Plant debottlenecking

The capacity of PVA in 1995 was greater than 550,000 t. Several manufacturers have added capacity since 1987. Air Products Chemicals added 40,000 t of new capacity Chang-Chun, Nippon Gohsei, and Hoechst all debottlenecked their plants and a new small plant was built in Korea by Oriental Chemical Industries (10,000 t). 

Plant Operation The purpose is to maintain and improve performance (i.e., product quality, rate, efficiency, safety, and profits). Examples include identification of plant conditions that limit performance (troubleshooting, debottlenecking) and exploration of new operating regions. 

Application of Mass Integration to Enhance Yield, Debottleneck the Process and Reduce Wastewater In an Acrylonitrile an Plant... 

The first step in the analysis is to identify the target for debottlenecking the biotreatment facility. An overall water balance for the plant (Fig. 4.4) can be written as follows ... 

Influent to biotreatment is reduced to 40% of current level. Therefore, the plant production can be expanded 2.5 times the current capacity before the biotreatment facility is debottlenecked again. 

Debottlenecking usually results in more feed. Both the main fractionator and the gas plant must be able to recover the incremental product. 

Process plant utilization rates and capacities have increased. These increases occur primarily through small and large debottlenecking projects. 

The first commercial plant, with a capacity of 100 000 t/a n-butyraldehyde, went on stream in July 1984.323 Today the capacity is 300 000 t/a butyraldehydes (debottlenecked to 400 000 t/a) and a cumulative total of more than 2 million tons has been produced since the introduction of the process.37-38 350... 

A considerable increase of capacity is planned by debottlenecking and building new plants. Pigment plant capacity is forcast to grow to 5.2 x 106 t in 2005 [2.58],... 

New ideas for a process — Determining process chemistry —> Pilot plants studies — Plant design — Plant startup —> Debottlenecking or troubleshooting. 

Plant operating constraints are readily obtained from design data and operating history. There is usually little need to update these constraints unless the plant is debottlenecked or we want to study some new process configuration. 

Economics The MTO process competes favorably with conventional liquid crackers due to lower capital investment. It is also an ideal vehicle to debottleneck existing ethylene plants and, unlike conventional steam crackers, the MTO process is a continuous reactor system with no fired heaters. 

Whenever possible, companies also seek to fund growth projects that can be expected to give high returns on the capital invested. Growth projects include expansions of existing units, often referred to as debottlenecking or revamp projects, as well as construction of entirely new plants in grassroots projects. 

Acetone Does not azeotrope with water, but when distilled, a large reflux is required to get a half dry product. Pervaporation is ideal for final dehydration or for debottlenecking existing distillation systems. Very often pervaporation and vapor permeation plants are designed for operation with various solvents or with solvent mixtures. 

Many barriers exist to limit the implementation of radical improvements to industrial performance incremental debottlenecking of plant and expansion is preferred in times of slow growth and a first-of-a-ldnd process faces a high investment hurdle. The economic and regulatory environment needs to support investment in new technologies that demonstrates sustainable advantage but carry also higher technical risk than conventional operations. 

The ratio of capital expenditures to net plant and equipment is the rate of renewal, a ratio presented in Table 10.14 for several industries in 1995. This capital renewal includes new equipment, replacement, debottlenecking, and ex-... 

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