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Properly Employ
O verhead Condensers
for Vacuum Columns
In a vacuum distillation system, the
condenser is an important determinant
of overall performance. Follow these
guidelines for specifying, selecting and
designing overhead vacuum condensers.
David Greene
Consultant
George J. Vago
Consultant
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clude the cooling medium and its temperature, the desirability of recovering process vapors, and the need to treat
either the gaseous or liquid effluent stream, or both. In a
batch system, the time necessary to pull the system down
to the desired vacuum level is also relevant, and in fact
might control the sizing of the vacuum system.
Pressure
Vacuum can be classified as high, medium or low,
where high vacuum corresponds to the lowest absolute pressure: low vacuum 760100 torr; medium
Heat Transfer
Noncondensables
Noncondensables can be introduced through in-leakage,
they may be entrained or dissolved in the process fluid, or
they may be produced in the distillation column by cracking of heavier components. During start-up, additional
noncondensables in the form of contaminants, such as oil
or grease, may be present in the system.
Two methods are available to estimate in-leakage. A
crude technique developed by the Heat Exchange Institute
(HEI) (1) provides an estimate of in-leakage as a function of
absolute pressure and system volume for tight systems. Although quick and simple, there seems to be a general consensus that the results are overly conservative (2).
A somewhat more scientific basis is to count the fittings, valves, flanges and any other connections between
the process and atmosphere, and estimate in-leakage
based on either in-house or published data. In this approach, dynamic connections are assigned more weight
than static connections.
The amount of noncondensables dissolved in the process stream or produced in the process must also be estimated and added to the noncondensables in-leakage estimate to determine a total noncondensable load. If a safety
factor is desired, it is added to the total noncondensable
load. Remember that the control system should be designed to accommodate the difference between the actual
or expected noncondensables and the design allowance
without introducing additional inerts.
The next step is to saturate the noncondensables with the
process components and determine the total load to the condenser and the physical properties of the process stream.
Temperature
A vent condenser will further reduce the load on the
vacuum system, recover process material and reduce effluent-treatment requirements. It may be desirable to add refrigeration to maximize recovery.
At the same time, the design should be based on a reasonable coolant temperature and a realistic temperature
approach. The cost of designing for the worst-case cooling
water temperature and a close approach will be very high
for a vacuum condenser.
Also, use caution when dealing with materials with
high freezing points to avoid the possibility of freezing. A
recirculating tempered-cooling loop may be provided to
obtain a close approach while maintaining the process
temperature above the freezing point.
TEMA data sheet
After the heat duty has been calculated, a condensing
curve, as illustrated in Figure 1, is prepared. This curve
will be used to calculate a weighted mean temperature difference to most accurately reflect the temperature difference throughout the heat exchanger.
A data sheet, such as provided in the Tubular Exchanger
Manufacturers Association (TEMA) standards (3), is used to
transmit pertinent fluid properties and mechanical preferences
from the process engineer to the heat transfer specialist.
240.0
Temperature, F
220.0
200.0
180.0
160.0
0.0
20.0
40.0
60.0
80.0
100.0
Duty, %
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Information Technology
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Heat Transfer
Nomenclature
A
hc
hv
hw
Re = Reynolds number
T
= temperature, F
T = temperature difference, F
U
= viscosity, lb/ft-h
= density, lb/ft3
L2
Subscripts
f
= fouling
= vapor/condensate interface
= liquid phase
= metal
= vapor phase
(1)
(2)
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Information Technology
(3)
( 4)
(1 + UZ hv ) dQ
U (Tv Tw )
0
(5)
A=
The shellside vapor-phase convective heat-transfer coefficient, hv, is calculated using the Tinker type streamanalysis method, as described by Hewitt, et al. (4).
The condensing liquid-film heat-transfer coefficient is
established by the correlations for single vapor condensation as given by McAdams (6) for two regions of flow.
Gravity-controlled condensation occurs at ReL < 2,100,
and the heat-transfer coefficient in this region is:
0.25
(6 )
0.33
= f ( ReL )
(7)
4Wc
NL L
(8)
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February 2004
L2 = f(Xtt)
(10)
k 3 2 g
hc = 0.725 L L
N L DT
(9)
CEP
1 x
Xtt =
x
0.9
L
v
0.5
L
V
0.1
(11)
P2 = PL 2L
n
(12)
Heat Transfer
Vapor
Vapor
Outlet
Outlet
Cooling
Cooling
Outlet
Outlet
Cooling
Splash Baffle
Inlet
Cooling
PI
Inlet
and TI
(Typical)
Drain
Pipe
Inlet and
Column Mount
Inlet and
Column Mount
50
40
30
100.0
1000.0
Pressure, torr
Literature Cited
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Lockhart, R. W., and R. C. Martinelli, Proposed Correlation of Data for Isothermal Two-phase, Two-component Flow
in Pipes, Chem. Eng. Progress, 45 (1), pp. 3948 (Jan. 1949).
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