Seaburn Marine Systems 260 Barrels Per Hour

THERMCAT 30FM-20-CGOL and 60FM-40-CGOL Waste Oil Combustion Systems

In the early 1980s, a company named Seaburn asked us to design and price a liquid waste incineration system that could be built within a standard 40 ft container to destroy waste liquids from industrial plants. These units could be mounted on ships or barges anchored at sea and stacked so several systems may be operated from one central control station.

Waste liquids can be tested at the source to determine content and then pumped into liquid waste containers for transfer to a ship or barge containing the burner system at any convenient port within a few days. The ship is designed with a control station, piping, pumps, filters, liquid heaters, etc, to connect the burners with the liquid waste containers. Waste burning continues until the containers are empty when they are returned to port for unloading and any additional reloading. If a burner system needs service, it can be quickly replaced while in port and the damaged unit sent for repair.

The only other similar technology available in the 1980s was the Vulcanus 1 and 2, however they proved a failure as the waste onboard liquid tanks corroded and the refractory deteriorated due to weather exposure. Additionally, when a Vulcanus unit was damaged, it took a year for repairs to be completed to allow a second burn. Shortly thereafter, legislation was passed and liquid waste burning at see was prohibited. The decision to prohibit burning at sea was not a result of any technical issues, but was determined strictly by politics.

The present BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is of immediate major concern with the cleanup being accomplished basically in three steps. First, removal of the oil from the ocean and shoreline and second processing, filtering and separation of the collected oil and water. The third step is disposal of the oil to prevent further impact on the environment. 

Several companies are capable of providing the equipment to collect and process the oil-water mixture with the separation technology offered by Kevin Costner being one of the available options. That leaves only the destruction of the oil collected and the most efficient way is to burn it. Various systems are now being tested so a decision can be made on what would be the best method.

The most recent efforts involving the burning of waste oil the is to place 20 ft shipping containers containing small incineration systems with separators and filters onto shrimp boats. These boats would travel around the Gulf picking up oil, processing and then burning the oil collected with compenstion being on a per barrel basis. Unfortunately, these burning units are too small to have an immediate impact and will require a great deal of fuel to operate. They will also require an onboard, qualified engineer to operate the filtration and oil water separation systems necessary to make each boat operate efficiently and safely. While control of the collection, processing, and burning cannot be monitored, flow-meters and recorders can be modified to record data. Since each boat is compensated according to the quantity of oil they collect and burn, shortcuts may be taken further compromising the environment and the safety of the boat crews.

A more practical approach is to use the shrimp boats to collect the oil in tanks taking care to collect a minimal amount of water. When the on board tanks are full, the oil can be pumped to a larger transfer vessel or taken directly to a barge where it can be processed and burned. The oil collected at the barge can be tested for water content and the vessel paid for quantity of oil collected with the amount adjusted to account for water concentration. The less water content, the more the vessel is paid per barrel. The burner systems would be placed on barges and the barges located at various locations around the spill area. Since the collection ships can load and unload quickly, they could be deployed in priority areas such as along the coastline where the worst pollution damage potential exists.

Storage, Processing and Feed Systems

System Technical Details

Typical System Description - 60FM-CGOL
  
Marine Waste Oil Combustion System is designed to raise the temperature of the firing chamber to the required operating temperature, thus assuring maximum destruction of any organics in the exhaust gas. The system package comes complete with oil burner, refractory lined chamber, stack, operating controls and when needed, the optional components described below.

Refractory Lined Carbon Steel Chamber

The package is constructed of carbon steel and lined with a combination of ceramic fiber, high temperature refractory materials, which is installed with stainless steel anchors to maintain integrity and mounted on structural steel legs. Chamber includes sight ports, thermal wells and a natural gas burner.

Oil Burner (CGOL Option)

The system may include one (1) packaged oil fired burner for maintaining the temperature of the chamber to the preset operating temperature as required. System comes complete with flame safety controls and safeties. A motorized, modulating gas valve regulates the burner output using the latest Honeywell digital controllers. Burner train components are supplied loose for field installation. Customer supplies the natural gas regulator.

Operational Design