Water and Flare System

Hydrologic Cycle

Evaporation under the influence of sunlight takes water from a liquid to gaseous phase.

The water may condense in clouds as the temperature drops in the upper atmosphere.

Wind transports the water over great distances before releasing it in some form of precipitation.

As the water condenses and falls to the ground, it absorbs gases from the environment.

Introduction: Water use

Purified feed water and process streams can be a critical aspect of ensuring consistency in production and equipment performance.

Water is used for a wide variety of purposes in process operations:

extraction processes

steam stripping

reaction medium

equipment washing

Chemical Process Industry

Process Support

Plant Services

Process

Water Recycle

Dissolve compounds/ ingredients

Dilution of concentrate solution/ reactants

Washing of product at various stages

Direct temperature control

Indirect cooling/ heating

Production of steam

Equipment wash-up

Safety related activities – fire protection, deluge system

Maintenance and wash up

Employee potable use

Max cooling tower water recovery

Max return and reuse of non-contact cooling water

Segregation of clean stream from wastewater flows

Water Impurities

Dissolved and suspended solids are present in most surface waters.

Groundwater dissolves much material when it percolates through soil formation dissolved minerals and salts.

Use of fresh water in association with oil and gas activities

As gas plant cooling and boiler water;

As hydrostatic test water for pipelines and tanks

during workover of an oil or gas well

for sanitary purposes;

for laboratory purposes.

What is flare system?

A Flares are a key safety and environment management tool used in refineries and petrochemical facilities.

They will safely burn flammable waste gases which cannot be recovered or recycled in the processing plants and therefore avoid the release of emissions and odours.

Types Flare System:

Elevated Flare

Ground Flare

where the flare tip is approximately 30 metres above ground.

where the flare tip is at ground level, which is fenced off with heat shields to keep people at a safe distance from the heat produced when the flare is operating.

Uses of Flare System

Examples of when the flares need to be used include:

Taking the process plants off line for maintenance

Starting the process plants up following maintenance

When safety shutdowns activate

Purging of gases during plant operations

Utility interruptions such as power failures.

Impact of Flare System

The flares can have the following impacts off site:

Emissions/odours.

Noise

Smoke

Light/Flames

Ways to minimise the flare impact

Carry out the flaring in daylight hours as much as possible to minimise ‘out of hours’ impact

Limiting the size of flares for planned flaring

Rapid reduction of plant processing rates for significant interruptions to operations such as power failures

Regular performance monitoring and reviews of flare operation to improve.

Types of flares used in hydrocarbon and petrochemical industries

Single point flare

Multi-point flare

Enclosed flare

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