Operating procedures STRIPS-operator

One of the key benefits of anionic PS is that it contains much lower levels of residual styrene monomer than free-radical PS (167). This is because free-radical polymerization processes only operate at 60—80% styrene conversion, whereas anionic processes operate at >99% styrene conversion. Removal of unreacted styrene monomer from free-radical PS is accompHshed using continuous devolatilization at high temperature (220—260°C) and vacuum. This process leaves about 200—800 ppm of styrene monomer in the product. Taking the styrene to a lower level requires special devolatilization procedures such as steam stripping (168). 

Regardless of the procedure used, certain initial steps must be taken for the determination or specification of certain product properties and yields based on the TBP distillation curve of the column feed, method of providing column reflux, column-operating pressure, type of condenser, and type of side-cut strippers ana stripping requirements. These steps are developed and ilhistrated with several detailed examples by Watkins (op. cit.). Only one example, modified from one given by Watkins, is considered briefly here to indicate the approach taken during the initial steps. 

Direct hydrogen cyanide (HCN) gas in a fuel oil gasification plant to a combustion unit to prevent its release. 4. Consider using purge gases from the synthesis process to fire the reformer strip condensates to reduce ammonia and methanol. 5. Use carbon dioxide removal processes that do not release toxics to the environment. When monoethanolamine (MEA) or other processes, such as hot potassium carbonate, are used in carbon dioxide removal, proper operation and maintenance procedures should be followed to minimize releases to the environment. 

Many polarographic analysers are available commercially which can be used for the pre-concentration electrolysis step, and will then apply the requisite stripping procedure and produce a recorder chart of the result. In many modem instruments, microprocessor control is incorporated so that the requisite series of operations take place automatically. 

The major types of interferences in ASV procedures are overlapping stripping peaks caused by a similarity in the oxidation potentials (e.g., of the Pb, Tl, Cd, Sn or Bi, Cu, Sb groups), the presence of surface-active organic compounds that adsorb on tlie mercury electrode and inhibit the metal deposition, and the formation of intermetallic compounds (e.g., Cu-Zn) which affects the peak size and position. Knowledge of these interferences can allow prevention through adequate attention to key operations. 

The STRIPS operator is very simple and intuitively appealing. In attempting to use it for the synthesis of operating procedures for chemical processes, one finds immediately that it suffers from severe limitations, such as the following ... 

Instead of a conjunction of preconditions, as used by the STRIPS and conditional operators, the functional operator has a set of conjunctions of preconditions (Fig. 2c). Each element in the set describes some possible situation that might exist before the operator is applied. For each element of the set of preconditions, there is a corresponding element in the set of postconditions. The functional operator is a more flexible model than the STRIPS or conditional operators. It comes closer to the modeling needs for the synthesis of operating procedures for chemical processes, but as we will see in the next section, we need to introduce additional aspects in order to capture the network-like structure of chemical processes. 

Any of these operators can be represented as a STRIPS, conditional, or functional operator, depending on the character of the constraints imposed on the particular operating procedure to be synthesized. 

Temperature control is also reasonably simple. An important advantage in the case of a rapidly deactivating catalyst is the possibility of continuous catalyst replacement. There are, however, a number of problems associated with handling fine catalyst particles. They have to be separated from the products, which is usually troublesome, plugging of lines and valves can occur, and pyrophoric catalysts may also require special procedures. This is less important if the product can be removed from the reaction mixture (e.g. products are volatile and are stripped during the operation). In case of excessive gas flow rates, however, small catalyst particles can be entrapped and deposited in downstream equipment. The catalyst load is limited to what can be kept in. suspension with a reasonable power input. 

While the emphasis here has been on the reduction of the amount of waste sludges, it is also equally important to address the problem of regulating the effluents and emissions. In this context, special mention may be made of ammonia which must be carefully regulated. The procedure for processing ammonium fluoride or ammonium sulfate containing solutions begins with lime treatment. The filtrates are fed continuously into a column and stripped with live steam and upgraded. In this way it is possible (with improved equipment and carefully controlled operation) to attain ammonia contents of less than 50 ppm in the effluent. 

A column was used to strip low-volatile materials from a high-temperature heat transfer fluid. During a maintenance procedure, water was trapped between two valves. During normal operation, one valve was opened and the hot oil came in contact with the cold water. The result was almost sudden vaporization of the water, followed by considerable damage to the column. Consider liquid water at 25°C and 1 atm. How many times does the volume increase if the water is vaporized at 100°C and 1 atm ... 

In other related areas, such as solution polymerization and bulk polymerization, the removal/recycling of solvents or unreacted monomer has been extensively investigated [108-112]. The methods used are based on lateral heat-dependent operations such as evaporation and steam-stripping, or non-lateral heat-dependent operations that include a variety of extraction procedures. 

The analysis and design of any stripping operation would be relatively straightforward provided that the velocity and concentration profiles that obtain in the extraction unit are known. Solutions to the momentum and diffusion equations provide this information, but, for most cases of interest in the chemical process industries, solutions to these equations are difficult to obtain since the flow geometry is often not well defined and flow may be both tortuous and turbulent. When these circumstances prevail, scientifically based, semiempirical relationships have often provided the basis for analysis and design procedures. 

A well-established concept in the design of stripping operations in the chemical processing industries is the use of equations in which the height of the unit required is expressed as the product of two terms the number of transfer units (NTU), a measure of the difficulty of the operation to be carried out, and the height of a transfer unit (HTU), a measure of the height required in order to carry out an operation of unit difficulty. The advantage of this procedure is that the effectiveness of a particular unit is directly reflected in the value of the HTU. On the other hand, the advan-... 

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