Constant suction drum pressure

But, suppose we must maintain a constant pressure in the wet-gas drum. The pressure in this drum may be controlling the pressure in an upstream distillation column. To hold a constant pressure in the drum, we will have to resort to spillback suction pressure control, illustrated in Fig. 28.5. 

Throughout our discussion of motor-driven, constant-speed centrifugal compressors, I have assumed that the suction temperature was constant. But let s refer back to Fig. 28.1. Assume that the temperature in the drum increases. How will this affect the pressure in the drum ... 

Figure 3.15. Control modes for the upper sections of fractionators, (a) Pressure control by throttling of the overhead vapor flow. The drawbacks of this method are the cost of the large control valve and the fact that the reflux pump operates with a variable suction head. The flow of HTM is hand set. (b) Applicable when the overhead product is taken off as vapor and only the reflux portion need be condensed. Two two-way valves can replace the single three-way valve. The flow of HTM is hand set. (c) How rate of the HTM is regulated to keep the pressure constant. One precaution is to make sure that the HTM, for example water, does not overheat and cause scaling. The HTM flow control valve is small compared with the vapor valve of case (a), (d) Pressure control is maintained by throttling uncondensed vapois. Clearly only systems with uncondensables can be handled this way. The flow of the HTM is manually set. (e) Bypass of vapor to the drum on PC ...

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