Fractionation Research Institute

There are several approaches to column diameter design [65, 74] as well as the proprietary techniques of major industrial and engineering designers. Some of these use the proprietary Fractionation Research Institute methods which are only available on a membership basis and do not appear in the technical literature. 

There are also two notable research institutes offering information that may assist the engineer in making out the specification sheets. One of these is the Heat Transfer Research Institute (HTRI). Its staff performs tests to optimize the design of heat-transfer equipment. This information is then encoded in computer programs, which are distributed to the companies that support the research. This means that the engineer s company must purchase a membership to obtain these data. The Fractionation Research Institute (FRI) is a similar institution that deals with the separation processes. 

Campbell s series [5] states that many authors recommend, as do I, the O Connell method for hydrocarbons. You may select the two-film method by entering T. The Fractionation Research Institute (FRI) has for more than 30 years used and proven a much more thorough method called the two-film method, which is equally applicable to both fractionators and absorbers [6], The FRI method accounts for the actual tray internal configuration and fluid dynamics, making it far superior to the O Connell method. I have therefore produced a type of two-film method for determining tray efficiency that has been checked to be within 3% accuracy of hundreds of answers calculated with the FRI method. Called the Erwin two-film method, it is recommended for all types of trays and will also calculate the liquid tray residence time in seconds. This method is included in the three tray computer program executable files in the CD accompanying this book. 

Glitsch, F.W., Ballast Tray Design Manual, Bulletin 4900, Fritz W. Glitsch Sons Inc., Dallas, TX, 1961 Fractionation Research Institute, Alhambra, CA, 1981. 

Wr, J.R., PetroJChem. Eng., 33,211-218 (Sept., 1961). ntl (Fractionation Research Institute) report of Sept. 3, 1958, Glitsch UbBTmy, published as Bulletin No. 159 of Fritz W. Glitsch and Sons, k,Dallas, Texas (1958). 

The best way to determine efficiency is to have data for the chemical system in the same type of column of the same size at the same vapor velocity. If velocity varies, then the efficiency will follow Figure 10-13. The Fractionation Research Institute (FRl) has reams of efficiency data, but until recently, most of the data were available to members only. Most large chemical and oil conpanies belong to FRI. The second best approach is to have efficiency data for the same chemical system but with a different type of tray. Much of the data available in the literature are for bubble-cap or sieve trays. Usually, the efficiency of valve trays is equal to or better than sieve tray efficiency, which is equal to or better than bubble-cap tray efficiency. Thus, if bubble-cap efficiencies are used for a valve tray column, the design will be conservative. The third best approach is to use efficiency data for a similar chemical system... 

Pure zirconium tetrachloride is obtained by the fractional distillation of the anhydrous tetrachlorides in a high pressure system (58). Commercial operation of the fractional distillation process in a batch mode was proposed by Ishizuka Research Institute (59). The mixed tetrachlorides are heated above 437°C, the triple point of zirconium tetrachloride. AH of the hafnium tetrachloride and some of the zirconium tetrachloride are distiUed, leaving pure zirconium tetrachloride. The innovative aspect of this operation is the use of a double-sheU reactor. The autogenous pressure of 3—4.5 MPa (30—45 atm) inside the heated reactor is balanced by the nitrogen pressure contained in the cold outer reactor (60). However, previous evaluation in the former USSR of the binary distiUation process (61) has cast doubt on the feasibHity of also producing zirconium-free hafnium tetrachloride by this method because of the limited range of operating temperature imposed by the smaH difference in temperature between the triple point, 433°C, and critical temperature, 453°C, a hafnium tetrachloride. 

Figure 8-31. Typical effect of liquid mixing on tray efficiency. Reprinted by permission, Sakato, M., The American Institute of Chemical Engineers. Chem. Eng. Prog. V. 62., No. 11 (1966), p. 98, all rights reserved reprinted by permission from Lewis, W. K., Jr., Ind. Eng. Chem. V. 28. (1936), p. 399, and by special permission from Fractionation Research, Inc., all rights reserved.

Figure 8-159. Data specification sheets suggested by Fractionation Research, inc. (FRi) for distiiiation trays. Used by permission. Yeoman, N. The American institute of Chemical Engineers, Chem. Eng. Prog., V. 85, No. 10 (1989), p. 15, all rights reserved.

