CA1234352A - Method for suppressing oil well fires - Google Patents
Method for suppressing oil well firesInfo
- Publication number
- CA1234352A CA1234352A CA000480267A CA480267A CA1234352A CA 1234352 A CA1234352 A CA 1234352A CA 000480267 A CA000480267 A CA 000480267A CA 480267 A CA480267 A CA 480267A CA 1234352 A CA1234352 A CA 1234352A
- Authority
- CA
- Canada
- Prior art keywords
- oil well
- mixture
- flow
- fire
- injection
- Prior art date
- Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
- Expired
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- Fire-Extinguishing By Fire Departments, And Fire-Extinguishing Equipment And Control Thereof (AREA)
Abstract
ABSTRACT OF THE INVENTION
An improved oil well fire suppressing method is shown. A
specific mixture of a high vapor pressure and low vapor pressure halogenated alkane, such as Halon 1211 and Halon 1301, is injected into and below the Blowout Preventor (B.O.P.) in an existing oil well in the event of a fire. In as much as the injection is of a liquid, existing pumping and valving apparatus are capable of injecting against considerable back pressure. In addition, the method contemplates an alternate venturi for injection within and beneath the B.O.P. so as to reduce the back pressure seen by the fire suppression injections and to increase the flow of the suppressant during a major flow as would happen during a blowout. In a preferred embodiment, a mixture of Halon 1301 and Halon 1211, in a percentage having a higher vapor pressure than is customary with such a mixture, is injected in liquid form into and immediately beneath the B.O.P. into the drill string and the drill string annulus during an oil well fire. The mixture rises as a liquid with the liquid component of the fluid within the drill string annulus, and due to its increased vapor pressure with respect to that of methane or inflammable gasses found entrapped in the fluid during an oil well blowout, vaporizes to a fire suppression state selectively and jointly with the entrapped gasses within the fluid within the drill string. As a result, the mixture is preferentially vaporized with the most explosive and flammable components of the overall fluid within the drill string, providing an enhanced fire suppression capability and sufficient suppression by said mixture to prevent re-ignition from occurring.
An improved oil well fire suppressing method is shown. A
specific mixture of a high vapor pressure and low vapor pressure halogenated alkane, such as Halon 1211 and Halon 1301, is injected into and below the Blowout Preventor (B.O.P.) in an existing oil well in the event of a fire. In as much as the injection is of a liquid, existing pumping and valving apparatus are capable of injecting against considerable back pressure. In addition, the method contemplates an alternate venturi for injection within and beneath the B.O.P. so as to reduce the back pressure seen by the fire suppression injections and to increase the flow of the suppressant during a major flow as would happen during a blowout. In a preferred embodiment, a mixture of Halon 1301 and Halon 1211, in a percentage having a higher vapor pressure than is customary with such a mixture, is injected in liquid form into and immediately beneath the B.O.P. into the drill string and the drill string annulus during an oil well fire. The mixture rises as a liquid with the liquid component of the fluid within the drill string annulus, and due to its increased vapor pressure with respect to that of methane or inflammable gasses found entrapped in the fluid during an oil well blowout, vaporizes to a fire suppression state selectively and jointly with the entrapped gasses within the fluid within the drill string. As a result, the mixture is preferentially vaporized with the most explosive and flammable components of the overall fluid within the drill string, providing an enhanced fire suppression capability and sufficient suppression by said mixture to prevent re-ignition from occurring.
Description
i3~
TITLE
METHOD FOR SUPPRESSING OIL WELL FIRES
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Oil wells contain and produce a liquid flow mixture comprising varying amounts of highly flammable gaseous products, especially me-thane and derivative low flash point, low molecular weight gasses of extremely high vapor pressure, toyether with quantities of petroleum liquids of varying densities and weights having higher flash points but also having much higher heats of combustion. Such a mixture, combining an entrapped low flash point gas within a high pressure stream of a higher flash point, higher burning rate liquid, is susceptible to easy ignition or re-ignition and also burns with excessive heat. For this reason, the suppression of oil well fires has been a particular problem and has resulted in numerous alternate approaches.
