Economics continued equipment

Natural circulation evaporators like those shown on Figure 8.16 may be equipped for continuous salt removal and thus adapted to crystallization service. For large production rates, however, forced circulation types such as the DTB crystallizer of Figure 16.10(g), with some control of crystal size, are the most often used. The lower limit for economic continuous operation is l-4tons/day of crystals, and the upper limit in a single vessel is 100-300 tons/day, but units in parallel can be used for unlimited capacity. 

Economical microwave equipment suitable for the requirements of industrial freeze drying of foods and pharmaceuticals on a large continuous scale is not yet available. 

Conventional Sintering Equipment. Like drying furnaces, sintering furnaces (29,76,85) can be periodic or continuous in nature. Periodic kilns offer greater flexibiHty continuous tunnel kilns are more economical. Advanced ceramics are typically siatered in high purity, controUed atmosphere furnaces by electric resistance heating. Ceramic furnaces used to fire traditional ceramic ware are generally heated with inexpensive natural gas, oil, wood, or coal. 

Batch vs Continuous Distillation. The mode of operation also influences the economics of distiUation. Batch distiUation is generaUy limited to smaU-scale operations where the equipment serves several different disflUations. 

If the product in no way adheres to the dryer parts and simple cyclone collectors are sufficient for gas-sohds separation, batch operation of a spray dryer may be considered. Otherwise, the time and costs for cleaning the large equipment parts make them rarely economical for other than continuous processing of a single material. 

Automatic weighing has largely replaced manual weighing in the chemical-process industries because of the advent of larger-capacity processes and the need to economize on labor. Also, the dependability of weighing equipment has increased markedly, and investment cost has decreasea. Both batch and continuous weighing are used. 

High-efficiency expanders and their relatively short payback period made even smaller units economically attractive. These machines have demonstrated a high degree of reliability. Hundreds of units have been in continuous uninterrupted service for many years this has removed the need for backup equipment and has demonstrated that unattended operation is entirely feasible. 

Fluidized-bed adsorbers have several disadvantages. The continuous handling and transport of solids is expensive from an equipment standpoint fluidized-bed systems must be large to be economical. Solids handling also presents a potential for mechanical problems. Careful control is required to keep the adsorbent fluidized, while minimizing adsorbent loss with the gas-phase attrition of the adsorbent can be high, requiring substantial makeup. 

Often pilot plant or research data for developing a process are obtained on a batch operation. Later, a continuous process will usually prove that smaller equipment can be used and that the operation. vill be more economical. Normally batch mixing requires 10%-25% more power than continuous [29] for stable conditions how ev-er, the reaction time for continuous flow is always longer than the reaction time for batch flow, but the practical result may show batch time cycle is increased by filling,... 

Efficient and economical performance of distillation equipment is vital to many processes. Although the art and science of distillation has been practiced for many years, studies still continue to determine the best design procedures for multicomponent, azeotropic, batch, raul-tidraw, multifeed and other types. Some shortcut procedures are adequate for many systems, yet have limitations in others in fact the same might be said even for more detailed procedures. 

Item 1 is the major factor in choosing continuous systems rather than batch systems for improved SCP production. Economics are improved by lower capital cost for the bioreactor (a conomica major equipment cost, see Section 4.10) and by a higher output rate. Item 3 leads to greater control of product quality. 

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