Application: Flare Gas Recovery

System: Flare Gas Compressor

Location: El Segundo, CA, USA

INTRODUCTION

At El Segundo refinery, the latest liquid jet technology is used for flare gas recovery. The Hiject compression system provides the ideal solution to deal with the new environmental challenges facing the modern refining industry.

THE CHALLENGE

Environmental legislation forbids venting, flaring, incineration or burning of certain corrosive or toxic gases and releasing the combustion gas to the atmosphere. Many refineries are therefore now “closing the loop” by installing off-gas and flare gas compression systems. The selection of reliable equipment is critical, to avoid unwanted maintenance costs and expensive downtime and to obtain a low level of environmental emissions. The nature of flare gases is hard to pin down since they vary widely in composition and load.

HIJET SOLUTION

The Flare Gas Recovery System installed at El Segundo is used to boost the flare gas pressure to 10 barg. The Hijet system has a modular design and comprises of three separate trains capable to handle varying gas load and compositions.

Each train includes:

• one ejector,
• one motive pump in operation,
• one cooler for the motive liquid,
• one separator

The compressed gas is routed to amine treatment system for H₂S removal. Some hydrocarbon vapour is condensed and discharged into the separator together with motive liquid. Condensate is separated from the motive liquid in the three-phase separator and routed to storage.

CONCLUSIONS

The main advantage of the new liquid jet technology implemented in Hijet systems is their unparalleled reliability.

Advantages of Hijector™ over mechanical devices:

• No moving parts,
• No metal to metal contact points,
• No anti-surge protection,
• No seal leaks - No lube oil skid,
• No vibration problems - Critical Speed,
• Continuous flow - No pulsation,
• Oil Free Operation - No Process contamination,
• No problems with nasty gases