Blowdown Drums

Types of Equipment The three most commonly used types of equipment for handling emergency relief device effluents are blowdown drums (also called knockout drums or catch tanks), cyclone vapor-liquid separators, and quench tanks (also called passive scruh-hers). These are described as follows. 

Horizontal Blowdown Drum/Catch Tank This type of drum, shown in Fig. 26-16, combines both the vapor-liquid separation and holdup functions in one vessel. Horizontal drums are commonly used where space is plentiful, such as in petroleum refineries and petrochemical plants. The two-phase mixture usually enters at one end and the vapor exits at the other end. For two-phase streams with very high vapor flow rates, inlets may be provided at each end, with the vapor outlet at the center of the drum, thus minimizing vapor velocities at the inlet and aiding vapor-hquid separation. 

Equipment Selection Criteria and Guidelines A number of factors should be considered in order to determine when to select a blowdown drum, cyclone separator, or quench tank to handle a multiphase stream from a relief device. Among these are the plot plan space available, the operating limitations of each type, and the physicochemical properties of the stream. 

The criteria for application and performance characteristics of blowdown drums, cyclone separators, and quench tanks are discussed as follows. 

Horizontal Blowdown Drum (See Fig. 26-16.) The two main criteria used in sizing horizontal blowdown drums or catch tanks are as follows. 

Values of/c reported in the technical hterature have ranged from 0.157 to 0.40. A k value of 0.27 has resulted in conservatively sized blowdown drums, able to separate hquid droplets 300 [Lm in diameter and larger. 

General In comparison with design information on blowdown drums and cyclone separators, there is very httle information in the open technical hterature on the design of quench tanks in the Chernies industry. What is available deSs with the design of quench tanks (Sso called suppression pools) for condensation of steam or steam-water mixtures from nuclear reactor safety vSves. Information and criteria from quench tanks in the nuclear industry can be used for the design of quench tanks in the chemicS industry. There have been sev-... 

Vessel Siting The area needed for vapor disengaging is calculated by the equations given earlier in the section on horizontal blowdown drums. 

For additional details on the design of blowdown drums, cyclone separators, and quench tanks, such as mechanical design, thrust forces, ancillary equipment, and safety considerations, refer to the books and articles listed in the General References. 

This chapter describes the basic principles and procedures for the evaluation of overpressure potential in plant equipment, and for the selection, design and specification of appropriate pressure relieving facilities. The design of closed safety valves and flare headers is included in this chapter, but blowdown drums and flares are covered separately. To properly discuss this subject, the reader should become familiar with the following terminology. 

Closed Disposal System - This is the discharge piping for a PR valve which releases to a collection system, such as a blowdown drum and flare header. However, a closed system can also be a process vessel or other equipment at a lower pressure. 

Conventional Flare System - The majority of pressure relief valve discharges which must be routed to a closed system are manifolded into a conventional blowdown drum and flare system. The blowdown drum serves to separate liquid and vapor so that the vapor portion can be safely flared, and the separated liquid is pumped to appropriate disposal facilities. The blowdown drum may be of the condensible or noncondensible type, according to the characteristics of the streams entering the system. Selection criteria, as well as the design basis for each type of blowdown drum, are detailed later in this volume. The design of flares, including seal drums and other means of flashback protection, is described later. 

In adxlition to handling PR valve releases, the flare header is also used to route certain other emergency releases to the blowdown drum. These include drainage from fuel gas, compressor and absorber knockout drums. 

To Atmosphere Via Condensible Blowdown Drum - Releases which can be totally condensed may be routed to a condensible blowdown drum, which may be vented to the atmosphere. 

With the flare tip and flare seal pressure drop and flare elevation fixed, the flare stack, headers and laterials are sized for the largest release, while not exceeding the maximum allowable operating pressure on the associated blowdown drums and water disengaging drums. These maximum allowable operating pressures are in turn determined by ... 

When applying low temperature requirements, one should consider safety valve and flare headers to be subject to "shock chilling" if they can be exposed to cold liquids released into the system. This includes flare headers from blowdown drums into which cold liquids are discharged. Where laterals of different piping material are combined, the material of the lower-temperature header is continued for the rest of the combined line, and is also extended back into the other lines for 6 m. 

This chapter covers the design of facilities to handle equipment drainage and contaminated aqueous effluents that are sent for appropriate disposal blowdown drum systems to receive closed safety valve discharges, emergency vapor blowdowns, etc. and facilities for process stream diversion and slop storage. Also covered are criteria for selecting the appropriate method of disposal. Design of flares is covered in a subsequent chapter. 

