Revealing hidden debottlenecking potential in flare systems on offshore facilities using dynamic simulations – A preliminary investigation

Three flare systems are modeled and total plant depressurization is investigated using dynamic simulations in order to access the debottlenecking potential. Usually, steady-state simulation of the flare network is used for sizing and rating of the flare system. By using dynamic simulations, effects from line packing in the flare system can be studied. The results show that peak flow during a dynamic simulations is significantly lower than the peak flow used in a steady-state case. The three systems investigated span a wide range in flare system size, both in terms of number of process segments disposing into the flare network, in terms of peak design rate, the flare network pipe dimensions and total hold-up volume. Generally, it is observed that the larger the flare system, the larger debottlenecking potential.