One such series of approaches is the injection of a material lnto the oil well or into the oil well fire so as to quench the flames. The most common such method envisions the injection of water or a similar thermal blanketing fire extinguishing liquid into the base of the flames or into the oil well drill string below the point of ignition.
Such liquid injection is intended to quench the fire by means of heat absorption, as by vaporization of the liquid. This is especially true in the case of water. Such heat absorption, however, in practice has proven incapable of lowering the entire stream below the flash point of entrapped methane. In a typical oil well blowout, friction heating alone at the point of escape of the entrapped gas is sufficient to raise methane past its flash point, negating any beneficial effects of the subsequent vaporization of the water. The excess heat produced by the ~ methane is sufficient to ignite the oil stream, and water ; injection has generally been determined to be a failure unless such a sufficient quantity of water is entered at a high pressure that it actually interrupts the flow of the flammable liquids from the well.
For this reason it is found that a second alternate 39~3~
injection envisions injecting a very high molecular weigh-t liquid, such as a standard drilling mud, into the dr;ll string so as to, in fact, quench to flow of -the flammable liquids by overco~ing the pressure head of the ~lammable liquids. This method is eFfective provided that the flow pressure of the flammable liquids is sufficiently low that it is possihle to overcome it with the existing pumping apparatus. Since the fluid within a drill string is highly abrasive, and since the Fire in an oil well fire is extremely destructive, is is generally found that the necessary equipments and pumps do not survive the initial explosion and fire or the subsequent wear from the out-of-control blowout, and thus tnere are common condi-tions found where there is insufficient pumping capacity -to, in fact, back pump the drill string with mud.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The essence of this invention is to provide a ~ethod of extinguishing an oil well fire by injecting, into the drill string, at the Blow Out Preventor (B.O.P.~, and below the cutoff rams, a single or a mixture of halogenated alkanes so as to 2Q introduce a chemical inhibiting fire suppressing agent at a vapor pressure which is related to the vapor pressure of the most flammable low flash point gasses entrapped within an oil well spray, so as to effectively suppress the igni-tion of such low flash point materials, thus effectively quenching the primary source of ignition, re-ignition, and fire within an oil well blowout.
This is achieved in an embodiment of the invention where a mixture of suitably chosen Halons having varied vapor pressures are injected into or beneath the B.O.P. of an oil well during a blowout or a fire condition. The Halons form a selected vapor pressure mixture, which selectively vaporizes in conjunction with the vaporization of the entrapped methane or other low flash point gasses contained within the overall spray of fluid from the drill string. The fire suppressing Halon is thus preferentially mixed with those low flash point natural gasses which provide the primary ignition source in an oil well ~3~
fire;it thereby provides a maximal fire suppression effect during -those conditions during which the natural gas would normally be ignited. This includes two Cri-tical points during the uncontrolled spewing of liquid from an oil well: the first point is when the liquid bypasses the rams and chocks above the B.O.P., a point where the combined eFFects of friction and hiyn pressure flow produces significant heating effects, generally raising the temperature of the stream above the ignition point of methane. The second point is encountered during the free spray of the ejected mixture of gas and liquid petroleum over the hea-ted residue of the oil well, which includes metal remnants that have been heated by fire to a temperature well abnve the ignition point of the vapors of both the petroleum and the gas.
It is thus an object of this invention to provide a method of suppressing a Fire in a standard oil well.
It is a further object oF this inven-tion to provide a method of suppressing re-ignition within an oil well fire once it has been initially quenched.
It is further an object of this invention to provide a fire suppression means within an oil well which preferentially suppresses ignition and re-ignition of the more flammable components of the overall oil well fluid spray.
This and other objects of the invention can be ascertained from the detailed description of the preferred embodiment which follows BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Figure l is a cross-sec-tional schematic of an oil well head showing an injection means and injection point, according -to -the me-thod of the current invention.
