Industrial flares

The industrial flares are used for burning undesired gases or mixture of gases and liquids which forms as a consequence of unpredictable overpressures within the plant. The flares are used in many types of plants, for example oil wells, refineries, chemical industries, and landfills. The main function of a flare within a landfill is to burn methane, while in the other plants it has a protective function against unpredictable overpressures: in case of anomalous event, the safety valves convoy gases and liquids in excess toward the flare, where they are burned. The ignition of the flare as a consequence of an anomalous event generates a very long flame and the release of a huge quantity of heat. If the flare is not properly sized, its activation can generate serious damages to the human beings and the materials within and outside the plant.

Enviroware has developed a methodology based on the API 521 (American Petroleum Institute Recommended Practice) for the correct sizing of the flare and of the evaluation of its thermic and acoustic impact. The methodology, applied to many plants of natural gas, is based on a careful meteorological analysis of the site and the evaluation of the impact for a minimum period of one year with hourly resolution. The result of the study is a document which contains the correct size parameters of the flare, the maps of the impacts and the more risky area in case of the flare activation. Enviroware, collaborating with G and Z sas, can characterise chemically and physically the burning mixture by means of the Hysys software.