stack Select Type Of Estimate

Height, Diameter Flare Tip, Worst Scenario
And Distance Seals For the Plant

Line Sizing &

Equipment
P&ID Piping Layout
Specification
For Flare System

July 25, 2017 11

 Determining Flare Load in a Plant

The first step is to analyze the causes of overpressure in

various equipment and systems and calculate the loads due
to safety valve popping.
External fire
Process abnormality or mal-operation
Equipment or service / utility failure
Changes in ambient conditions
Runaway chemical reaction
Once the loads are calculated, they are systematically
tabulated under above heads.
The chances of simultaneously occurring failures dictate the
flare load
July 25, 2017 12
 Examples of Safety Valve Sizing Cases

Fire Case- required to be estimated for vessels 25 feet from ground. Heat
flux due to fire is taken as 21 or 34.5 MBtu/Hr/Sq. ft.

Surface up to 25 ft x heat flux x absorption factor x insulation factor.

API RP-521 (1993) gives the equation,

Q= 21,000 x F x A 0.82 Where, Q= Heat absorption in wetted area.

A= Wetted area in sq. ft.
F= Environment Factor
(F=1 for bare surface, 0.15-0.3 for insulated surface)
NFPA

Q= 21,000 x F x A 0.84 Where, (F=0.3 for bare water sprayed, buried or

insulated surface)

July 25, 2017 13

 Examples of Safety Valve Sizing Cases

Blocked Flow- inadvertently closed block valve, failed-

shut control valve, power failure, pump failure with
upstream vessel level affected.

Tube rupture-differential pressure between shell side and

tube side to be evaluated.

Control valve failure- due to air failure or other causes.

Power failure resulting pump failure, instrument air

failure, failure of agitator in vessel etc.

July 25, 2017 14

 Examples of Safety Valve Sizing Cases

Steam related failure- can cause excessive steam

pressure due to fail open valve, stoppage of steam supply
with low vaporization and rising levels, high vapor load
due to excess steam.

Reflux failure- causes vapor overload. Since column is at

ground level fire case usually controls.

Thermal relief- Blocked liquid line with heat load like

steam tracing or solar radiation.

Runaway chemical reaction- should be specially

evaluated from licensor information. Usually this case or
fire case controls the PSV sizing.

July 25, 2017 15

 Over-pressure: Blocked Discharge Case

This can happen when there is a sudden closure of valve in

any flowing pipeline. In this case, the safety valves provided
on pipeline or equipment need to be designed on full flow
rate

Block
discharge
from well
head

Oil manifold

July 25, 2017 16

 Heat Exchanger Tube Failure

When there is a wide difference in design pressure between

the two exchanger sides and the low pressure side is
designed at a pressure less than two-third of design
pressure of high pressure side, a relief valve is required at
the low pressure side

Tube Side Shell Side

July 25, 2017 17

 Utility Failure Example Cooling Water Failure

When there is a sudden failure

of cooling water in overhead
Condenser condensers of distillation
column, the column pressure
Top product starts increasing due to loss of
reflux after 5-10 minutes.
Feed Distillation
Column
To overcome this, a relief valve
is required that can vent the
Reboiler
additional quantity of vapor
Bottom product generated to flare.

July 25, 2017 18

 Control Equipment Failure- Oversupply of Heat

When the control of fuel supply

or steam supply to reboiler
Condenser fails, there could be excessive
heating resulting in rise in
Top product column temperature and over-
pressurization.
Feed Distillation
Column
To overcome this, a relief valve
is required that can vent the
Reboiler
additional quantity of vapor
Bottom product generated to flare.

July 25, 2017 19

 Selecting the Set Pressure

Depending on temperature rating of the equipment and

material of construction, design pressure or maximum
allowable working pressure (MAWP) is decided.

The set pressure of safety valve is to be equal or lower

than design pressure. It is guided by codes like API 520.

July 25, 2017 20

 Relief Line Sizing- Guidelines
No PSV inlet line pressure drop should be greater than 3%
of the set pressure.

PSV discharge side should be at least one size higher

than the inlet side.

PSV discharge side pressure drop should not be more

than 10% of the set pressure.

Back pressure on safety valve should not exceed 10% of

set pressure. For bellows type safety valve it can be
higher.
There should be no restriction on relief lines full bore LO
valves, no Restriction orifice, no flame arrestor etc.

Be aware of limitations of sonic flow. Sonic flow limits

maximum possible flow in a line. Do not exceed 50% of
sonic velocity.
July 25, 2017 21
 Flare System Hardware and Network Design

After completing the design of process systems, a final flare

and relief analysis of process system should be done.

A comparative study of flare and relief loads should be

determined and the worst scenario foreseen.

Based on the worst conditions, flare load is designed.

Based on the controlling flare load, the flare equipment and

system hardware are designed-
Network of relief lines from numerous equipment with
main flare header
Flare k o drum
Liquid transfer pumps
Flare stack are designed.
July 25, 2017 22
 Flare Stacks

Flare stacks are of three types:

Self Supported Derrick Supported Guy Supported

July 25, 2017 23

 Stack Height

The height and distance of a flare is determined by the ground

level limitations of:

thermal radiation intensity,

luminosity,

noise,

height of surrounding structures, and

the dispersion of the exhaust gases.

API RP 521 sets the guidelines for radiation and dispersion

calculations.

July 25, 2017 24

 Stack Height Contd..

Solar Radiation
API RP 521 provides guidelines for radiation limits for
estimating stack height.

An industrial flare is normally sized for a maximum heat

intensity of 1,500-2,000 Btu/hr-sq ft when flaring at its maximum
design rate. At this heat intensity level, workers can remain in
the area of the flare for a limited period only.

If, however, operating personnel are required to remain in the

unit area, the recommended design flare radiation level
excluding solar radiation is 500 Btu/hr-sq ft.

The solar radiation is in the range of 250-330 Btu/hr-sq ft.)

July 25, 2017 25
 Stack Height Contd..

Flare height may also be determined by the need to safely disperse

the vent gas in case of flameout.

The height in these cases would be based on dispersion modeling

for the particular installation conditions.

The minimum flare height normally used is 30 feet.

July 25, 2017 26

Cold Vent

In cases where the safety relief valves are small in number and
venting possibilities are minimal, cold venting of natural gas
can be carried out in stead of flaring.

The gas should be mainly methane (much lighter than air) so

that it goes up and disperses in the air much above operating
level.

Cold venting is also done for atmospheric storage tanks or

where adequate back pressure for flare system is not available.

July 25, 2017 27

 Flaring from Atmospheric Tanks
Atmospheric Storage Tank designed as per API 650 can
not tolerate back pressure of flare system. They need to
be vented.

Atmospheric Storage Tanks for refrigerated liquids

designed as per API 620 (500 mm water) can be
connected to flare.

Refrigerated
Atmospheric
Storage tank

Flare stack

Atmospheric
storage tank

Vent stack
July 25, 2017 28
 Codes and Guidelines
API RP 520 Sizing, selection, and installation of pressure
relieving devices in refineries
Part I Sizing and Selection, 1993.
Part II Installation, 1994.
API RP 521 Guide for pressure-relieving and depressuring
systems, 1997.
API RP 526 Flanged Steel Safety Relief Valves, Fourth
Edition, 1995.
API RP 527 Seat Tightness of Pressure Relief Valves, Third
Edition, 1991.
API Std 2000 Venting atmospheric and low pressure storage
tanks: Non-refrigerated and refrigerated, 1998.
API RP 2521 Use of pressure-vacuum vent valves for
atmospheric Loss, First Edition, 1966.
July 25, 2017 29