Figure 2 is a schematic of the auxiliary pumping network.
Figure 3 is a labeled schematic showing the interconnection o~ the preferred embodiment oF the invention DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
Referring to Figure l the me-thod is shown as utilizing a ~3~L3~
bank 2 containing a liquified mixture of a high vapor pressure halogenated alkane and a low vapor pressure halogenated alkane.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, these are respectively Halon 1301 and Halon 1211.
Providing such a mixture of a high and a low vapor pressure halogenated alkane allows one to form a uniform agent mixture having all the desirable fire suppression properties of the halogenated alkanes, but simultaneously allowing one to establish a specific desired system vapor pressure at which the agent transitions from a liquid to a vapor by varying the respective percentages of the Halon 1301 and the Halon 1211.
In the preferred embodiment of the inventlon, it has been found that a mixture of 35 percent Halon 1301, the high pressure component, and 65 percent Halon 1211 provides a mixture with a vapor pressure well adapted to the fire suppression method hereinaf-ter outlined.
Although the Halon mixture has a high vapor pressure, it is stored and pumped as a liquid, and thus may be readily pumped by standard high pressure liquid pumps 4 against the found pressure within the overall injection system 6 to be hereinafter described.
; The mixture is injected through control valves 8 into the "Kill Line" valving system 10 in an exis-ting oil well, and thence may be injected under control immediately benea-th the B.O.P.14. This injection point, which is in the form of a injection orifice 16, is essentially perpendicular to the directional flow of the liquids within the drill string, and provides a venturi effect during high flow rates within the drill string such as would be encountered during a blow out. The venturi effect aids in the establishment of a pressure injection differential and also in the dispersal of the fire suppression agent into the flow stream beneath the B.O.P. 14.
Referring to Figure 2, the equipment for performing the method is shown to include an auxiliary section reservoir 18 ,containing Halon 1301 and Halon 1211, a standard high-pressure triplex pump 4, and a suitable valve system 8 capable of 5 ~3~13~
isolating said pump 4 from -the aforementioned system S shown in Figure 1.
In the event of the failure of a diverter system 10 to provide substantial assurance against the development of an excessive back pressure in the drill string and the drill string annulus, the triplex pump 4 may be utilized in order to overcome back pressure and allow injection of the extinguishing mixture.
It is typical that at this point in the s-tream of flow during a blowout that the liquid within the B.O.P. 14 comprises a non-homogeneous mixture of entrapped gas, varying weights of petroleum products in liquid form, and various abrasive components such as sand, drilling mud residue and the like.
During a blowout condition, as would be encountered in an oil well fire or where there was risk of an oil well fire, it will be found that this fluid is moving at a very high speed.
Immediately above the point of injection the Fluid passes, at this high speed, through the B.O.P. 14 or blowout preventor. The blowout preventor as known in the art is intended to prevent this flow oF fluid and therefore may be assumed to have failed in some manner when the danger of oil well fire exists. Likewise there is provided either as a component to 9ØP. 14 or as a separate component at least one pair of cutoff jaws (not shown) which are power jaws designed to close, by crushing, the casing and the drill string in an oil well so as to cut off fluid flow. Again, it is to be assumed that this mechanism has in some form failed, else there would be no danger o~ an oil well fire and no need for the method of the current invention.
In operation therefore, when an accident has occurred to the oilwell, including the B.O.P. 14 or the cutoff jaws, it is found that the oil well fluid is being spewed from drill string into the air at an extremely high rate of speed. The frictional effects oF the passage of this fluid through the apparatus of the B.O.P. 14 and into the free air are such as to heat at least the entrapped natural gas and some of the lower molecular weight petroleum products past their flash point, thus initiating ~3~3~
igni-tion. Once ignition occurs the heat of the initial burning of the gasses then vaporizes and ignites the heavier petroleum products within the stream, producing an extremely hot fire, rapidly raising the surviving metallic components of the external drill rig to well above the ignition temperature of any of the petroleum components within the spray.
