Eng-Tips is the largest engineering community on the Internet
Intelligent Work Forums for Engineering Professionals
Nitrogen Purge Rates For "Atmospheric" Vessels
- Thread starter MarkkraM
- Start date
There is a paper by Husa which basically says that the oxygen profile which establishes in a vertical open pipe to atmosphere varies as an exponential relationship of the pipe diameter, purge rate and the distance down the pipe.
This formula can be expressed as
O2% = 21 * exp{- U * L /0.0036/Fb/(D^1.46)}
U = purge velociy - fps
L = distance from top - ft
Fb = Gas buoyancy factor
D = diameter - inches
If the purge is a single component, then
Fb = exp{0.065*(28.96 - MW)}
If the gas is multicomponent, Husa's formula becomes a little top heavy and I recommend using
Fb = 6.25*[ 1 - 0.75*((MW/28.96)^1.5)]
MW = Mol wt of purge gas (mixture)
![[smile]](/data/assets/smilies/smile.gif "[smile] [smile]")
David
This formula can be expressed as
O2% = 21 * exp{- U * L /0.0036/Fb/(D^1.46)}
U = purge velociy - fps
L = distance from top - ft
Fb = Gas buoyancy factor
D = diameter - inches
If the purge is a single component, then
Fb = exp{0.065*(28.96 - MW)}
If the gas is multicomponent, Husa's formula becomes a little top heavy and I recommend using
Fb = 6.25*[ 1 - 0.75*((MW/28.96)^1.5)]
MW = Mol wt of purge gas (mixture)
David
- Thread starter
- #22
As far as the effectiveness of a nitrogen sweep in maintaining an oxygen free environment and design guidelines you may also want to look at what API RP-521 says about flare headers, here is an excerpt
"Alternatively, the continuous introduction of purge gas can be used to prevent flashback. Studies [13] have shown that a safe condition exists in situations that involve hydrocarbon-air mixtures if a positive flow of oxygen-free gas is maintained, allowing the oxygen concentration to be no greater than 6 percent at a point 25 feet (7.6 meters) from the flare tip."
Of course the 6% number should be checked versus the characteristics of the flammable material you are dealing with.
As another reference, the guidelines given in NFPA standard 69, Standard on Explosion Prevention Systems, may be helpful. This standard covers the minimum requirements for installing systems for the prevention of explosions in enclosures that contain flammable concentrations of flammable gases, vapors, mists, dusts, or hybrid mixtures. There web site is
One other thing I might add is in the guidelines given above, it may be prudent to install an oxygen analyzer to ensure you are meeting your design guidelines. It is not unusual to find oxygen analyzers as standard equipment for plant flare headers. For a single equipment vent, it may be difficult to justify the cost but should at least be considered.
"Alternatively, the continuous introduction of purge gas can be used to prevent flashback. Studies [13] have shown that a safe condition exists in situations that involve hydrocarbon-air mixtures if a positive flow of oxygen-free gas is maintained, allowing the oxygen concentration to be no greater than 6 percent at a point 25 feet (7.6 meters) from the flare tip."
Of course the 6% number should be checked versus the characteristics of the flammable material you are dealing with.
As another reference, the guidelines given in NFPA standard 69, Standard on Explosion Prevention Systems, may be helpful. This standard covers the minimum requirements for installing systems for the prevention of explosions in enclosures that contain flammable concentrations of flammable gases, vapors, mists, dusts, or hybrid mixtures. There web site is
One other thing I might add is in the guidelines given above, it may be prudent to install an oxygen analyzer to ensure you are meeting your design guidelines. It is not unusual to find oxygen analyzers as standard equipment for plant flare headers. For a single equipment vent, it may be difficult to justify the cost but should at least be considered.
Your best bet is to install a conservation vent (i.e. as available from Protectoseal etc.) on your vessel, set at about 3 kPa, and sized so as not to exceed say 4.5 kPa at the maximum N2 flow from your purge lines through this tank. This sort of unit is specifically designed for this type of duty, used in conjunction with a blanketting valve, and consists of a dead weight rather than a spring. Keep your PSV as a safety feature only, as a back-up to prevent overpressurisation of the vessel. Both units are effectively protecting your vessel, so both need regular checks and maintenance.
If your oil is sticky, and tends to cause the existing PSV to stick, then you might have problems with this as well. Keeping it off the main vessel, e.g. on a branch of a tee, or with a coalescer / flame arrestor in between will help, but may not necessarily eliminate the problem. There may be an initial cost associated with this, but it should pay for itself in next to no time compared to a constant N2 purge.
