The Flare Test Facility (FTF) located at the CanmetENERGY facilities in Ottawa is unique in the world. It is designed for testing flare performance with controlled cross-wind, fuel flow rate and composition, and steam assist. On-line analysis of the combustion products allows accurate determination of combustion performance and speciation of emissions. It has been used for characterizing solution gas flares and flare tip testing and development.

The FTF has a single-pass wind tunnel, with the wind driven by a large, variable speed high-capacity fan. The flare tip is located at the front of the working section, which is 1.2 m (4 ft) wide, 8.2 m (27 ft) long, with a height variable between 1.5 and 2.6 m (5 and 8.5 ft). All walls, floor and ceiling are air-cooled to minimize back radiation to the flame. Several ceramic windows are located in the working section to allow observation and digital video recording of the flame. Gas sampling can be performed in working section or downstream in the stack.

All inlet flows are measured by high-precision mass flow meters and digitally controlled. Other features include:

• Moveable ceiling, height ranges from 1.5 to 2.6 m (5 to 8.5 ft)
• Wind speed from 5 km/h to 45 km/h (3 mph to 28 mph)
• Gaseous fuels including natural gas, propane, ethylene, propylene and hydrogen, alone or in combination
• Inert diluents: CO₂, N₂
• Flare pipes from 1 inch to 6 inch nominal diameter, with different designs
• Steam-assist for smoke suppression and pilot-burners on 3” tip
• Total fuel heat input up to 1.6 GJ/h (1.5 million BTU/h) 
• Variable grids upstream of the flare, which allow the development of wind turbulence similar to that experienced in real-life conditions

Stack gases are analyzed for:

• Combustion products CO, CO₂, O₂, NOx, SO₂ (in real time)
• Unburned fuel (CH4, NMHC) (in real time)
• HRVOC and BTEX (by on-line GC)
• Particulate loading (by isokinetic sampling)

Managed by CanmetENERGY at the Ottawa (Ontario) Research Centre.