The instant invention is activated upon the occurance of a blowout, preferably prior to ignition, but if that is not possible, subsequent to the initial ignition. The fire suppression agent of -the instant invention is injected, as a liquid, through the venturi effect and intermingles with the liquid flow within and beneath the B.O.P. 14, dispersing itself throughout the liquid.
By control of the proportion of the high and low vapor pressure Halons within the particular mixture proposed by the instant method, the Fire suppression mixture is provided at a vapor pressure slightly greater than the most dangerous low flash point gases within the stream. Thus the mechanics of flow of the stream within the oil well preferentially segregates the ~ire suppression agen-t within the oil well spray. For the same reason, as the fluid within the drill string is ejected into the open atmosphere, the fire suppression agent will vaporize slightly before and co-jointly with the natural gas7 methane or other highly flammable products. Since the halogenated alkanes provide fire suppression by a chemical blanking technique which interferes with the process of combustion, rather than by the requirement tha-t they thermally cool the entire stream of fluid and the surrounding material below any of the flash points concerned, they will be found to be successful in suppressing ~O combustion of the petroleum vapor products and the natural gas vapor products even at elevated temperatures. Thus it is found that the given method, by selectively extinguishing the vaporized products of the petroleum stream, suppresses the fire by interfering with the primary mechanism of ignition and re-ignition within an oil well fire. Further~ it is found that the method of the instant invention is capable of suppressing 3L2~
fires under elevated temperature conditions, including suppressing fires and suppressing re-ignition in the presence o-F
a preceding flame, and the resulting elevated temperature of the surviving oil well structure.
Whereas the preferred embodiment of the invention as described above has been the injection of a liquid mixture formed of Halon 1301 and Halon 1211 through a specific described existing valving system into a position into, or immediately beneath? the B.O.P. of an existing oil well, it can be seen that the actual invention extends to those equivalent mixtures of halogenated alkanes having the particular overall vapor pressure properties described, injected at a first point of mechanical mixing prior to the ejection of the fluid spray from within the oil well drill string.
Thus the invention extends to those equivalents as are embodied in the claims.
TITLE
METHOD FOR SUPPRESSING OIL WELL FIRES
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Oil wells contain and produce a liquid flow mixture comprising varying amounts of highly flammable gaseous products, especially me-thane and derivative low flash point, low molecular weight gasses of extremely high vapor pressure, toyether with quantities of petroleum liquids of varying densities and weights having higher flash points but also having much higher heats of combustion. Such a mixture, combining an entrapped low flash point gas within a high pressure stream of a higher flash point, higher burning rate liquid, is susceptible to easy ignition or re-ignition and also burns with excessive heat. For this reason, the suppression of oil well fires has been a particular problem and has resulted in numerous alternate approaches.
One such series of approaches is the injection of a material lnto the oil well or into the oil well fire so as to quench the flames. The most common such method envisions the injection of water or a similar thermal blanketing fire extinguishing liquid into the base of the flames or into the oil well drill string below the point of ignition.
Such liquid injection is intended to quench the fire by means of heat absorption, as by vaporization of the liquid. This is especially true in the case of water. Such heat absorption, however, in practice has proven incapable of lowering the entire stream below the flash point of entrapped methane. In a typical oil well blowout, friction heating alone at the point of escape of the entrapped gas is sufficient to raise methane past its flash point, negating any beneficial effects of the subsequent vaporization of the water. The excess heat produced by the ~ methane is sufficient to ignite the oil stream, and water ; injection has generally been determined to be a failure unless such a sufficient quantity of water is entered at a high pressure that it actually interrupts the flow of the flammable liquids from the well.
