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623363 
Journal Article 
Chemical Plant Flare Minimization via Plantwide Dynamic Simulation 
Xu, Q; Yang, XT; Liu, CW; Li, KY; Lou, HH; Gossage, JL 
2009 
Yes 
Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research
ISSN: 0888-5885
EISSN: 1520-5045 
48 
7 
3505-3512 
WOS:000264569300031 
Flaring is crucial to chemical plant. safety. However, excessive flaring, especially the intensive flaring during the chemical plant start-up operation, emits huge amounts of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and highly reactive VOCs, which meanwhile results in tremendous industrial material and energy loss. Thus, the flare emission should be minimized if at all possible. This paper presents a general methodology oil flare minimization for chemical plant start-up operations via plantwide dynamic simulation. The methodology starts with setup and validation of plantwide steady-state and dynamic simulation models. The validated dynamic model is then systematically transformed to the initial state of start-up and thereafter virtually run to check the plant start-up procedures. Any infeasible or risky scenarios will be fed back to plant engineers for operation improvement. The plantwide dynamic simulation provides,in insight into process dynamic behaviors, which is crucial for the plant to minimize the flaring while maintaining operational feasibility and safety. The efficacy of the developed methodology has been demonstrated by a real start-up test.