Figure 9-9. Liquid maldistribution is a function of opening, shape, and liquid head over the opening for a /s-in. out-of-level distributor. The openings were 3-in. dia. orifice, 3-in. slot, and 22.5° V-notch. Used by permission of The American Institute of Chemical Engineers, Bonilla, J. A., Chemical Engineering Progress, V. 89, No. 3 (1993) p. 47, and with special permission from Fractionation Research, Inc., all rights reserved.

Figure 9-10. Effect of liquid maldistribution on efficiency FRI data for 25-mm Pall rings in cyciohexane/n-heptane distillation with two different quality distributors. Used by permission of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, Chemical Engineering Progress, Perry, D. and Nutter, ., Jan. (1990) p. 30, and by special permission of Fractionation Research, Inc., all rights reserved.

Figure 9-32A. Correlation of No. 2 Nutter Rings superficial capacity vs. wet pressure drop for 4 data sets and 3 separate tests. Note the 10 1 pressure drop range. Reproduced by permission from Nutter, D. E. and Perry, D., presented at New Orleans, La. meeting of American Institute of Chemical Engineers, March (1988), and by special permission of Fractionation Research, Inc. all rights reserved.

Brinkman R. 1985. Mineralogy and surface properties of the clay fraction affecting soil behaviour and management. In Soil Physics and Rice. Manila International Rice Research Institute, 161-182. 

The present paper describes the fractionation of lignin sulfonates and kraft lignin by gel permeation chromatography (GPC) and the method developed and used for several years at the Finnish Pulp and Paper Research Institute. 

SimpleBox was created as a research tool in environmental risk assessment. Simple-Box (Brandes et al. 1996) is implemented in the regulatory European Union System for the Evaluation of Substances (EUSES) models (Vermeire et al. 1997) that are used for risk assessment of new and existing chemicals. Dedicated SimpleBox 1.0 applications have been used for integrating environmental quality criteria for air, water, and soil in The Netherlands. Spreadsheet versions of SimpleBox 2.0 are used for multi-media chemical fate modeling by scientists at universities and research institutes in various countries. SimpleBox models exposure concentrations in the environmental media. In addition to exposure concentrations, SimpleBox provides output at the level of toxic pressure on ecosystems by calculating potentially affected fractions (PAF) on the basis of species sensitivity distribution (SSD) calculus (see Chapter 4). 

With pure or fundamental research the provision of commercial opportunities is, by its very nature, a long way into the future. However, in industry this is the final objective, no matter how far into the future, it is not science for the sake of science. This type of long-term work is uncommon in most chemical companies and at best only represents a very small fraction of total R D budgets, even in the largest companies. It is often contracted out or carried out in collaboration with research institutes and universities, these bodies finding that it provides them with a useful source of funding and indeed a new role in the economic welfare of a country. The time frames and measures of success are quite different from product oriented research and when carried out in industry requires special management skills. This will be dealt with in Section C on innovation and creativity. 

Polypropylene. Isotactic polypropylene for all experiments was prepared in the Research Institute for Macromolecular Chemistry in Brno. Technical data MW = 510,000 (calculated from viscosity measurements in Tetralin), atactic fraction = 0.68%, stereoblocks = 6.75%, ash = 0.29%, Ti = 0.0172% (no compounds with Ti—Cl bonds), A1 = 0.11% free of stabilizers. The polymer was stored in an inert atmosphere in sealed ampoules at low temperature in the dark. 

Gel filtration of the hemicellulose was done on a G-50 Sephadex column with water as eluent by the National Food Research Institute of the CSIR. Neutralized samples were applied to the column and fractions (6 mL) collected, of which 1-mL aliquots were assayed by the phenol-sulfuric acid test ( ). Approximate calibration (D.P. versus elution volume on the G-50 column) was done by total carbohydrate and reducing sugar end group analysis (0) using enzymatically debranched starch as reference material. 

Reviews covering the literature on starch fractionation up to 1955 have already been the subject of two contributions appearing in this Series. Much of their contents might well have been repeated here, in order to round out the discussion of several of the new facts disclosed in this Chapter. P or background information, the reader is referred to those articles. The greater part of the present survey concerns some of the results originally obtained at the Plastics Research Institute T. N. 0., Holland. 

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