For this reason it is found that a second alternate 39~3~
injection envisions injecting a very high molecular weigh-t liquid, such as a standard drilling mud, into the dr;ll string so as to, in fact, quench to flow of -the flammable liquids by overco~ing the pressure head of the ~lammable liquids. This method is eFfective provided that the flow pressure of the flammable liquids is sufficiently low that it is possihle to overcome it with the existing pumping apparatus. Since the fluid within a drill string is highly abrasive, and since the Fire in an oil well fire is extremely destructive, is is generally found that the necessary equipments and pumps do not survive the initial explosion and fire or the subsequent wear from the out-of-control blowout, and thus tnere are common condi-tions found where there is insufficient pumping capacity -to, in fact, back pump the drill string with mud.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The essence of this invention is to provide a ~ethod of extinguishing an oil well fire by injecting, into the drill string, at the Blow Out Preventor (B.O.P.~, and below the cutoff rams, a single or a mixture of halogenated alkanes so as to 2Q introduce a chemical inhibiting fire suppressing agent at a vapor pressure which is related to the vapor pressure of the most flammable low flash point gasses entrapped within an oil well spray, so as to effectively suppress the igni-tion of such low flash point materials, thus effectively quenching the primary source of ignition, re-ignition, and fire within an oil well blowout.
This is achieved in an embodiment of the invention where a mixture of suitably chosen Halons having varied vapor pressures are injected into or beneath the B.O.P. of an oil well during a blowout or a fire condition. The Halons form a selected vapor pressure mixture, which selectively vaporizes in conjunction with the vaporization of the entrapped methane or other low flash point gasses contained within the overall spray of fluid from the drill string. The fire suppressing Halon is thus preferentially mixed with those low flash point natural gasses which provide the primary ignition source in an oil well ~3~
fire;it thereby provides a maximal fire suppression effect during -those conditions during which the natural gas would normally be ignited. This includes two Cri-tical points during the uncontrolled spewing of liquid from an oil well: the first point is when the liquid bypasses the rams and chocks above the B.O.P., a point where the combined eFFects of friction and hiyn pressure flow produces significant heating effects, generally raising the temperature of the stream above the ignition point of methane. The second point is encountered during the free spray of the ejected mixture of gas and liquid petroleum over the hea-ted residue of the oil well, which includes metal remnants that have been heated by fire to a temperature well abnve the ignition point of the vapors of both the petroleum and the gas.
It is thus an object of this invention to provide a method of suppressing a Fire in a standard oil well.
It is a further object oF this inven-tion to provide a method of suppressing re-ignition within an oil well fire once it has been initially quenched.
It is further an object of this invention to provide a fire suppression means within an oil well which preferentially suppresses ignition and re-ignition of the more flammable components of the overall oil well fluid spray.
This and other objects of the invention can be ascertained from the detailed description of the preferred embodiment which follows BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Figure l is a cross-sec-tional schematic of an oil well head showing an injection means and injection point, according -to -the me-thod of the current invention.
Figure 2 is a schematic of the auxiliary pumping network.
Figure 3 is a labeled schematic showing the interconnection o~ the preferred embodiment oF the invention DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
Referring to Figure l the me-thod is shown as utilizing a ~3~L3~
bank 2 containing a liquified mixture of a high vapor pressure halogenated alkane and a low vapor pressure halogenated alkane.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, these are respectively Halon 1301 and Halon 1211.
Providing such a mixture of a high and a low vapor pressure halogenated alkane allows one to form a uniform agent mixture having all the desirable fire suppression properties of the halogenated alkanes, but simultaneously allowing one to establish a specific desired system vapor pressure at which the agent transitions from a liquid to a vapor by varying the respective percentages of the Halon 1301 and the Halon 1211.
In the preferred embodiment of the inventlon, it has been found that a mixture of 35 percent Halon 1301, the high pressure component, and 65 percent Halon 1211 provides a mixture with a vapor pressure well adapted to the fire suppression method hereinaf-ter outlined.
Although the Halon mixture has a high vapor pressure, it is stored and pumped as a liquid, and thus may be readily pumped by standard high pressure liquid pumps 4 against the found pressure within the overall injection system 6 to be hereinafter described.
