Ground Flares

In December 2012, the company was recognized as an advanced unit in the first industry integrity construction, and in January 2018, it was awarded the "National Taiwan Cup" for integrity fulfillment for the year 2017. In April 2024, the company passed ISO 9001/2002 international quality management system certification, ISO 14001 environmental management system certification, and OHSAS 18001/GB/T 28001 occupational health and safety management system certification AAA certification.

Introduction to the Facility


The ground flare is a special combustion facility used to handle combustible and flammable toxic gases and vapors that cannot be recovered and reprocessed by petrochemical plants, refineries, and other factories or installations. The flare system is a crucial measure to ensure safe production in factories and reduce environmental pollution.


The ground flare system ensures that when gas needs to be discharged, it can be safely and reliably burned off in a timely manner, achieving low-noise and smokeless combustion during operation.


The ground flaring system mainly consists of control valves, ground flares (composed of burner groups, radiation protection insulation covers, and protective walls), and an automatic ignition system for the ground flare.


Introduction to the Ground Flare


The ground flare system can completely control the gas discharge combustion flame within the radiation protection insulation cover, making the flame invisible from the outside. It minimizes the impact of thermal radiation and noise on workers and surrounding equipment. The ground flare mainly consists of a foundation, safety protective walls, burner groups, radiation protection insulation covers, and an ignition system.


The foundation of the ground flare includes: the installation foundation for the burner group, the installation foundation for the radiation protection insulation cover, and the foundation for the safety protective wall and pipeline supports. The foundation of this flare is designed by the company according to the parameters of various flare devices, and the client designs it based on site geological conditions, meteorological conditions, and required seismic fortification intensity combined with equipment installation requirements.


The main function of the safety protective wall is to prevent personnel from entering the flare, avoiding danger; it provides thermal insulation and soundproofing, ensuring that thermal radiation and noise within a certain height range meet the standards and specifications listed in 'Section Two'; during extreme events such as flare detonation or explosion, it can withstand the shock of the explosion without damage and force the explosion wave to dissipate upwards without harming personnel and equipment on the ground.


Calculation of Safety Distance


D -- the minimum distance from the flame center to the target object, in meters (m);
τ -- thermal radiation transmission factor;
F -- received thermal radiation factor;
Q -- heat discharge (lower heat value) (kW);
K -- allowable radiation value (kW/m²). For closed flares, due to the heat from the combustion at the flare head rising to the top of the flare cylinder, the temperature drop is significant. According to the Stefan-Boltzmann law in heat transfer, the radiation capacity of the gas is proportional to the fourth power of the absolute temperature of the gas, where Tt is the theoretical combustion temperature of the discharged gas, and Tf is the actual temperature of the flue gas.


Based on the above formula, the safety protection distance for the ground flare is calculated. The thermal radiation coefficient F is 0.3, assuming the τ value is 1.0, the released heat Q is 6.3X10^5 kW, and the maximum allowable radiation K for the flare is 6.3 kW/m². The thermal radiation spreading from the flare is small, and the thermal radiation value outside the closed body can be less than 1.6 kW/m², which can reduce the area of the protection zone. This means that the requirement for areas with personnel around the ground flare is that the radiation value must be below 1.6 kW/m². For example, in summer at noon, the maximum solar radiation is 0.73 kW/m², and the highest temperature does not exceed 40 degrees (maximum 50), while in winter it is 0.23 kW/m². Therefore, the requirement for the ground is that the radiation value must be below 1.6 kW/m², which also means that areas with frequent personnel presence should not exceed 100 degrees, ensuring that thermal radiation does not affect human health.


Types and Composition


The flare system is a facility that safely and effectively discharges gases or liquids released during refining or petrochemical processes. Its normal operation is crucial to prevent disasters due to emergencies such as fires or power outages. Flare types vary based on different classification methods. They can be categorized into ground flares and elevated flares based on whether the burner is away from the ground, and into single-point combustion flares and multi-burner flares based on the form of the flare burner.


Ground flares typically refer to closed flares but also include ground multi-burner flares, mainly selected based on the amount of accidental discharge. The former is mainly used in chemical plants with smaller discharge amounts, while the latter is primarily used in ethylene and natural gas projects with larger discharge amounts. In addition to the general components of flares, such as burners, igniters, flame detectors, buoyancy or velocity seals, gas-liquid separation tanks, flammable gas detectors, liquid seals, pipelines, smoke elimination control systems, and radiation protection equipment, ground flares also include closed bodies and gas diverters.


Characteristics of Ground Flares


(1) The thermal radiation from the flare spreading outward is relatively small.
(2) Maintenance is convenient; except for the high closed body, all other facilities are on the ground.
(3) It minimizes air pollution, light pollution, and noise pollution to the surrounding environment, enhancing the safety of flare operations.
(4) It occupies a small area; since combustion occurs at ground level, there is no fire rain, and the fire safety distance is primarily determined based on radiant heat calculations.


Situation of Ground Flares


Based on these characteristics of ground flares, research and development began in foreign countries in the early 1970s, resulting in the development of various ground flare emission systems, mainly divided into large-capacity multi-stage multi-burner ground flares and closed ground flares. Many large ethylene projects worldwide, as well as some large refining and natural gas extraction projects, have adopted multi-stage multi-burner ground flares, such as the MTBE plant flare in Malaysia, which was put into operation in 1991 with an emission rate of 1066 tons/hour, and the flare in Venezuela, with a maximum emission rate of 810 tons/hour. Many chemical plants have adopted closed ground flares, such as the flare at a chemical plant in South Korea, whose single-tube ground flare has a maximum emission rate of 100 tons/hour.


Some domestic companies have also adopted ground flares, such as the tank area flare of Shenzhen Huaan Liquefied Petroleum Gas Co., Ltd., which was fully imported from Japan's Marubeni, with a maximum emission rate of 6 tons/hour, and the LPG transshipment project of Chaozhou Huafeng Gas Engineering Co., Ltd. The low-temperature propylene tank of Shanghai Petrochemical uses a flare designed by a domestic flare manufacturer. In recent years, domestic flare manufacturers have made significant breakthroughs in technological updates and innovations. Jiangsu Shanjun has a capacity of 21T/H, Henan Longrun has 90T/H, and the PYL vapor internal spray burner has a broken shape dispersion type, with smoke reduction distribution being more uniform and reasonable. It is easier to reduce smoke and particulate emissions, which is more beneficial for environmental protection.


Discussion on the Safety Protection Distance Between Ground Flares and Installations


Technically, ground flares are advanced and have become an effective means of discharging waste gas and emergency discharge from petrochemical production installations. However, how to reasonably set the safety protection distance between the flare and the installation is the focus of the overall design review.


Flowchart of Ground Flares

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