The British Flame Research Committee Investigation of the Methane Destruction Efficiency of Flares

Background 

im体育APP Digital Engineering were approached by an 石油 & Gas operator on behalf of the British Flame Research Committee 进行 Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) 模拟s on a damaged flare tip. The aim was to carry out transient CFD 模拟s and determine the destruction efficiency of methane. This was done to inform the 石油 & Gas industry about the reality of the destruction efficiency of flares in comparison to the industry-accepted values of 98-99% efficiency. 

所面临的挑战 

The challenge of this work was both to run transient CFD 模拟s of a damaged flare tip with multiple crosswind velocities and to accurately model the physics of combustion. This meant that the model needed to be optimized for capturing the region of the plume as well as capturing the combustion of methane. The crosswind needed to be modeled to interact with the flow of methane accurately as well. 下面这个, a calculation of all the methane destroyed in the fluid domain had to be carried out to determine the destruction efficiency of the flare tip. 

解决方案 

The solution showed that the destruction efficiency assumed by the 石油 & Gas industry is far higher than what is actually predicted by CFD (around 18% higher). Parallel work using a different method came to a similar conclusion. This indicated that the 石油 & Gas industry is operating with an unrealistic assumption for destruction efficiency which could be leading to greater environmental damage. More research work is needed to ensure the 石油 & Gas industry is operating with accurate data regarding the destruction efficiency of their flares. 

结果 

The result of this work has allowed for more research to take place in this field with validation methods being developed to ensure that CFD can be compared to experimental data. This will allow for better predictive capabilities for 石油 & Gas clients who utilize im体育APP Digital Engineering’s CFD studies for their equipment.

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