Exchanger leakage

Chemicals Batch distillation still Leakage of steam from the reboiler contaminated overhead product with water. A radiotracer technique diagnosed the source of leak and measured the rate of leakage. Radiotracer techniques are useful for diagnosing exchanger leakage problems. 

When condensate returns to a boiler, it may be contaminated by pipeline corrosion or with process materials. Likely sources of the latter include exchanger leakage and poorly installed process tie-ins. Carbon dioxide and oxygen are the chief causes of corrosion in steam and condensate systems. Section 12.4.3.3 discusses the treatment of boiler feed water to remove these contaminants, as well as hardness. 

A gas/gas heat exchanger at a refinery had a known leakage, which it for technical reasons had been impossible to repair completely. The objective of the survey was to determine the leakage size in terms of the percentage of process stream crossing it. 

The size of the leakage was determined as follows. Radiation detectors were mounted on the inlet of the first side, and the outlet of the second side of the heat exchanger and at additional locations for control. A short pulse of Kr-85 tracer (<0.1 sec) was injected into the feed stream, which gave rise to detector responses shown in figure 3. 

Isolate and identify possible sources of in-leakage, such as perforated heat exchangers or makeup water contamination. 

Check the glycol to glycol heat exchanger in the accumulator for leakage of wet, rich glycol into the dry, lean glycol. 

Inert gas-filled motors can also be used in refineries and chemical plants, but their applications are limited. They have tightly fitted covers and oil seals around the shaft to minimize gas leakage, are continually pressurized with an inert gas or instrument air, and are equipped with an internal air-to-water heat exchanger. Inert gas-filled motors are suitable for any hazardous location but require auxiliaries such as cooling water, gas pressurizing system, and control accessories. 

Leakage The phenomenon in which some of the influent ions are not ad- sorbed and appear in the effluent when a solution is passed through an underregenerated exchange resin bed. 

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