High-pressure steam

Figure 6.33 shows a steam turbine integrated with the process above the pinch. Heat Qhp is taken into the process from high-pressure steam. The balance of the hot utility demand Qlp is taken... 

There are two esdsting steam mains. These are high-pressure steam at 41 bar superheated to 270°C and medium-pressure steam at 10 bar saturated at 180°C. Boiler feedwater is available at 80°C and cooling water at 25°C to be returned at 30°C. 

Figure 13.8 The grand composite curve for the whole process apparently requires only high-pressure steam generation from boiler feedwater.

Following the pinch rules, there should be no heat transfer across either the process pinch or the utility pinch by process-to-process heat exchange. Also, there must be no use of inappropriate utilities. This means that above the utility pinch in Fig. 16.17a, high-pressure steam should be used and no low-pressure steam or cooling water. Between the utility pinch and the process pinch, low-pressure steam should be used and no high-pressure steam or cooling water. Below the process pinch in Fig. 16.17, only cooling water should be used. The appropriate utility streams have been included with the process streams in Fig. 16.17a. 

Given a network structure, it is possible to identify loops and paths for it, as discussed in Chap. 7. Within the context of optimization, it is only necessary to consider those paths which connect two different utilities. This could be a path from steam to cooling water or a path from high-pressure steam used as a hot utility to low-pressure steam also used as a hot utility. These paths between two different utilities will be designated utility paths. Loops and utility paths both provide degrees of freedom in the optimization. ... 

Exampie A.3.1 The pressures for three steam mains have been set to the conditions given in Table A.l. Medium- and low-pressure steam are generated by expanding high-pressure steam through a steam turbine with an isentropic efficiency of 80 percent. The cost of fuel is 4.00 GJ and the cost of electricity is 0.07 h. Boiler feedwater is available at 100°C with a heat capacity... 

The results of over 1 year of continuous, on-line acoustic emission (AE) structural surveillance of high temperature / high pressure steam headers, gained on 2 M-scale 600MW supercritical multifuel ENEL power units in normal operation, are presented in the paper. The influence of background noise, the correlation between plant operating conditions (steady load, load variations, startup / shutdown transients) and AE activity and the diagnostic evaluation of recorded AE events are also discussed. 

Steam-Jet Systems. Low pressure water vapor can be compressed by high pressure steam in a steam jet. In this way, a vacuum can be created over water with resultant evaporation and cooling water, therefore, serves as a refrigerant. This method frequently is used where moderate cooling (down to 2°C) is needed. The process is inefficient and usually is economically justified only when waste steam is available for the motive fluid in the steam jet. 

The efficiency of the Rankine cycle itself can be increased by higher motive steam pressures and superheat temperatures, and lower surface condenser pressures in addition to rotating equipment selection. These parameters are generally optimized on the basis of materials of constmction as well as equipment sizes. Typical high pressure steam system conditions are in excess of 10,350 kPa (1500 psi) and 510 °C. 

Selection of the high pressure steam conditions is an economic optimisation based on energy savings and equipment costs. Heat recovery iato the high pressure system is usually available from the process ia the secondary reformer and ammonia converter effluents, and the flue gas ia the reformer convection section. Recovery is ia the form of latent, superheat, or high pressure boiler feedwater sensible heat. Low level heat recovery is limited by the operating conditions of the deaerator. 

The superheated steam generated in the superheater section is coHected in a header pipe that leads to the plant s high pressure steam turbine. The steam turbine s rotor consists of consecutive sets of large, curved, steel aHoy disks, each of which anchors a row of precision-cast turbine blades, also caHed buckets, which protmde tangentiaHy from the shaft and impart rotation to the shaft when impacted by jets of high pressure steam. Rows of stationary blades are anchored to the steam turbine s outer sheH and are located between the rows of moving rotor blades. 

G. E. Lien, ed.. Behavior of Superheater Alloys in High Temperature, High Pressure Steam, ASME, New York, 1971. 

The most widely used sterilization method ia the food industry is moist heat. The heat is usually suppHed by high pressure steam, but because most foods already contain moisture the role of steam is to heat the food to the required temperature. The cooking and sterilization processes can frequendy be combined into one. The food may be sealed into impervious containers of glass, metal, or plastic film and undergo terminal sterilization, or it may be presterilized in batches or in a continuous operation and then filled into a presterilized container. The latter process is called sterile filling. 

Fractionation columns in tar-acid refineries are generally operated under vacuum and heated by high pressure steam or circulating hot oil. Calandtia in the reboders, condensers, mndown lines, and receiving tanks are constmcted of stainless steel, or, in the case of the condensers, of tin or nickel. 

Health and safety factors in in situ operations are associated with high temperature, high pressure steam, or high pressure air. Environmental considerations relate to air and water quaUty and surface reclamation. In some environmentally sensitive areas such as the oil sands deposits in Utah, environmental considerations may make development unfeasible. 

Stannic Oxide. Stannic oxide tin(IV) oxide, white crystals, mol wt 150.69, mp > 1600° C, sp gr 6.9, is insoluble in water, methanol, or acids but slowly dissolves in hot, concentrated alkaH solutions. In nature, it occurs as the mineral cassiterite. It is prepared industrially by blowing hot air over molten tin, by atomizing tin with high pressure steam and burning the finely divided metal, or by calcination of the hydrated oxide. Other methods of preparation include treating stannic chloride at high temperature with steam, treatment of granular tin at room temperature with nitric acid, or neutralization of stannic chloride with a base. 

Three forms of set may be conferred to wool fibers. (/) Cohesive set is imparted when the fibers are dried under strain or set in steam and is lost when the fibers are relaxed in water at room temperature. (2) Temporary set is imparted at higher temperatures and is lost when the fibers are wet out in hot (70°C) water. (2) Permanent set is imparted in boiling water and in high pressure steam, and is stable to release in hot water. 

The steam balance in the plant shown in Figure 2 enables all pumps and blowers to be turbine-driven by high pressure steam from the boiler. The low pressure exhaust system is used in the reboiler of the recovery system and the condensate returns to the boiler. Although there is generally some excess power capacity in the high pressure steam for driving other equipment, eg, compressors in the carbon dioxide Hquefaction plant, all the steam produced by the boiler is condensed in the recovery system. This provides a weU-balanced plant ia which few external utiUties are required and combustion conditions can be controlled to maintain efficient operation. 

If the CO is not completely combusted to CO2 in the regenerator, a CO boiler is used to complete the combustion. The resulting heat of combustion and the sensible heat of the flue gas along with any heat from auxiUary fired fuel are recovered in the form of high pressure steam. When the regenerator is operated in total CO bum, the CO boiler is replaced with either a shell and tube exchanger or a box-type waste heat boiler (see Heat... 

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