Fluenta empowers Africa’s largest oil refinery with cutting-edge flare gas measurement technology

The Nigerian authorities are leading the charge in the control and regulation of flaring gas, looking towards eliminating the need for routine flaring over the next few years. A key component in that challenge is accurate measurement.

Fluenta, the global leader in the use of ultrasonic sensing technology for the measurement of flare gas, has recently completed work on Africa’s biggest oil refinery – to install 18 ultrasonic flare gas meters on large pipelines around the plant.

Fluenta spent more than four months working with its exclusive Nigerian representative, Daptem Engineering, and the Dangote project team to deliver a workable, accurate and reliable flare measurement solution.

Whilst it’s not unusual to have high levels of customisation associated with such installations, the wide variety and sizes of pipelines, which ranged from 18” to 90” diameters presented a unique engineering challenge. Larger pipelines make it difficult to measure accurately as the acoustic pulse has further travel which could weaken it and lead to less accurate readings. In addition, flared gas expelled through these pipelines is high in CO2, a particularly difficult gas to measure using ultrasonic technology.