CONTROL OF CASINGHEAD GAS FLARES FOR HARNESSING ENERGY

In oil rigs associated gases or casinghead gases have to be burned as flares as a safety measure to reduce excessive strain on the refinery equipments. To harness the energy of these non-premixed combustion flames, they should be stabilized or controlled and this should be done without obstructing the flow of gases. Attempt was to analyze whether a cylindrical enclosure with a tapered inlet could keep the flame stabilized enough for effective convective heat transfer and flame area large enough for radiative heat transfer or not. Digital image processing in MATLAB with candle flames and CFD analysis in ANSYS FLUENT was performed with enclosures of different dimensions. Results generated show that it is possible to control the flame with proper choice of angle of taper and diameter of enclosure. Based on the findings from the results schematic of a device to extract energy from gas flares has been also presented.