Video Imaging Spectral Radiometry as an Alternative Monitoring Method for the Refinery Sector Rule. Presented by Yousheng Zenat the 2018 4C Conference.
Instrumentation for flare monitoring has been focused on the feed side, e.g., flow rate of vent gas and supplemental fuel, composition, net heating value, steam or air flow rate, etc. There is no instrumentation to provide feedback to the flare operator on how the flare is actually performing. This is due to the lack of technology that can continuously monitor the result of flare combustion. While other process units such as furnaces, reactors, scrubbers, etc. always have instruments to provide feedback, the flare is operated in the dark.
Now a new technology has been developed that can be used to remotely monitor flare performance and provide instant feedback to a flare operator. The technology is called Video Imaging Spectro-Radiometry (VISR), and it has been validated with full scale flares and extractive sampling tests. With VISR, a flare operator will have a dashboard that provides essential flare operation and performance parameters including directly measured combustion efficiency, level of smoke, flame stability, flame size, and heat released from flare combustion. With this flare dashboard, an operator finally has the information needed to operate the flare at peak performance day or night.
This course will cover flare feed side instrumentation (flow, temperature, pressure, online gas chromatography (GC) and calorimeter), VISR technology, and flare dashboard. Relevant regulatory compliance topics such as flare monitoring requirements in the Refinery Sector Rule will also be included in this class.
