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Experimental Study on the Carbon Conversion Efficiency and Emission Indices of a Lab-Scale Air-Assisted Flare
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- Author / Creator
- Ahsan, Hamza
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A lab-scale coflow burner was used to investigate the effect of air assist on the carbon conversion efficiency (CCE) and emission indices (EIs) of industrial flare operations in the upstream and downstream energy sectors of the oil and gas industry. A 25.4 mm diameter burner was constructed of two concentric tubes to facilitate parallel flows of fuel gas and air assist. The standard experiment consisted of an outer coflow of methane at 20 standard liters per minute and air injected through a 12.7 mm diameter inner tube. Additional experiments were performed to explore changes in the inner tube size, fuel type and flow rate, and assist configuration and composition. The combustion products were captured and analyzed using a gas chromatograph to measure the concentrations of CH4, C2H6, C3H8, CO, and CO2. A photoacoustic extinctiometer and a NOx analyzer were used to measure black carbon and NOx concentrations, respectively. For each experiment, the flow rate of air was incrementally increased from no flow until the CCE dropped to less than 10%. It was generally observed that at no or low air flow rate the CCE was > 99%, while the black carbon and NOx EIs were at a maximum. As the flow rate of air was increased the CCE remained the same, but the black carbon and NOx EIs could drop by two orders of magnitude. Further increasing in the flow of air triggered a sudden and catastrophic collapse in CCE. A simultaneous drop in CO2 emissions and a rise in unburned hydrocarbons were observed as a result of fuel stripping. CO was also detected during the collapse in CCE due to an excessively turbulent air stream inhibiting complete combustion. From an industrial flare operating standpoint, however, there was a range of air flow rates that resulted in high CCE and low pollutant EIs.
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- Subjects / Keywords
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- Graduation date
- Spring 2019
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- Type of Item
- Thesis
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- Degree
- Master of Science
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- License
- Permission is hereby granted to the University of Alberta Libraries to reproduce single copies of this thesis and to lend or sell such copies for private, scholarly or scientific research purposes only. Where the thesis is converted to, or otherwise made available in digital form, the University of Alberta will advise potential users of the thesis of these terms. The author reserves all other publication and other rights in association with the copyright in the thesis and, except as herein before provided, neither the thesis nor any substantial portion thereof may be printed or otherwise reproduced in any material form whatsoever without the author's prior written permission.