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US 10,850,314 B2Granted
Remote gas monitoring and flare control system
OwnerDaniel W. Chambersinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The present invention comprises a remote gas monitoring system (RGMS) which improves soil-gas monitoring and data management tasks at landfills and other impacted sites while reducing errors in data collection. The remote gas monitoring system allows for continuous monitoring of landfill soil-gas composition and more efficient and cost-effective operation of a landfill flare system. The invention also comprises a method of controlling the operation of a landfill flare by signaling the flare to begin and cease operation based on predetermined threshold landfill gas concentrations.
Claims14
A flare system for combustion of landfill gas consisting of:
- a plurality of extraction wells connected in series with about 50-75% of the extraction wells equipped with wellhead sensors for monitoring soil-gas composition wherein said wellhead sensors continuously relay in real time soil-gas composition data to a computing system, said sensors monitor the soil-gas composition for a concentration of a target landfill gas;
- a piping network in confined flow communication with said plurality of extraction wells and having a common landfill gas supply conduit;
- a flare furnace having a gas feed inlet in confined flow communication with the common landfill gas supply conduit;
- a landfill gas feed valve in the landfill gas supply conduit;
- a spark-ignited pilot operably associated with the flare furnace;
- a pilot gas supply operably connected to the spark-ignited pilot;
- a temperature control thermocouple for monitoring flare furnace temperature;
- and
- a controller in communication with the spark-ignited pilot, the temperature control thermocouple, the landfill gas feed valve, and the wellhead sensors, wherein:
- when the concentration of the target landfill gas reaches a predetermined upper threshold level at a predetermined number of wellhead sensors said controller signals the pilot gas supply and the spark-ignited pilot to ignite the flare furnace;
- when the flare furnace temperature reaches a predetermined minimum temperature, said controller signals the landfill gas feed valve to open;
- and
- when the concentration of the target landfill gas reaches a predetermined lower threshold level at a predetermined number of wellhead sensors, said controller signals the landfill gas feed valve to close and the flare furnace to shut down.
10 more elements
A method of optimizing control of a landfill flare consisting of:
- a plurality of extraction wells connected in series with about 50-75% of the extraction wells are equipped with wellhead sensors for monitoring soil-gas composition wherein said wellhead sensors continuously relay in real time soil-gas composition data to a computing system, said sensors monitoring the soil-gas composition for a concentration of a target landfill gas;
- a piping network in confined flow communication with said plurality of extraction wells and having a common landfill gas supply conduit;
- a landfill gas feed valve operably connected to the landfill gas supply conduit;
- a flare furnace operably connected to the piping network and the common landfill gas conduit;
- a temperature control thermocouple for monitoring flare furnace temperature;
- a spark-ignited pilot operably associated with the flare furnace;
- a pilot gas supply operably connected to the spark-ignited pilot;
- and
- a controller in communication with the wellhead sensors, the landfill gas feed valve, the temperature control thermocouple, the spark-ignited pilot, the pilot gas supply, and the flare furnace;
- wherein when the target landfill gas concentration exceeds a predetermined upper threshold level at a minimum of about 5 percent of the wellhead sensors:
- the controller signals the pilot gas supply and the spark-ignited pilot to ignite the flare furnace;
- and
- the thermocouple monitors the flare furnace temperature;
- wherein when the flare furnace temperature reaches a predetermined minimum temperature, the controller signals the landfill gas feed valve to open, supplying landfill gas from said landfill gas conduit to said flare furnace;
- and
- wherein when the target landfill gas concentration at no more than 3 percent of the wellhead sensors exceeds a predetermined lower threshold level:
- the controller signals the landfill gas feed valve to close;
- and
- the controller signals the flare furnace to shut down.
16 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.