Process recirculating

Use external heating system with process recirculation... 

Many chemical processes recirculate solids. Catalytic systems recirculate catalyst in a reaction/regeneration cycle. First the catalyst is used to supply heat or a reactant to the process it is then transferred to a separate vessel to regenerate the catalyst, and then it is returned to the reactor. Circulating fluidized bed combustors recirculate fuel and ash around a loop to burn the fuel completely. A system with a cyclone collecting entrained solids above a fluidized bed and returning the solids to the bed via the cyclone dipleg is also a recirculating solid system. All of these recirculation systems employ standpipes. 

In most processes recirculation of the stable feed hydrocarbon is maintained and the reactive olefin is fed into the recycling stream sometimes at several points. Thus, the concentration of olefin is always low and polymerization reactions are minimized. The alkylation reaction is favored by high pressures and low temperatures. However, in order to accomplish the reaction without catalysts, temperatures of 900 to 975 F are required.Polymerization also occurs rapidly at such temperatures, and hence the olefin concentration must be kept low. Thermal alkylation is conducted at 3,000 to 8,000 psig, whereas by means of catalysts such as sulfuric acid, boron fluoride, - aluminum chloride, double halides of alkali metals with aluminum, and hydrogen fluoride, pressures less than 500 psi and temperatures ranging from 450°F down to below zero may be employed. Sulfuric acid was widely used early in World War II as a catalyst in commercial installations, and a revival of interest has occurred since 1951. The process operates at 30 to 60 F for butenes and at substantially atmospheric pressure. The hydrofluoric acid process also proved during World War II to be a highly successful process, but only... 

Small amounts of propionitrile and bis(cyanoethyl) ether are formed as by-products. The hydrogen ions are formed from water at the anode and pass to the cathode through a membrane. The catholyte that is continuously recirculated in the cell consists of a mixture of acrylonitrile, water, and a tetraalkylammonium salt the anolyte is recirculated aqueous sulfuric acid. A quantity of catholyte is continuously removed for recovery of adiponitrile and unreacted acrylonitrile the latter is fed back to the catholyte with fresh acrylonitrile. Oxygen that is produced at the anodes is vented and water is added to the circulating anolyte to replace the water that is lost through electrolysis. The operating temperature of the cell is ca 50—60°C. Current densities are 0.25-1.5 A/cm (see Electrochemical processing). 

The stripper off-gas going to the high pressure carbamate condensers also contains the carbamate recovered in the medium and low pressure recirculation sections. Both of these systems ate similar to those shown in the total-recycle process. 

Acrolein at a concentration of <500 ppm is also used to protect Hquid fuels against microorganisms. The dialkyl acetals of acrolein are also useful in this apphcation. In addition, the growth of algae, aquatic weeds, and moUusks in recirculating process water systems is also controlled by acrolein. 

Industrial-scale adsorption processes can be classified as batch or continuous (53,54). In a batch process, the adsorbent bed is saturated and regenerated in a cychc operation. In a continuous process, a countercurrent staged contact between the adsorbent and the feed and desorbent is estabhshed by either a tme or a simulated recirculation of the adsorbent. 

Compounds having low vapor pressures at room temperature are treated in water-cooled or air-cooled condensers, but more volatile materials often requite two-stage condensation, usually water cooling followed by refrigeration. Minimising noncondensable gases reduces the need to cool to extremely low dew points. Partial condensation may suffice if the carrier gas can be recycled to the process. Condensation can be especially helpful for primary recovery before another method such as adsorption or gas incineration. Both surface condensers, often of the finned coil type, and direct-contact condensers are used. Direct-contact condensers usually atomize a cooled, recirculated, low vapor pressure Hquid such as water into the gas. The recycle hquid is often cooled in an external exchanger. 

