Reducing Carbon Consumption and Costs for BWON Compliance
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Article by Jim Woodard - Vice President of Business Development at Vapor Point.
Refiners have been challenged to properly implement BWON related controls and determine the most effective control system with respect to cost and efficiency. The significant variability in contaminant concentrations poses issues in designing the vapor control system for many BWON applications. Changing emissions characteristics of a refinery waste system can render a well-conceived method ineffective.
Activated carbon or combustion devices can be best design when the vent gas is consistent in flow and concentration. Carbon, when designed and used properly, is the most effective control device for managing lower concentration, less than 1%, hydrocarbon contaminant for achieving zero emissions. However, when activated carbon experiences high hydrocarbon contaminant loading situations, the carbon bed layout can render the activated carbon ineffective where no contaminants are removed from the vent stream and can even create hazardous environments.
System dynamics create considerable issues for current BACT. Activated carbon is widely understood to be the most effective technology for BWON applications. Thermal oxidizers/combustors can be used for high carbon saturated applications. Flow characteristics (flow rate/velocity, temperature, and humidity) of the emissions stream and vent stream dynamic characteristics (flow rates, contaminant variability, and water content) greatly impact system effectiveness. Difficult and dynamic systems create substantial issues for traditional control technologies for BWON applications costing a facility significant hard and soft dollars. Combustion devices are designed for fuel rich environments and are inefficient when extreme variability in flow and concentrations are observed. This can become a high OpX cost.
Vapor Point’s VaporLockTM system is designed for variability in flow and contaminant concentration, providing for up to 99% recovery or removal of benzene, VOCs, HAPs, and other unwanted contaminants. It allows the activated carbon to perform as a polishing media, by significantly reducing the hydrocarbon content in the vapor stream while providing consistent flow, yielding improved carbon utilization, and significant extension in the carbon canister life. The VaporLockTM system dramatically reduces hard and soft dollar costs, effectively manages environmental and safety risks, and increases operational efficiencies.
VaporLock? control technology has been utilized within many areas of operations, while also providing for the elimination of other HAPs such as hydrogen sulfide and ammonia. Common applications include API sumps and separators, dissolved air/nitrogen floatation systems, tank vent emissions controls, sludge processing operations, vacuum truck and frac tank controls and we have even designed equipment for the complete by-pass of existing sump systems. Read our BWON Emissions Controls white paper to learn how we were able to save our client $2.1MM a year and decrease carbon consumption by 80,000 lbs per month!
About the Author
Jim Woodard began working with Vapor Point in 2015 as the Vice President of Business Development.
Alongside Jeff St. Amant, Jim is representing Vapor Point at the 2020 4C HSE Conference as a featured speaker on BWON.
Contact: [email protected]
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Vapor Lock Scrubber Technology Reducing Carbon Usage for BWON Compliance –
Jim Woodard and Jeff St. Amant
Vapor Point has been contracted by many refining clients, who have been challenged with the proper design of BWON related controls, to determine the most effective control system when considering cost and efficiency. The challenge with many BWON applications is the significant variability in contaminant concentrations which poses challenges in designing the vapor control system. Predominately, activated carbon is considered a BACT for BWON applications, while thermal oxidizers/combustors are also considered BACT, but not as widely utilized. Changing emissions characteristics of a refinery waste system, can render a well-conceived design selection ineffective. This discussion will focus on carbon absorption systems and how incorporating the VaporLockTM under the correct circumstances improves the system design providing improved margins through direct (activated carbon changeouts), and indirect costs savings (unaccounted for man hours for carbon changeouts/exchanges, and environmental management associated with monitoring and NESHAP requirements for new and spent carbon canisters). We’d like to further highlight, that over the past nine years, we have encountered several clients that elected to utilize a combustion device due to the peak loading during high emission events, ultimately recognizing increased costs due to propane/fuel consumption and maintenance downtime due to the operating conditions of the combustion device. This presentation will review a specific application where Vapor Point was enlisted by a Major Gulf Coast Refinery to investigate the ability to decrease carbon usage at a sump emissions control point which was part of the facilities BWON program. Vapor phase carbon is required per the site’s consent decree as the primary control device at various control points across the facility. The client selected one area where a significant increase in carbon consumption had occurred over a period of time. This sump emissions control point was selected as the pilot project for the installation of Vapor Point’s proprietary liquid scrubber system to decrease the loading of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and specifically the benzene on the primary control device, vapor phase carbon.
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