Development of an Elevated Flare Monitor Using Video Image Processing Technique

Abstract

Elevated flare is widely used in refineries and petrochemical plants to dispose unwanted waste gas. Before releasing to the atmosphere, waste gas is transported to the flare header and combusted with ambient air. Due to the uncontrollable open mode of combustion, emissions of the elevated flare are hard to be diagnosed directly. In this paper, we present a monitoring device using image processing techniques based on FPGA framework. Through a series of tests on a benchmark lab burner and some real flares, it is believed that this device has the potential to monitor both flame and smoke for the elevated flares in a real time manner.