Caustic Soda. Diaphragm cell caustic is commercially purified by the DH process or the ammonia extraction method offered by PPG and OxyTech (see Fig. 38), essentially involving Hquid—Hquid extraction to reduce the salt and sodium chlorate content (86). Thus 50% caustic comes in contact with ammonia in a countercurrent fashion at 60°C and up to 2500 kPa (25 atm) pressure, the Hquid NH absorbing salt, chlorate, carbonate, water, and some caustic. The overflow from the reactor is stripped of NH, which is then concentrated and returned to the extraction process. The product, about 62% NaOH and devoid of impurities, is stripped free of NH, which is concentrated and recirculated. MetaUic impurities can be reduced to low concentrations by electrolysis employing porous cathodes. The caustic is then freed of Fe, Ni, Pb, and Cu ions, which are deposited on the cathode. 

Most of the remarks above refer to unconfined or free flows. Many industrial appHcations involve the use of confined jets. It is customary to consider a jet confined when the ratio of the confinement radius to the source radius Hes in the range 4—100. Below a ratio of 2, the jet does not develop its similarity profile before striking the wall, whereas above a ratio of 100 the jet itself may usually be considered free. Under certain conditions, flow in confined jets is accompanied by the existence of a recirculation 2one which significantly affects the jet behavior by returning material upstream (9). This recirculation can be particularly important in combustion processes. 

Part of the continuously recirculated solution is bled off and sent to the iodine finishing process. Iodine finishing consists of contacting this bleed of concentrated acidic iodide solution with gaseous chlorine, through which iodine is formed by oxidation and precipitated. After iodine precipitation, the resulting acidic mother Hquor, saturated with free iodine, is pumped back to acidify the clarified brine and to recover the remaining iodine. 

The entire QSL process takes place in a single reactor as shown in Figure 6 (15). The reactor consists of an almost horizontal, refractory-lined cylinder, which can be tilted by 90° when operation is intermpted. Concentrates, fluxes, recirculated flue dust, and normally a small amount of coal, depending on the type of concentrate, are pelletized. The pelletizer ensures that the raw materials are mixed to the required degree of uniformity. 

The softened seawater is fed with dry or slaked lime (dolime) to a reactor. After precipitation in the reactor, a flocculating agent is added and the slurry is pumped to a thickener where the precipitate settles. The spent seawater overflows the thickener and is returned to the sea. A portion of the thickener underflow is recirculated to the reactor to seed crystal growth and improve settling and filtering characteristics of the precipitate. The remainder of the thickener underflow is pumped to a countercurrent washing system. In this system the slurry is washed with freshwater to remove the soluble salts. The washed slurry is vacuum-filtered to produce a filter cake that contains about 50% Mg(OH)2. Typical dimensions for equipment used in the seawater process may be found in the Hterature (75). 

The vapor-phase process of SocifitH Chemique de la Grande Paroisse for production of nitroparaffins employs propane, nitrogen dioxide, and air as feedstocks (34). The yields of nitroparaffins based on both propane and nitrogen dioxide are relatively high. Nitric oxide produced during nitration is oxidized to nitrogen dioxide, which is adsorbed in nitric acid. Next, the nitric dioxide is stripped from the acid and recirculated. 

Another nickel cataly2ed process is described ia a Tolochimie patent (28). Reaction conditions claimed are 1—2.4 MPa (150—350 psi) at 100°C minimum. The combination continuous stirred reactor and gravity decanter uses density-driven circulation between the two vessels to recirculate the catalyst to the reaction 2one without the use of filters or pumps. Yield and catalyst usage can be controlled by varying the feed rates. 

Vacuum flash processes, which operate under the atmospheric boiling point of the solution, include the Uhde—LG. Farbenindustrie process and the closely related Kestner process (22). In these, ammonia, nitric acid, and recirculated ammonium nitrate solution are fed into the neutralizer. Hot solution overflows to an intermediate tank and then to a flash evaporator kept at 18—20 kPa (0.18—0.2 atm) absolute pressure. Partial evaporation of water at this point cools and concentrates the solution, part of which is routed to evaporation. The rest is circulated to the neutralizer. 

When the dryer is seen as a heat exchanger, the obvious perspective is to cut down on the enthalpy of the air purged with the evaporated water. Minimum enthalpy is achieved by using the minimum amount of air and cooling as low as possible. A simple heat balance shows that for a given heat input, minimum air means a high inlet temperature. However, this often presents problems with heat-sensitive material and sometimes with materials of constmction, heat source, or other process needs. AH can be countered somewhat by exhaust-air recirculation. 

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