Reduce environmental impact during startup

Conference · Fri Sep 01 04:00:00 EDT 1995

OSTI ID:93353

Shaikh, A ^[1]

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1. M.W. Kellogg Co., Houston, TX (United States)

The US Environmental Protection Agency and individual states continually implement rules to control emissions during routine operation of petrochemical plants. The operating permits issued to the manufacturing facilities not only regulate fugitive and point source emissions during operation, but also impose stringent controls on the emissions during startup and commissioning. Since the startup of any plant entails conditions which may result in increased emissions and flaring, more noticeable by general public, it is desirable to reduce the duration of the startup/upset conditions which would in turn eliminate or minimize flaring. Significant reduction in startup emissions can be achieved by using simple techniques such as: pressuring up and chilldown of the cryogenic process units on natural gas or fuel gas in a closed loop system to avoid feed-in until the unit is completely ready; recycling the off-specification products and other intermediate streams back to the process until operating conditions are stabilized and systems reach equilibrium conditions; providing facilities such as dedicated burners in boilers to incinerate vent streams that may be produced in the process due to unexpected contaminants in the feed, provision to utilize emulsified and slop oils in the process in case of an upset, and drop out connection to remove condensate and/or oils that may accumulate in columns surge drums etc. causing process upsets; and starting up satellite units in the right sequence to avoid unnecessary venting of streams while the next unit is preparing for startup.

• OSTI ID: 93353
• Report Number(s): CONF-9503162--
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
AIR POLLUTION CONTROL
DESIGN
ETHYLENE
FLARING
FLOWSHEETS
HYDROGEN
IMPURITIES
PETROLEUM REFINERIES
POLLUTION SOURCES
PRODUCTION
START-UP
STORAGE FACILITIES
TRAINING
TRANSIENTS