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[abelletti]

Hi Guys,

In order to mitigate the use of a full stainless steel flare KO drum and stack we are looking into options for the blowdown of the cryogenic portion of a liquids recovery gas plant. We have looked at blending with other blowdown areas but cannot achieve the required temperatures.

When blowing down our low temperature separator, the HYSYS dynamic depressuring utility shows that the blowdown temperature reaches -90 C instantly. We are planning on using stainless steel laterals but we need to warm this sufficiently to avoid brittle fracture of our main flare header.

My question is whether the use of an in-line heater in the flare line is acceptable to raise the temperature of the line. I know that in API 521 is says that there can be no restrictions in the flare header but does this count as a restriction? Could the heater be designed for as little pressure drop as possible and we would be ok?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Andrew