Feed streams

The most frequent application of phase-equilibrium calculations in chemical process design and analysis is probably in treatment of equilibrium separations. In these operations, often called flash processes, a feed stream (or several feed streams) enters a separation stage where it is split into two streams of different composition that are in equilibrium with each other. 

In an equilibrium separation, a feed stream containing m components at given composition, pressure, and enthalpy (or temperature if in a single phase) is split into two streams in equilibrium, here taken to be a vapor and a liquid. The flow rates of the feed, vapor, and liquid streams are, respectively,... 

Both vapor-liquid flash calculations are implemented by the FORTRAN IV subroutine FLASH, which is described and listed in Appendix F. This subroutine can accept vapor and liquid feed streams simultaneously. It provides for input of estimates of vaporization, vapor and liquid compositions, and, for the adiabatic calculation, temperature, but makes its own initial estimates as specified above in the absence (0 values) of the external estimates. No cases have been encountered in which convergence is not achieved from internal initial estimates. 

FLASH determines the equilibrium vapor and liquid compositions resultinq from either an isothermal or adiabatic equilibrium flash vaporization for a mixture of N components (N 20). The subroutine allows for presence of separate vapor and liquid feed streams for adaption to countercurrent staged processes. 

The temperature and composition of each feed stream and the stream ratios are specified along with a common feed pressure (significant only for the vapor stream) and the flash pressure. For an isothermal flash the flash temperature is also specified. Resulting vapor and liquid compositions, phase ratios, vaporization equilibrium ratios, and, for an adiabatic flash, flash temperature are returned. 

HG Enthalpy of combined liquid and vapor feed streams, J/mole. 

COMPONENTS WITH VAPOR AND LIOUIO FEED STREAMS,... 

Hgure 1.1 Synthesis is the creation of a process to transform feed streams into product streams. Simulation predicts how it would behave if it was constructed. 

Adiabatic operation. If adiabatic operation leads to an acceptable temperature rise for exothermic reactors or an acceptable fall for endothermic reactors, then this is the option normally chosen. If this is the case, then the feed stream to the reactor requires heating and the efiluent stream requires cooling. The heat integration characteristics are thus a cold stream (the reactor feed) and a hot stream (the reactor efiluent). The heat of reaction appears as elevated temperature of the efiluent stream in the case of exothermic reaction or reduced temperature in the case of endothermic reaction. 

If indirect heat transfer is used with a large temperature difference to promote high rates of cooling, then the cooling fluid (e.g., boiling water) is fixed by process requirements. In this case, the heat of reaction is not available at the temperature of the reactor effluent. Rather, the heat of reaction becomes available at the temperature of the quench fluid. Thus the feed stream to the reactor is a cold stream, the quench fluid is a hot stream, and the reactor effluent after the quench is also a hot stream. 

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. 

The total stationary-phase volume required to process a given feed stream is proportional to the inlet concentration and volume of the feed. For example, for a typical inlet concentration of protein of 10 g/L, in a 100 L volume of feed, a column volume of at least 100 L is needed for size-exclusion chromatography. In comparison, an ion-exchange column having an adsorption capacity of 50 g/L would only require 20 L of column volume for the same feed. 

Dyna.micPerforma.nce, Most models do not attempt to separate the equiUbrium behavior from the mass-transfer behavior. Rather they treat adsorption as one dynamic process with an overall dynamic response of the adsorbent bed to the feed stream. Although numerical solutions can be attempted for the rigorous partial differential equations, simplifying assumptions are often made to yield more manageable calculating techniques. 

Chromatography may also be advantageous when it is required to separate several pure products from a single feed stream. A simulated moving-bed system can yield only two weU-separated fractions from a single feed stream. 

An extraction plant should operate at steady state in accordance with the flow-sheet design for the process. However, fluctuation in feed streams can cause changes in product quaUty unless a sophisticated system of feed-forward control is used (103). Upsets of operation caused by flooding in the column always force shutdowns. Therefore, interface control could be of utmost importance. The plant design should be based on (/) process control (qv) decisions made by trained technical personnel, (2) off-line analysis or limited on-line automatic analysis, and (J) control panels equipped with manual and automatic control for motor speed, flow, interface level, pressure, temperature, etc. 

A flow sheet of the basic TVA process for granular diammonium phosphate is given in Figure 12. The raw materials are wet-process phosphoric acid and anhydrous ammonia. Feed acid concentration of at least 40% P2 5 required to give a satisfactory water balance. This average concentration usually is provided by two separate feed streams, one of 54% P2 5 concentration and one of about 30% P2 5 arrangement shown, the 54% acid is... 

The separation of nitrogen from natural gas reHes on the differences between the boiling points of nitrogen (77.4 K) and methane (91.7 K) and involves the cryogenic distillation of a feed stream that has been preconditioned to very low levels of carbon dioxide, water vapor, and other constituents that would form soHds at the low processing temperatures. 

In order to faciUtate heat transfer of the exothermic polymerization reaction, and to control polymerizate viscosity, percent reactives are adjusted through the use of inert aromatic or aUphatic diluents, such as toluene or heptane, or higher boiling mixed aromatic or mixed aUphatic diluents. Process feed streams are typically adjusted to 30—50% polymerizable monomers. 

The two portions of the feed stream recombine and flow into the high pressure separator where the Hquid is separated from the vapor and is fed into an intermediate section of the demethanizer with Hquid level control. The decrease in pressure across the level-control valve causes some of the Hquid to flash which results in a decrease in the stream temperature. The pressure of the vapor stream is decreased by the way of a turboexpander to recover... 

Solid-Bed Caustic Treatment. SoHd-bed caustic units utilizing methanol [67-56-1] injection into the LPG feed stream can be used for carbonyl sulfide removal. The methanol—caustic solution must be drained periodically from the beds and discarded. When the soHd bed is exhausted, the spent caustic must be discarded and replaced. The LPG from the treater has a low enough water content to meet the propane specification. 

Fig. 23. Two types of hollow-fiber modules used for gas separation, reverse osmosis, and ultrafiltration applications, (a) Shell-side feed modules are generally used for high pressure appHcations up to - 7 MPa (1000 psig). Fouling on the feed side of the membrane can be a problem with this design, and pretreatment of the feed stream to remove particulates is required, (b) Bore-side feed modules are generally used for medium pressure feed streams up to - 1 MPa (150 psig), where good flow control to minimise fouling and concentration polarization on the feed side of the membrane is desired.

The acetone-selective, siUcone mbber membrane is best used to treat dilute acetone feed streams and concentrate most of the acetone in a small volume of permeate. The water-selective, poly(vinyl alcohol) membrane is best used to treat concentrated acetone feed streams containing only a few percent water. Most of the water is then removed and concentrated in the permeate. Both membranes are more selective than distillation, which rehes on the vapor—hquid equiUbrium to achieve a separation. 

Propionic acid is accessible through the Hquid-phase carbonylation of ethylene over a nickel carbonyl catalyst (104), or via ethylene and formic acid over an iridium catalyst (105). Condensation of propionic acid with formaldehyde over a supported cesium catalyst gives MAA directiy with conversions of 30—40% and selectivities of 80—90% (106,107). Catalyst lifetime can be extended by adding low levels (several ppm) of cesium to the feed stream (108). 

Purifica.tlon. Purification refers to separations wherein the feed stream is upgraded by the removal of a few percent or even traces of a contaminant (Fig. 12). A heated purge gas is usually employed for this purpose. 

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