Safety valve releases are routed to blowdown drums when the presence of liquid, toxic properties or other factors would make discharge to the atmosphere hazardous. Product and intermediate process streams may need to be diverted to alternative disposal if they are off-specification (e.g., during startup) or in the event of emergency shutdown of downstream equipment. 

The header is normally a 80 mm diameter pipe (50 mm may be adequate for small units) and is routed via an overhead pipe rack (which is generally sloped) to a non-condensible blowdown drum. 

Closed drain headers are normally provided for safe drainage of equipment containing severely toxic, corrosive, pollutant or high cost chemicals (e.g., phenol, sulfuric acid, monoethanolamine, sulfur dioxide, catacarb) where there is an appreciable inventory in a number of processing vessels in a plant. The header should be at least 50 mm in diameter, and should be tied into the major vessels and equipment with 25 mm minimum size connections (20 mm is considered adequate for pumps). The header may be routed to a gravity drain drum (with recovery to the process by pump or gas pressurization), or to a pumpout pump returning to the process, or in the case of sulfuric acid, to an acid blowdown drum. 

The purpose of a blowdown drum is to disengage closed safety valve releases and various drainage, blowdown and diverted materials into liquid and vapor streams which can be safely disposed of to appropriate storage and flaring facilities, respectively. Entrainment of liquid hydrocarbons into a flare stack is not acceptable, since the potential exists for burning liquid falling onto the ground or adjacent facilities. For this reason, a blowdown drum is required. 

It is important to note that even if the blowdown is effective in disengaging liquid and vapor, further condensation could occur downstream especially if the vented vapor exits the drum at a temperature above ambient conditions. A proportion of such condensible materials in the blowdown drum vapor release may condense as a result of cooling in the flare header and contact with seal water, and then disengage in the flare seal drum while condensible vapors which are not condensed out at this stage may condense in the flare stack or its inlet line, thus creating the potential for hazardous fallout of burning liquid from the flare. Condensed hydrocarbon in the seal drum can be entrained out with the... 

Select a condensible blowdown drum for condensible releases, rather than the non-condensible type. If a condensible blowdown drum is not suitable for handling the total blowdown service (e.g., if cold liquids are involved), then a combination of a condensible and a non-condensible drum may be used. 

Lx)cate the blowdown drum (when the non-condensible type is used) at a minimum permissible spacing from the flare, to minimize condensation in the flare header. 

The following are the principle advantages of condensible blowdown drums ... 

The disadvantages of condensible blowdown drums can be summarized as follows ... 

Large condensing loads, if handled on a steady state basis, result in appreciable cooling water and blowdown drum capacity requirements. These loads may be reduced, however, by the use of unsteady state condensing, e.g., by a worm cooler. 

A typical non-condensible blowdown drum and its associated equipment and headers are illustrated in Figure 1. A single blowdown drum may be used for more than one process unit, if economically attractive. However, when this is done, all units served by it must be shut down in order to take the drum out of service, unless cross connections are made to another system of adequate capacity. Normally all closed safety valve discharges are combined into one header entering the drum, although separate headers and inlet nozzles are acceptable if economically advantageous. The following releases are also normally routed into the safety valve header ... 

Usually, the closed liquid drain header is run as a separate line to the drum and provided with a high level cut-off valve with local manual reset. In some cases the closed drain system is segregated into a number of subheaders, as described earlier. Hydrocarbon liquids may be bypassed around the drum through a connection from the closed drain header directly to the pumpout pump suction, provided that the liquid can be routed to a safe disposal location, considering its vapor pressure and temperature. Emergency liquid pulldown connections, if provided, are routed to the blowdown drum via the closed drain header. 

Figure 1. Typical non-condensible blowdown drum arrangement.

Sizing of the blowdown drum and location of the level instruments are based on the following guidelines. The reader should refer to Figure 2 while reviewing the following items. 

A second LH(CO)A is provided at a higher level, actuating a cut-off valve in the liquid diversion stream, which is routed to the blowdown drum by a separate line. 

Liquid loads are considered from all safety valves that discharge as a result of a single contingency, plus in each case an allowance for knockout drum liquids (fuel gas knockout drums, absorber overhead knockout drums, and compressor suction and interstage knockout drums) equal to the inventory of all drums which discharge to the blowdown drum, at their LHA point. 

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