Fractionators reboilers

Several descriptions have been pubUshed of the continuous tar stills used in the CIS (9—11). These appear to be of the single-pass, atmospheric-pressure type, but are noteworthy in three respects the stills do not employ heat exchange and they incorporate a column having a bubble-cap fractionating section and a baffled enrichment section instead of the simple baffled-pitch flash chamber used in other designs. Both this column and the fractionation column, from which light oil and water overhead distillates, carboHc and naphthalene oil side streams, and a wash oil-base product are taken, are equipped with reboilers. 

The same procedure may be applied in principle to design of forced-recirculation reboilers with shell-side vapor generation. Little is known about two-phase flow on the shell side, out a reasonable estimate of the fric tion pressure drop can be made from the data of Diehl and Unruh [Pet Refiner, 36(10), 147 (1957) 37(10), 124 (1958)]. No void-fraction data are available to permit accurate estimation of the hydrostatic or acceleration terms. Tnese may be roughly estimated by assuming homogeneous flow. 

Bottoms and three side-cut strippers remove light ends from products and may utilize steam or reboilers. In Fig. 13-92 a reboiled stripper is utilized on the light distillate, which is the largest side cut withdrawn. Steam-stripping rates in side-cut strippers and at the bottom of the atmospheric column may vary from 0.45 to 4.5 kg (1 to 10 lb) of steam per barrel of stripped liquid, depending on the fraction of stripper feea hquid that is vaporizea. 

Column reboiler.s heat and partially vaporize a recirculating stream from a fractionating column. The outlet temperature of a reboiler stream is typicalW 477 to 546 K (400 to 550°F). 

Used for small duties, clean process, and only infrequent cleaning required. Vaporization is usually less than 30%, but less than 15% if the fractionator pressure is below 50psig. The viscosity of the reboiler feed should be less than 0.5 cp. Put a butterfly valve in the reboiler inlet piping. This type is used in nearly 100% of chemical plant thermosyphon applications (70% of petrochemical). 

This section is a companion to the section titled Fractionators-Optimization Techniques. In that section the Smith-Brinkley method is recommended for optimization calculations and its use is detailed. This section gives similar equations for simple and reboiled absorbers. 

Avoid vapor entry close to a liquid level. Reboiler vapor should enter the bottom of a fractionator a distance of at least tray spacing above high liquid level. Tray damage can result if the liquid is disturbed. 

A more quantitative and lengthy method, but still very useful for checking of the type required here is the Smith-Brinkley method (Reference 5). It uses two sets of separation factors for the top and bottom parts of the column for a fractionator or reboiled absorber and one overall separation factor for a simple absorber. The method is tailor-made for analysis of a column design or a field installed column. The Smith-Brinkley method starts with the column parameters and calculates the resulting product compositions unlike other methods that require knowing the compositions to determine the required reflux. 

The fractionator shell itself should often have some extra trays. Conventional instrumentation alone cannot always be expected to handle all the things that can happen to a fractionation system, such as changes in feed composition, reboiler steam pressure, or coolant temperature (especially for an air condenser during a sudden cold front). Experience for a given service is the best guide for extra trays. 

Effects. Trays can become damaged several ways. A pressure surge can cause damage. A slug of water entering a heavy hydrocarbon fractionator will produce copious amounts of vapor. The author is aware of one example where all the trays were blown out of a crude distillation column. If the bottom liquid level is allowed to reach the reboiler outlet line, the wave action can damage some bottom trays. 

This author developed a reboiled absorber alternate from the Smith-Brinkley generalized equation, and friends have developed plant fractionator control algorithms using Smith-Brinkley. 

Steam stripping is not adequate for the bottoms purity required. More positive stripping is obtained by charging the tower bottom liquid to the reboiler. In a typical reboiler, 50% of the feed is vaporized and returned to the tower below the bottom plate. A fractionating tower equipped with a steam heated reboiler is shown... 

Note that the 18.6 includes the reboiler, so physical trays in column = 17.6. Do not round-off decimal or fractions of trays until after efficiency has been included. 

Repeat calculations, adjusting flow as necessary, until the assumed (weight fraction of vapor in reboiler exit) produces the proper boil-up rate. 

The thermosiphon reboiler has inherent instabilities. A valve or other flow restriction in the inlet line helps overcome these instabilities. Adjustment possibilities of a valve also compensate for variations in reboiler duty as imposed by changes in operation of the fractionator. 

The large fraction of tube length used for sensible heating in vacuum reboilers leaves little density difference for thermal circulation. This fact, plus the frequent... 

A thermosiphon reboiler is to be designed for a fractionator that separates propane as the bottoms product. The conditions below the bottom tray are 401 psia and 164°F. A total of 17,600 Ib/hr vapor is to be produced. 

Heavy cycle oil, heavy naphtha, and other circulating side pumparound reflux streams are used to remove heat from the fractionator. They supply reboil heat to the gas plant and generate steam. The amount of heat removed at any pumparound point is set to distribute vapor and liquid loads evenly throughout the column and to provide the necessary internal reflux. 

The HPS liquid consists mostly of C3 s and heavier hydrocarbons however, it also contains small fractions of Cj s, H2S, and entrained water. The stripper removes these light ends. The liquid enters the stripper on the top tray. The heat for stripping is provided by an external reboiler, using steam or debutanizer bottoms as the heat medium. The vapor from the reboiler rises through the tower and strips the lighter fractions from the descending liquid. The rich overhead vapor flows to the HPS via the condenser and is fed to the primary absorber. The stripped naphtha leaves the tower bottoms and goes to the debutanizer. Usually, at least one draw is installed in the tower to remove the entrained water. 

The debutanizer separates the feed into two products. The overhead product contains a mixture of C3 s and C4 s. The bottoms product is the stabilized gasoline. Heat for separating these products comes from an external reboiler. The heating source is usually the main fractionator heavy cycle oil or slurry. Steam can also be used. 

Removing more heat from the pumparound returns, either by generating steam or adding coolers. This can decouple the fractionator from the reboilers in the gas concentration unit. 

Another arrangement which provides for expansion involves the use of hairpin tubes, as shown in Figure 9,64. This design is very commonly used for the reboilers on large fractionating columns where steam is condensed inside the tubes. 

FIGURE 8.39 A schematic illustration of the process of fractional distillation. The temperature in the fractionating column decreases with height. The condensations and reboilings illustrated in Fig. 8.38 occur at increasing heights in the column. The less volatile component returns to the flask beneath the fractionating column, and the more volatile component escapes from the top, to be condensed and collected. 

Figure 5.229. Response of reboiler benzene fraction to a change in feed flow rate from F = 40 to F = 42 to F=38,...

The design methods given in this section can be used for reboilers and vaporisers. Reboilers are used with distillation columns to vaporise a fraction of the bottom product whereas in a vaporiser essentially all the feed is vaporised. 

Dry wall region Ultimately, if a large fraction of the feed is vaporised, the wall dries out and any remaining liquid is present as a mist. Heat transfer in this region is by convection and radiation to the vapour. This condition is unlikely to occur in commercial reboilers and vaporisers. 

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