; The mixture is injected through control valves 8 into the "Kill Line" valving system 10 in an exis-ting oil well, and thence may be injected under control immediately benea-th the B.O.P.14. This injection point, which is in the form of a injection orifice 16, is essentially perpendicular to the directional flow of the liquids within the drill string, and provides a venturi effect during high flow rates within the drill string such as would be encountered during a blow out. The venturi effect aids in the establishment of a pressure injection differential and also in the dispersal of the fire suppression agent into the flow stream beneath the B.O.P. 14.
Referring to Figure 2, the equipment for performing the method is shown to include an auxiliary section reservoir 18 ,containing Halon 1301 and Halon 1211, a standard high-pressure triplex pump 4, and a suitable valve system 8 capable of 5 ~3~13~
isolating said pump 4 from -the aforementioned system S shown in Figure 1.
In the event of the failure of a diverter system 10 to provide substantial assurance against the development of an excessive back pressure in the drill string and the drill string annulus, the triplex pump 4 may be utilized in order to overcome back pressure and allow injection of the extinguishing mixture.
It is typical that at this point in the s-tream of flow during a blowout that the liquid within the B.O.P. 14 comprises a non-homogeneous mixture of entrapped gas, varying weights of petroleum products in liquid form, and various abrasive components such as sand, drilling mud residue and the like.
During a blowout condition, as would be encountered in an oil well fire or where there was risk of an oil well fire, it will be found that this fluid is moving at a very high speed.
Immediately above the point of injection the Fluid passes, at this high speed, through the B.O.P. 14 or blowout preventor. The blowout preventor as known in the art is intended to prevent this flow oF fluid and therefore may be assumed to have failed in some manner when the danger of oil well fire exists. Likewise there is provided either as a component to 9ØP. 14 or as a separate component at least one pair of cutoff jaws (not shown) which are power jaws designed to close, by crushing, the casing and the drill string in an oil well so as to cut off fluid flow. Again, it is to be assumed that this mechanism has in some form failed, else there would be no danger o~ an oil well fire and no need for the method of the current invention.
In operation therefore, when an accident has occurred to the oilwell, including the B.O.P. 14 or the cutoff jaws, it is found that the oil well fluid is being spewed from drill string into the air at an extremely high rate of speed. The frictional effects oF the passage of this fluid through the apparatus of the B.O.P. 14 and into the free air are such as to heat at least the entrapped natural gas and some of the lower molecular weight petroleum products past their flash point, thus initiating ~3~3~
igni-tion. Once ignition occurs the heat of the initial burning of the gasses then vaporizes and ignites the heavier petroleum products within the stream, producing an extremely hot fire, rapidly raising the surviving metallic components of the external drill rig to well above the ignition temperature of any of the petroleum components within the spray.
The instant invention is activated upon the occurance of a blowout, preferably prior to ignition, but if that is not possible, subsequent to the initial ignition. The fire suppression agent of -the instant invention is injected, as a liquid, through the venturi effect and intermingles with the liquid flow within and beneath the B.O.P. 14, dispersing itself throughout the liquid.
By control of the proportion of the high and low vapor pressure Halons within the particular mixture proposed by the instant method, the Fire suppression mixture is provided at a vapor pressure slightly greater than the most dangerous low flash point gases within the stream. Thus the mechanics of flow of the stream within the oil well preferentially segregates the ~ire suppression agen-t within the oil well spray. For the same reason, as the fluid within the drill string is ejected into the open atmosphere, the fire suppression agent will vaporize slightly before and co-jointly with the natural gas7 methane or other highly flammable products. Since the halogenated alkanes provide fire suppression by a chemical blanking technique which interferes with the process of combustion, rather than by the requirement tha-t they thermally cool the entire stream of fluid and the surrounding material below any of the flash points concerned, they will be found to be successful in suppressing ~O combustion of the petroleum vapor products and the natural gas vapor products even at elevated temperatures. Thus it is found that the given method, by selectively extinguishing the vaporized products of the petroleum stream, suppresses the fire by interfering with the primary mechanism of ignition and re-ignition within an oil well fire. Further~ it is found that the method of the instant invention is capable of suppressing 3L2~
fires under elevated temperature conditions, including suppressing fires and suppressing re-ignition in the presence o-F
a preceding flame, and the resulting elevated temperature of the surviving oil well structure.
