• Embed Doc
  • Copy Link
  • Readcast
  • Collections
  • 2
    CommentGo Back
Download
 
Branko R Babic53A Middle WaySummertownOxford OX2 7LEUK Tel/Fax: 44 (0)1865 310772Email: babic.branko@virgin.netVisit our www site:http://homepage.virgin.net/babic.branko/
Patented 
Containment of the Kuwaiti Oil Fires 1991.
In early 1991 the world was shocked by the bedlam inflicted on asmall, weak but extremely rich country that was not equipped for war.Defenceless against the well armed aggressor, the people of Kuwaitwere quickly overpowered. Economics seem to have been the basesfor the attack on Kuwait and control of the oil wealth of Kuwait wassaid to be the primary goal of the powers that conceived the war.When western powers moved into Kuwait the retreating Iraqi forces aresaid to have destroyed some 700 hundred oil wells crippling theKuwaiti economy and causing an environmental catastrophe. The world had never seen a problem of this type before and thespecialist services that were instructed to resolve the crisis had no ideahow to cope with the scale of the devastation. The Kuwaiti Governmentwatching the burning of a precious, irreplaceable resource and beingadvised by the specialist teams hired to put out the oil fires that thetask could not be completed in less than two years and could possiblytake as long as five, the Kuwaitis were faced with the total destructionof their economy.As a desperate last choice they invited anyone with containment know-how to come forward and present their concept for consideration. Allover the world vast numbers of scientists, specialist firms, oil industryconsultants, materials specialist, etc and a huge number of ordinarymen and women who have never been near a burning oil well, putforward concepts for the containment of the burning oil wells. Soonafter the invitation the agencies set up to handle and overseesubmitted ideas were flooded with descriptions and methodology that
 
had never been tried or tested before and it was reported that in theUK the offices receiving submissions were stuffed full of letters,drawings and proposals on how to put out the fires. Rooms were fullfrom floor to ceiling with submissions from various quarters, most of which never saw the light of day.In this scramble to help solve a unique problem an inventor, BrankoBabic put forward a proposal to the Kuwaiti Oil Corporation in LondonUK, that was accepted and used to contain over half of all the burningoil wells in Kuwait. A Chemistry degree from London Universityprovided Babic with know-how, to offer a simple solution for the controlof damaged oil wells. A fire is a well understood chemical process inwhich oxygen reacts with a combustible substance to achieve newproducts and at the same time liberate a large amount of energy. Itwas the heat of the fires that was the main problem in containing thedamage caused to the oil well heads and as soon as the heat wasremoved from any given site the repair of the damaged installation,was the simplest of engineering tasks. The patent applied for technology provided by Babic consisted of along tube about 10 metres in length, that was positioned directlyabove the burning oil well. The escaping material being under pressurewas forced up this displacement tube to emerge at the top of thestructure and continue burning some distance above the damagedinstallation. In this way, the heat generated by burning oil wasdisplaced some distance from the working area and the engineerscould start work on cutting and repairing the damaged oil facility,whilst it was still burning. The fire was put out using basic chemistryprincipals.A fire being a chemical reaction between oxygen and a hydrocarbon,cannot occur if any of the constituent reactants are absent so that byremoving oxygen from the inside of the tube, the fire was immediatelyextinguished. Very simply principals applied, no oxygen no fire. The removal of oxygen from the combusting environment wasachieved according to prevailing conditions and was planned to beused by lowering the tube containing the burning oil to the ground thuspreventing air from entering the lumen of the tube. The secondmethod proposed was the removal of the displacement tube to oneside of the oil well so as to create a break in the burning column of oil.In this case, the oil was burning at the top of the tube and as the longtube was snapped to one side of the oil installation the hot end of theassembly was moved some distance from the escaping column of oiland not having a source of heat to promote combustion, the escapingoil did not reignite. Thirdly, given that the oil wells were sited in themiddle of the desert the pumping of nitrogen gas into the tube was
 
proposed to prevent air from entering the combustion area. By thetime the technology was accepted and applied in Kuwait the firefighting teams had installed piping to duct water from the sea and vastvolumes of salt water were used to keep the working areas around theburning wells cool. Once the displacement tube was in position theintensity of the fires was controlled by pumping varying quantities of water into the lumen of the displacement tube and when the firesneeded to be put out the tube was flooded with water, as a means of removing oxygen from the combustion equation.Picture Displacement TubeKuwaiti Patent 40/94
of 00

Leave a Comment

You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...

uploaded a new revision for this document (#2)

02 / 17 / 2010

uploaded a new revision for this document (#1)

02 / 17 / 2010
You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...