Automatic Flare Systems

Drehid Waste Management Facility

Kildare, Ireland

AFS were appointed as the contractor to design, build and install a gas booster flaring system capable of power generation and gas control on a new waste management facility in Co. Kildare.

The flaring system:

• has the facility to install additional gas scrubbing and filtration equipment at a later date if required.
• meets all of the EPA requirements for landfill gas flaring systems.
• can be upgraded from its current 500m³/hr capacity to 2000m³/hr by installing an additional chimney. This additional chimney will be required in 2-3 years time at the current rate of waste inputs.

The requirement was that the site operator would only need to purchase one flare for the full life-cycle of the site. With careful analysis, AFS were able to forecast the gas generation of the site for the next 20 years.

Having calculated the projected gas generation of the site, we specified our gas booster flaring system as the most suitable for the life-cycle of the site. The current flare has a capacity of 500m³/hr, which will increase to a capacity of 2000m³/hr following the specified upgrade of an additional chimney.

The flare has been designed with power generation in mind and is fitted with a two stage, 2000m³/hr gas booster, along with all the required control systems and equipment to facilitate the generation of power from landfill gas.

The flare is also fitted with a Siemens SCADA system (for on-site and remote monitoring), a data logger and SMS text messaging system.

Holmestown Waste Management Facility

Wicklow, Ireland

AFS were appointed by Wicklow County Council to design, build and install a flaring system that would last the life-cycle of their new waste management facility.

We designed a flare that could safely extract gases being generated by the new facility; the flare could operate at up to 2000m³/hr but would also operate effectively at very low flow rates.

The current configuration includes a 700m³/hr gas booster and a 500m³/hr HT flare with an attached Gas Scrubber system.

The gases expected at the initial operation of the flare system would be very low in methane and high in oxygen concentrations. However, the gases would also contain high levels of H₂S and mercaptans, which are responsible for the odours emitted by decomposing waste. Therefore we installed the gas scrubber to remove these contaminates and allow the gases to be either vented or flared through the chimney.

The fully automatic control system monitors the input gases including methane, carbon dioxide, oxygen and H₂S.

Suldouro waste management facility

Porto, Portugal

AFS designed, built and installed two gas booster skids with elevated flares for a 2MW power generation plant in Porto.

The booster skids supply gas at a constant pressure to two Jenbacher gas engines; the gas is pre-filtered down to 5 micron before leaving the booster skid.

The booster control panel is constantly communicating with the Jenbacher control system ensuring that the gas is delivered at the correct pressure and flow.

The flare is fully automatic in operation.

Raffen Landfill Site

Cork, Ireland

AFS were awarded a contract to design a gas and leachate collection system, and carry out a 10-week gas pumping trial to evaluate the levels of gas being generated from Raffen Landfill Site.

From the pumping trial data, a 200m³/hr HT flare was designed, built and installed. A hydrovane compressor/receiver/dryer package was installed to operate ten pneumatic leachate extraction pumps.

Within the combined gas extraction wells, a pressure transmitter was installed. The transmitters were powered by solar panels.

The information from the transmitters is communicated via a wireless network to a SCADA system based at the site manager's office. The flare data is also transmitted to the site SCADA. The SCADA can print out a monthly report on all parameters to be forwarded to the EPA.

The flare is fully automatic in operation.