Whereas the preferred embodiment of the invention as described above has been the injection of a liquid mixture formed of Halon 1301 and Halon 1211 through a specific described existing valving system into a position into, or immediately beneath? the B.O.P. of an existing oil well, it can be seen that the actual invention extends to those equivalent mixtures of halogenated alkanes having the particular overall vapor pressure properties described, injected at a first point of mechanical mixing prior to the ejection of the fluid spray from within the oil well drill string.
Thus the invention extends to those equivalents as are embodied in the claims.
Claims (2)
1. A method of suppressing an oil well fire by the injection of a suppression medium into the flow of combustible material, comprising:
a. Providing immediately beneath a first point of turbulent mixing and flow within an oil well fluid stream, means for injecting a liquid to within said fluid stream;
b. Fluidly connecting to said injection means a supply of a mixture of at least one halogenated alkane such that the vapor pressure of said mixture is substantially equal to or greater than the vapor pressure of the low flash point constituent of the oil well fluid flow;
c. Upon the venting of the oil well fluid flow into the open atmosphere, continuously injecting said mixture through said means into the fluid flow at an injection flow rate less than the flow required for blanketing or chilling the said fluid flow; and continuing said injection flow to prevent ignition or reignition of the volatile well flow components.
a. Providing immediately beneath a first point of turbulent mixing and flow within an oil well fluid stream, means for injecting a liquid to within said fluid stream;
b. Fluidly connecting to said injection means a supply of a mixture of at least one halogenated alkane such that the vapor pressure of said mixture is substantially equal to or greater than the vapor pressure of the low flash point constituent of the oil well fluid flow;
c. Upon the venting of the oil well fluid flow into the open atmosphere, continuously injecting said mixture through said means into the fluid flow at an injection flow rate less than the flow required for blanketing or chilling the said fluid flow; and continuing said injection flow to prevent ignition or reignition of the volatile well flow components.
2. The method as described in Claim 1 above wherein the step of providing said injection means further comprises:
a. Positioning said injection means within said fluid flow so as to provide a substantial venting effect upon the occurrence of a sudden increase in said fluid flow, as during a downstream rupture or venting.
a. Positioning said injection means within said fluid flow so as to provide a substantial venting effect upon the occurrence of a sudden increase in said fluid flow, as during a downstream rupture or venting.
Priority Applications (1)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA000480267A CA1234352A (en) | 1985-04-29 | 1985-04-29 | Method for suppressing oil well fires |
Applications Claiming Priority (1)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA000480267A CA1234352A (en) | 1985-04-29 | 1985-04-29 | Method for suppressing oil well fires |
Publications (1)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| CA1234352A true CA1234352A (en) | 1988-03-22 |
Family
ID=4130378
Family Applications (1)
| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA000480267A Expired CA1234352A (en) | 1985-04-29 | 1985-04-29 | Method for suppressing oil well fires |
Country Status (1)
| Country | Link |
|---|---|
| CA (1) | CA1234352A (en) |
Cited By (1)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US5207953A (en) * | 1991-11-27 | 1993-05-04 | Trisol Inc. | Fire retarded solvents |
-
1985
- 1985-04-29 CA CA000480267A patent/CA1234352A/en not_active Expired
Cited By (1)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US5207953A (en) * | 1991-11-27 | 1993-05-04 | Trisol Inc. | Fire retarded solvents |
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| Date | Code | Title | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| MKEX | Expiry |