If you really have to go for a constant N2 purge, then you need to consider the worst case scenario for this tank. What is the maximum ingress of air that can occur at any given time during normal and abnormal operation? Consider specifically fluctuations in level in normal operation, and inbreathing due to changes in external temperature at night, and in cases of thunderstorms etc. Then you have to set the N2 flowrate equal to the worst case. Just assuming it is a fixed value for all tanks / applications is suspect to say the least. What is needed to stop a small ingress of air into a flare header is not going to be anywhere near enough to keep a storage tank free of oxygen, especially if the tank is regularly drained and re-filled.
Incidentally, the MOC for some materials is available, but there are not that many. There are calculation methods that have been published, but they seem a bit suspect. Your best bet is probably to have it measured. Typically, many substances come out at around 10%, but some substances (e.g. Hydrogen and CS2 are much lower than this). NFPA guidelines recommend you don't exceed 80% of the MOC for cases where O2 levels are consantly monitored, or 40% of the MOC where they are not. Hence keeping O2 below 4% is adequate for the vast majority of applications. Your 1% you mentioned appears to be well within this.
Hope this helps.
If your oil is sticky, and tends to cause the existing PSV to stick, then you might have problems with this as well. Keeping it off the main vessel, e.g. on a branch of a tee, or with a coalescer / flame arrestor in between will help, but may not necessarily eliminate the problem. There may be an initial cost associated with this, but it should pay for itself in next to no time compared to a constant N2 purge.
If you really have to go for a constant N2 purge, then you need to consider the worst case scenario for this tank. What is the maximum ingress of air that can occur at any given time during normal and abnormal operation? Consider specifically fluctuations in level in normal operation, and inbreathing due to changes in external temperature at night, and in cases of thunderstorms etc. Then you have to set the N2 flowrate equal to the worst case. Just assuming it is a fixed value for all tanks / applications is suspect to say the least. What is needed to stop a small ingress of air into a flare header is not going to be anywhere near enough to keep a storage tank free of oxygen, especially if the tank is regularly drained and re-filled.
Incidentally, the MOC for some materials is available, but there are not that many. There are calculation methods that have been published, but they seem a bit suspect. Your best bet is probably to have it measured. Typically, many substances come out at around 10%, but some substances (e.g. Hydrogen and CS2 are much lower than this). NFPA guidelines recommend you don't exceed 80% of the MOC for cases where O2 levels are consantly monitored, or 40% of the MOC where they are not. Hence keeping O2 below 4% is adequate for the vast majority of applications. Your 1% you mentioned appears to be well within this.
Hope this helps.
I purged a 10000 gallon gasoline tank with nitrogen supplied from compressed nitrogen tanks used by our welding department. the equipment consisted of a pressure regulator from that deparment and some welding hoses. It took a few hours to purge the tank free of air when it was removed from site. Flow rate was not a critical issue as long as we had a slight positive pressure keeping the air out of the tank.
Does anyone can tell me more on the issues of nitrogen purging for the flare system.How to ignite the flame for flaring and how to maintain the flame from being put off when purging with nitrogen? If the answer is to control the volume of the nitrogen purge, then how does the volume relates to the design of the N2 purging for the flare system? Are there any minimum value of purge gas volume that could prevent sudden flame-out?
PZA
There have been previous discussions on this, for example see thread798-66873 and thread798-72477.
Any time you purge with Nitrogen (or any other inert) you have to be concerned about extinguishing the main flame. One way to do this is to make sure that the heating value of the total mixture (hydrocarbon plus nitrogen) never drops below a critical value. The US EPA set this value at 200 Btu/scf, which is a good rule of thumb but doesn't actually describe the real flammability issues and, in my view, gives a misleading idea that heating value is everything.
Lots of flammability postings too such as thread798-33615 and thread610-33619
If you have 100% nitrogen, or you have too much nitrogen and the main flame will not burn, then you also have to worry about extinguishing the permanent pilot burners. If this is a possibility you need to use a permanent pilot which cannot be extinguished by a blanket of inert (difficult but not impossible) and/or use a pilot monitor with automatic rapid re-ignition, see thread124-75952.
David
There have been previous discussions on this, for example see thread798-66873 and thread798-72477.
Any time you purge with Nitrogen (or any other inert) you have to be concerned about extinguishing the main flame. One way to do this is to make sure that the heating value of the total mixture (hydrocarbon plus nitrogen) never drops below a critical value. The US EPA set this value at 200 Btu/scf, which is a good rule of thumb but doesn't actually describe the real flammability issues and, in my view, gives a misleading idea that heating value is everything.
Lots of flammability postings too such as thread798-33615 and thread610-33619
If you have 100% nitrogen, or you have too much nitrogen and the main flame will not burn, then you also have to worry about extinguishing the permanent pilot burners. If this is a possibility you need to use a permanent pilot which cannot be extinguished by a blanket of inert (difficult but not impossible) and/or use a pilot monitor with automatic rapid re-ignition, see thread124-75952.
David
- Status
Similar threads
- Locked
- Question