Drying prevention techniques

Under certain conditions of temperature and pressure, and in the presence of free water, hydrocarbon gases can form hydrates, which are a solid formed by the combination of water molecules and the methane, ethane, propane or butane. Hydrates look like compacted snow, and can form blockages in pipelines and other vessels. Process engineers use correlation techniques and process simulation to predict the possibility of hydrate formation, and prevent its formation by either drying the gas or adding a chemical (such as tri-ethylene glycol), or a combination of both. This is further discussed in SectionlO.1. 

Practical separation techniques for hquid particles in gases are discussed. Since gas-borne particulates include both hquid and sohd particles, many devices used for dry-dust collection (discussed in Sec. 17 under Gas-Sohds Separation ) can be adapted to liquid-particle separation. Also, the basic subject of particle mechanics is covered in Sec. 6. Separation of liquid particulates is frequently desirable in chemical processes such as in countercurrent-stage contacting because hquid entrainment with the gas partially reduces true countercurrency. Separation before entering another process step may be needed to prevent corrosion, to prevent yield loss, or to prevent equipment damage or malfunc tion. Separation before the atmospheric release of gases may be necessaiy to prevent environmental problems and for regula-toiy compliance. 

By using this technique only water insoluble monomers can be polymerised. In this process, the monomer is suspended as discrete droplets (0.1 to 1.0 mm diameter) in dilute aqueous solution containing protective colloids like polyvinyl alcohol and surfactants, etc. The droplets have large surface area and can readily transfer heat to water. Suspension is brought about by agitating the suspension. Protective colloids prevent coalescence of the droplets. A monomer soluble initiator is used. The product is obtained by filtration or spray drying. This process cannot be carried out yet in a continuous process hence batch processing has to be used. 

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