ENV-13-26 BP Whiting – Design Highlights of a NSPS Subpart Ja and Consent Decree Compliant Refinery Flare

Description:

The BP refinery in Whiting, IN (BP Whiting) was originally constructed by Standard Oil of Indiana in 1889. The refinery currently has the capacity to process over 400,000 barrels per day of crude oil. BP Whiting entered into a consent decree (CD) in May 2012 requiring enhanced monitoring of current and future refinery flares. BP Whiting commenced operation in May 2013 of their new South Flare, which is compliant with both the CD and New Source Performance Standards Subpart Ja (NSPS Ja). The flare utilizes ultrasonic flow meters for the vent gas and steam flow rates, flow monitors for all supplemental natural gas additions, a gas chromatograph (GC) to determine the heat content of the vent gas, a GC and SOLA II for performing all H2S and total sulfur monitoring, and various other monitoring devices. The refinery then utilizes the monitored data points to automatically control the steam-to-vent gas (S/VG) ratio and the net heating value (NHV) in the vent gas and combustion zone. The BP Whiting South Flare is a new flare per the requirements of NSPS Ja and all FMP requirements are currently in place. The BP South Flare is one of the most highly monitored flares in the country. This paper will focus on the monitoring techniques, distributed control system (DCS) integration and control, and special safety features while providing lessons learned.