Constant pilots

Figure 6.11 cites two potential hazards leading to explosions and fuel-fed fires from using constant pilots instead of interrupted pilots when a single flame monitor is used to check both pilot flame and main flame. (See pilot in the glossary.)... 

Fig. 6.11. Two time-line diagrams showing potential explosion situations. Use interrupted pilots-not constant pilots. (See glossary.) Courtesy of North American Mfg. Co.

Under constant pattern conditions the LUB is independent of column length although, of course, it depends on other process variables. The procedure is therefore to determine the LUB in a small laboratory or pilot-scale column packed with the same adsorbent and operated under the same flow conditions. The length of column needed can then be found simply by adding the LUB to the length calculated from equiUbrium considerations, assuming a shock concentration front. 

In cases where a large reactor operates similarly to a CSTR, fluid dynamics sometimes can be estabflshed in a smaller reactor by external recycle of product. For example, the extent of soflds back-mixing and Hquid recirculation increases with reactor diameter in a gas—Hquid—soflds reactor. Consequently, if gas and Hquid velocities are maintained constant when scaling and the same space velocities are used, then the smaller pilot unit should be of the same overall height. The net result is that the large-diameter reactor is well mixed and no temperature gradients occur even with a highly exothermic reaction. 

Analysis of a method of maximizing the usefiilness of smaH pilot units in achieving similitude is described in Reference 67. The pilot unit should be designed to produce fully developed large bubbles or slugs as rapidly as possible above the inlet. UsuaHy, the basic reaction conditions of feed composition, temperature, pressure, and catalyst activity are kept constant. Constant catalyst activity usuaHy requires use of the same particle size distribution and therefore constant minimum fluidization velocity which is usuaHy much less than the superficial gas velocity. Mass transport from the bubble by diffusion may be less than by convective exchange between the bubble and the surrounding emulsion phase. 

Design Methods for Turbo-Tray Dryers The heat- and mass-transfer mechanisms are similar to those in batch tray diyers, except that constant turning over and mixing of the solids significantly improves diying rates. Design must usually be based on previous installations or pilot tests by the manufacturer apparent heat-transfer... 

Figure 14-12 illustrates the influence of system composition and degree of reaetant eonversion upon the numerical values of for the absorption of CO9 into sodium hydroxide solutions at constant conditions of temperature, pressure, and type of packing. An excellent experimental study of the influence of operating variables upon overall values is that of Field et al. (Pilot-Plant Studie.s of the Hot Carbonate Proce.s.s for Removing Carbon Dioxide and Hydrogen Sulfide, U.S. Bureau of Mines Bulletin 597, 1962). 

Filtration experiments are typically conducted in pilot scale equipment and generally tests are conducted either at constant pressure or constant rate to determine axo, as well as s and Rf, for a given sludge and filter medium. Such tests provide empirical information that will enable the time required tor the pressure drop to reach the desired level for a specified set of operating conditions to be determined. In the initial stages of filtration, the filter medium has no cake. Furthermore, Ap is not zero, but has a value that is a function of the resistance of the medium for a given flowrate. This initial condition can be stated as ... 

A suspension of aluminum hydroxide in water is to be filtered imder constant pressure in a batch Nutsch filter having a filtering area of 1 m. Each filter cycle is estimated to separate out 0.5 m of suspension. The operating temperature is 25° C. The following expression for the cake resistance was empirically determined from pilot tests ... 

NOTE To develop reasonably good data for scale-up to full plant design, it is important to have the operation of the pilot column system as near as possible to the anticipated plant conditions. The most critical factors, flow rate and feed impurity concentration, must be constant for the entire test run. 

Gas pilots must be provided with a reliable source of gas which will remain available under any single contingency such as power or air failure. Pilots should be designed for the anticipated gas composition, which should be reasonably constant. 

K(j = valve coefficient of discharge = 0.92 for pilot-operated Pi = flowing pressure, psia MW = molecular weight of gas = 23.2 Z = compressibility factor = 0.9334 C - gas constant based on ratio of specific heats Cp/C ... 

The Br is a measure of the extent to which viscous heating is important relative to an impressed temperature difference. This can be of some concern in the scale-up design, v usually increasing, with other properties remaining constant. A comparison of the Br for a pilot scale (0.05-m screw) and an industrial (0.15-m screw) unit yields values of ca. 0.65, and 5.73, respectively, for the Br with A = 0.5 w/m K and rj = 500 Pa.s at 60 rpm. The numbers suggest that viscous dissipation will be important and will be much more pronounced in the case of an industrial unit. 

Edeleanu made use of potentiostatic curves to determine the optimum conditions for the protection of stainless steel in sulphuric acid. A pilot plant was then used to determine the practicability of anodic protection at a constant potential. He pointed out several factors necessary for proper control and indicated the spectacular results obtained. 

Property Pilot scale (100 Litres) Constant T/volume Plant-scale constant ND2 (125,000 litres) constant ND Constant NRe... 

The pitfalls of a computer model are obvious in that it is only a conceptual representation of the reactor and includes only as many aspects of the real reactor as present knowledge permits. In addition, even the most perfectly conceived description will still depend upon the accuracy of the physically measured constants used in the model for the quality of the process representation. The goal of this report is, however, only to show conceptual trends and the technological base is developed to the extent that the conceptual trends will be correct. In some respects the computer model is a better process development tool than the pilot plant used for the LDPE process since the pilot reactor does not yield directly scaleable information. The reader should take care to direct his attention to the trend information and conceptual differences developed in this work very little attention should be paid to the absolute values of the parameters given. 

A RO stage can be used to reduce salinity and related parameters for high standard industrial reuse using the former UF effluent as feed stream. A pilot plant with 0.4 m h constant permeate flux capacity has been used in this demonstration. Table 7 summarizes the main technical characteristics of this plant. In order to increase the overall system recovery ratio while maintaining an acceptable... 

Also assume that the pilot- and full-scale vessels will operate at the same temperature. This means that A(o-out,bout, . )and/i/2 will be the same for the two vessels and that Equation (1.49) will have the same solution for provided that 7 is held constant during scaleup. Scaling with a constant value for the mean residence time is standard practice for reactors. If the scaleup succeeds in maintaining the CSTR-like environment, the large and small reactors will behave identically with respect to the reaction. Constant residence time means that the system inventory, pV, should also scale as S. The inventory scaleup factor is defined as... 

If the pilot reactor is turbulent and closely approximates piston flow, the larger unit will as well. In isothermal piston flow, reactor performance is determined by the feed composition, feed temperature, and the mean residence time in the reactor. Even when piston flow is a poor approximation, these parameters are rarely, if ever, varied in the scaleup of a tubular reactor. The scaleup factor for throughput is S. To keep t constant, the inventory of mass in the system must also scale as S. When the fluid is incompressible, the volume scales with S. The general case allows the number of tubes, the tube radius, and the tube length to be changed upon scaleup ... 

Example 5.11 The results of Table 5.1 suggest that scaling a tubular reactor with constant heat transfer per unit volume is possible, even with the further restriction that the temperature driving force be the same in the large and small units. Find the various scaling factors for this form of scaleup for turbulent liquids and apply them to the pilot reactor in Example 5.10. 

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