Disclosed is a system and method for the combustion of biomass material employing a swirling fluidized bed combustion (SFBC) chamber, and preferably a second stage combustion carried out in a cyclone separator. In the combustion chamber, primary air is introduced from a bottom air box that fluidizes the bed material and fuel, and staged secondary air is introduced in the tangential direction and at varied vertical positions in the combustion chamber so as to cause the materials in the combustion chamber (i.e., the mixture of air and particles) to swirl. The secondary air injection can have a significant effect on the air-fuel particle flow in the combustion chamber, and more particularly strengthens the swirling flow, promotes axial recirculation, increases particle mass fluxes in the combustion chamber, and retains more fuel particles in the combustion chamber. This process increases the residence time of the particle flow. The turbulent flow of the fuel particles and air is well mixed and mostly burned in the combustion chamber, with any unburned waste and particles being directed to the cyclone separator, where such unburned waste and particles are burned completely, and flying ash is divided and collected in a container connected to the cyclone separator, while dioxin production is significantly minimized if not altogether eliminated. A Stirling engine along with cooling system and engine control box is integrated with the SFBC chamber to produce electricity from the waste combustion process. Residual heat in the flue gas may be captured after the combustion chamber and directed to a fuel feeder to first dry the biomass. System exhaust is directed to a twisted tube-based shell and tube heat exchanger (STHE) and may produce hot water for space heating.

This invention provides a system or method that includes combustion of mixed content solid waste to produce flue gases and separation of carbon dioxide gas in the produced combustion flue gas from other gaseous constituents of the flue gas in an amount produced from the burning of plastic material contained in the mixed content solid waste. The separated carbon dioxide is sequestered in geologic formations, thereby providing environmentally sound disposal and elimination of plastic waste, in one consolidated process, free of the need for separation of plastic waste from other solid or the need to identify and separate the various forms and compositions of plastic waste material. The illustrative disposal of plastic waste hereby is generally free of emission into the atmosphere of carbon dioxide gas. The invention includes a fee-generation process applied to customers, which can quantified and generated in association with the application of the system or method.

A remote sensing system which may be assembled with an Infrared (IR) sensor, or a plurality of IR sensors, disposed to sense IR radiance emitted as combustion products from a flare stack in two distinctive spectral bands, each band having a narrow spectral bandpass, the sensor being radiometrically calibrated to sense transmission characteristics of the two distinctive bands of the radiance from flare combustion gases; and an analyzer driven by a microcontroller, coupled to the IR sensor, to operationally respond in real time by generating an indication of flare stack's performance through a parameter derived from a ratio of the transmission characteristics of the two radiance outputs sensed by the IR sensor. The IR sensor of this flare monitoring-apparatus must be positioned in such a way that the anticipated entire flame will be captured within the Field of View (FoV) of the IR sensor, or sensors.

Methods and systems of burning a multi-phase hydrocarbon fluid include determining a water content of the multi-phase hydrocarbon fluid, communicating the multiphase hydrocarbon fluid to a fuel port of a burner in a primary fuel flow, initiating a flame at the burner to combust the multi-phase hydrocarbon fluid, communicating an auxiliary fuel source to the burner fuel port in an auxiliary fuel flow, and controlling the primary and auxiliary fuel flows based on the water content of the multi-phase hydrocarbon fluid.

Disclosed is a system and method for the combustion of biomass material employing a swirling fluidized bed combustion (SFBC) chamber, and preferably a second stage combustion carried out in a cyclone separator. In the combustion chamber, primary air is introduced from a bottom air box that fluidizes the bed material and fuel, and staged secondary air is introduced in the tangential direction and at varied vertical positions in the combustion chamber so as to cause the materials in the combustion chamber (i.e., the mixture of air and particles) to swirl. The secondary air injection can have a significant effect on the air-fuel particle flow in the combustion chamber, and more particularly strengthens the swirling flow, promotes axial recirculation, increases particle mass fluxes in the combustion chamber, and retains more fuel particles in the combustion chamber. This process increases the residence time of the particle flow. The turbulent flow of the fuel particles and air is well mixed and mostly burned in the combustion chamber, with any unburned waste and particles being directed to the cyclone separator, where such unburned waste and particles are burned completely, and flying ash is divided and collected in a container connected to the cyclone separator, while dioxin production is significantly minimized if not altogether eliminated. A Stirling engine along with cooling system and engine control box is integrated with the SFBC chamber to produce electricity from the waste combustion process. Residual heat in the flue gas may be captured after the combustion chamber and directed to a fuel feeder to first dry the biomass. System exhaust is directed to a twisted tube-based shell and tube heat exchanger (STHE) and may produce hot water for space heating.

Disclosed herein are embodiments of a flare control method and a flare apparatus for automatically controlling, in real-time, the flow of one or more of fuel, steam, and air to a flare. The disclosed embodiments advantageously allow for automated control over a wide spectrum of operating conditions, including emergency operations, and planned operations such as startup and shutdown.

A method for controlling the Btu content of a flare gas to combusted in a flare stack comprising a flare tip is provided. The method includes, introducing a first gas stream including nitrogen to be flared, the first gas stream having an initial Btu content, providing a supplemental fuel gas stream, and combining the first gas stream with the supplemental fuel gas stream, thereby obtaining a flare gas stream having a final Btu content measured at the flare tip.

Systems and methods for monitoring emissions of a combusted gas are provided. The method includes determining a first net heating value of a flare gas. The method also includes determining a second net heating value of a combustion gas including the flare gas. The second net heating value can be determined based upon the first net heating value and a volumetric flow rate of the flare gas. Based upon the value of the second net heating value, an empirical model or a non-parametric machine learning model can be selected. A combustion efficiency of the combustion gas can be determined using the selected model, the second net heating value, and selected ones of the process conditions and the environmental conditions. Total emissions of the combustion mixture can be further determined from the combustion efficiency and a volumetric flow rate of the combustion gas.

A method for controlling the Btu content of a flare gas to combusted in a flare stack comprising a flare tip is provided. The method includes, introducing a first gas stream including nitrogen to be flared, the first gas stream having an initial Btu content, providing a supplemental fuel gas stream, and combining the first gas stream with the supplemental fuel gas stream, thereby obtaining a flare gas stream having a final Btu content measured at the flare tip.

An organic-waste-processing apparatus reducing a moisture of, and conducting a thermal operation process to, an organic waste, includes: a moisture-reducing unit; a combustion unit; a combustion-energy-supply unit; an energy-supply-operation controller; an organic-waste-energy-estimating unit; a total-energy-consumption measuring unit; a relation-maintaining unit; a quantitative-relationship-grasping unit; and a moisture reduction controller. The moisture reduction controller controls an operation of the moisture-reducing unit so that the estimated value of the organic waste energy to be estimated by the organic-waste-energy-estimating unit is directed in a direction reducing a quantitative difference from the optimum value of the organic waste energy based on the quantitative relationship grasped by the quantitative-relationship-grasping unit between the optimum value of the organic waste energy and the latest estimated value of the organic waste energy.