Simulation Study to Minimize Soot and Unburnt Hydro Carbons from Steam Assisted Flares and Health Effects of Soot

Soot is a black powdery substance that consists mainly of carbon and is formed through the incomplete combustion of wood, coal, diesel oil or other materials. Flaring is a high-temperature oxidation process used to burn waste gases from industrial operations. Flare stacks used in industries are often assisted with steam to ensure complete combustion and to avoid any UBHCs. In this process, flares are often sooty due to insufficient steam. This results in black carbon from flares. The purpose of steam injection into flame zone is to reduce the amount of smoke from the flare, otherwise be created by combustion. Flare can achieve 98 % combustion efficiency during turn down operation with well controlled and proper designed steam supply system. US EPA rule 401 prohibits visible emissions in excess of Ringlemann 1 or 20 % opacity for periods exceeding more than three aggregate minutes within any hour. IR cameras cannot be used to keep a flare near the incipient smoke point at low flow rates. When wind direction changes, detecting smoke from flare tip is difficult with IR cameras. Adverse weather conditions like foggy weather will influence the performance of IR camera. Ultrasonic flow meters are the best suit for flow measurement in vent gas header. Ultrasonic flow meters are effectively employed at high turndown ratios. This paper explains the method of automatic control of soot from flares by using advanced control system with feed forward signal. Soot particles in the air are contributing factor in respiratory diseases. The fine particles (