Heating condensate recycling

Fractionation Section. A typical fractionation section includes the coker fractionator and attendant heat exchange equipment, the light gas oil side stream stripper and the overhead system. The coke drum overhead vapors enter the fractionator under shed trays which are located below conventional wash trays. Hot induced gas oil reflux is pumped to the wash trays to condense recycle and to wash the product vapors. The light and heavy gas oil products are condensed as sidestream products. The light gas oil product is usually steam stripped in a sidestream stripper. The overhead vapors from the fractionator are partially condensed and the gas and gasoline products are directed to the vapor recovery unit. 

Z. Evaporation. If the wastewater is in low volume and the waste material involatile, then evaporation can be used to concentrate the waste. The relatively pure evaporated water might still require biological treatment after condensation. The concentrated waste can then be recycled or sent for further treatment or disposal. The cost of such operations can be prohibitively expensive unless the heat available in the evaporated water can be recovered. 

The pressure used in producing gas wells often ranges from 690— 10,300 kPa (100—1500 psi). The temperature of the inlet gas is reduced by heat-exchange cooling with the gas after the expansion. As a result of the cooling, a liquid phase of natural gas liquids that contains some of the LPG components is formed. The liquid is passed to a set of simple distillation columns in which the most volatile components are removed overhead and the residue is natural gasoline. The gas phase from the condensate flash tank is compressed and recycled to the gas producing formation. 

Polymerization in Hquid monomer was pioneered by RexaH Dmg and Chemical and Phillips Petroleum (United States). In the RexaH process, Hquid propylene is polymerized in a stirred reactor to form a polymer slurry. This suspension is transferred to a cyclone to separate the polymer from gaseous monomer under atmospheric pressure. The gaseous monomer is then compressed, condensed, and recycled to the polymerizer (123). In the Phillips process, polymerization occurs in loop reactors, increasing the ratio of available heat-transfer surface to reactor volume (124). In both of these processes, high catalyst residues necessitate post-reactor treatment of the polymer. 

Gas-phase polymerization of propylene was pioneered by BASF, who developed the Novolen process which uses stirred-bed reactors (Fig. 8) (125). Unreacted monomer is condensed and recycled to the polymerizer, providing additional removal of the heat of reaction. As in the early Hquid-phase systems, post-reactor treatment of the polymer is required to remove catalyst residues (126). The high content of atactic polymer in the final product limits its usefiilness in many markets. 

Eigure 3 is a flow diagram which gives an example of the commercial practice of the Dynamit Nobel process (73). -Xylene, air, and catalyst are fed continuously to the oxidation reactor where they are joined with recycle methyl -toluate. Typically, the catalyst is a cobalt salt, but cobalt and manganese are also used in combination. Titanium or other expensive metallurgy is not required because bromine and acetic acid are not used. The oxidation reactor is maintained at 140—180°C and 500—800 kPa (5—8 atm). The heat of reaction is removed by vaporization of water and excess -xylene these are condensed, water is separated, and -xylene is returned continuously (72,74). Cooling coils can also be used (70). 

The carbon monoxide-rich, Hquid condensate from the primary separator is expanded and exchanged against the incoming feed and is then sent to a distillation column where the carbon monoxide is purified. The bottoms Hquor from the methane wash column is expanded, heat-exchanged, and sent to the bottom section of the distillation column for methane rectification and carbon monoxide recovery. The methane bottom stream is recompressed and recycled to the top of the wash column after subcooling. A sidestream of methane is withdrawn to avoid a buildup of impurities in the system. 

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