Gas separation – Means within gas stream for conducting concentrate to collector
Patent
1983-11-14
1985-11-19
Spitzer, Robert
Gas separation
Means within gas stream for conducting concentrate to collector
55191, 55204, 55385R, 55459R, B01D 1900
Patent
active
045539898
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The present certificate of addition relates to improvements to the safety system forming the subject matter of tha parent patent application, United States patent application, Ser. No. 506,647, filed May 23, 1983, for a "System for Preventing Liquids from being Driven to the Flare Stack Tip", the entire application of which is hereby incorporated by reference, for removing any risk of carrying liquids to the flare nose or to the vent-hole during burning or dispersion of the gases associated with the production or treatment of hydrocarbons on land and at sea.
It is recalled that this system uses, in the gas flow chain, between the liquid entrainment source and the nose of the flare or torch or the vent-hole, at least one capacity such as a flare foot tank having an overflow column opening below a liquid level, for example the sea, at a given distance from its tapping on said capacity.
A first improvement to the invention aims at avoiding, should liquid overflow into the overflow column, retention and trapping of gas in the overflowed liquid, or therebelow, which would result in uncertain operation of the previously described safety system assembly.
This improvement consists then in providing a circuit such as a tube with strainer inside the overflow column or a duct external thereto, for the rising gases, for discharging, as far as the installations situated upstream of the overflow tube, the existing gases or the gases carried along by liquids in the oveflow column.
The invention also provides a second improvement for providing better operational safety of the overflow column, by detecting an abnormally high liquid level in said overflow tube.
In fact, during the life of the installation, the overflow tube may lose its safety quality by partial or total stopping thereof, either by subsequent re-dimensioning of the installations placed upstream, leading to liquid flows likely to overflow into the overflow column which are incompatible with the initial dimensioning thereof.
The second improvement to the safety system consists then, in accordance with the invention, in equipping the overflow column with one or more detection members for detecting the presence of hydrocarbons at an abnormal level. These detection members may consist of high level detectors placed in the aerial part of the overflow column, or one or more pressure detectors, differential or not, placed more generally in the low part of the overflow column. These detectors may also be designed so as to detect the presence of a hydrocarbons, for example by optical effect, capacitive effect, magnetic effect, electromagnetic effect or else by measuring vibratory phenomena.
All these detectors may be placed either in the overflow column, or outside and may be protected or not by associated piping.
Thus, whatever the mode of detection and the device or devices used, by detecting the presence of hydrocarbons at an abnormal level:
should the installation fall into disarrangement, warning may be given of its malfunction and the flow of fluids in the installation may possibly be stopped if the malfunction cannot be corrected automatically or not;
the service capacity of the safety device assembly may be periodically checked by appropriate means.
This checking may for example consist in injecting water at a known flowrate in all or part of the safety system assembly, the injction being effected at any point in the installation but so as to allow the operation of all or part of the safety system to be checked.
The invention also provides a third improvement for increasing the capacity of retaining overflowed liquids and finally for increasing the overall safety of the system, by multiplying the number of overflow columns so as to not to create either localized stresses which are too high considering the required retention capacity.
For this, a multiplicity of overflow tubes may be used, these being possibly set up in favorable zones, all or part of the existing underlying structures being for example possibly used for construction thereof.
Bringing these ov
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