Pumparounds

Product Compositions with Side Coolers (Example 9.8) 

Either the entire amount of the liquid on a tray or part of it may be taken out and returned to the tray directly below it. The combined liquid flow (the pumparound and the liquid flowing directly to the tray below) would be the same as the liquid flow down to the tray below had there been no pumparound. From the standpoint of equilibrium stages, the column would perform exactly as though the pumparound did not exist although the tray efficiency may be affected due to the different flow pattern. If the liquid is returned several trays below the draw tray, the trays between the draw tray and the return tray are bypassed by the pumparound liquid. The amount of fractionation in that column section is therefore reduced. This pumparound thus tends to lower the overall number of effective trays in the column. 

In another type of pumparound, the liquid drawn from one tray is returned a number of trays above the draw tray. This process also tends to lessen the effective number of trays and fractionation in that column section because of back-mixing higher-boiling liquid from the lower tray with lower-boiling liquid in the upper tray. 

The above indicates that, while heat removal in the upper sections of multi- 

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The eadiest use of heat-exchange network synthesis was in the analysis of cmde distillation (qv) units (1). The cmde stream entering a distillation unit is a convenient single stream to heat while the various side draws from the column are candidate streams to be cooled in a network. So-called pumparounds present additional opportunities for heating the cmde. The successful synthesis of cmde distillation units was accompHshed long before the development of modem network-synthesis techniques. However, the techniques now available ensure rapid and accurate development of good cmde unit heat-exchange networks. 

Fig. 12. (a) Schematic diagram of cmde unit showing five hot streams leaving the cmde column, and (b) temperature enthalpy diagram for the streams in (a) where A represents the kerosene pumparound B, the gas oil product C, the residuum D, the overhead reflux and E, the cmde. The dashed line is the... 

The general charac teristics of the main types of reac tors—batch and continuous—are clear. Batch processes are suited to small production rates, to long reaction times, or to reactions where they may have superior selectivity, as in some polymerizations. They are conducted in tanks with stirring of the contents bv internal impellers, gas bubbles, or pumparound. Temperature controf is with internal surfaces or jackets, reflux condensers, or pumparound through an exchanger. 

Batch reactions of single or miscible hquids are almost invariably done in stirred or pumparound tanks. The agitation is needed to mix multi-... 

These enable temperature control with built-in exchangers between the beds or with pumparound exchangers. Converters for ammonia, 80.3, cumene, and other processes may employ as many as five or six beds in series. The Sohio process for vapor-phase oxidation of propylene to acrylic acid uses hvo beds of bismuth molybdate at 20 to 30 atm (294 to 441 psi) and 290 to 400°C (554 to 752°F). Oxidation of ethylene to ethylene oxide also is done in two stages with supported... 

In a number of applications liquid pumparound sections are installed. Such sections are used in caustic scrubbers where only a small addition of... 

Internal reflux is induced by means of externally cooled liquid pumparounds. A pumparound simply removes hot liquid from the tower, pumps it through a heat exchanger and then introduces this cooled liquid into the tower a few trays above. Use of pumparounds allows a better distribution of tower loadings than if all the heat were removed from the VPS using an overhead condenser. Four to six trays between sidestreams and two pumparounds are normally specified for a lube VPS. The three liquid sidestream products to be used as lube plant feed stocks are steam stripped to remove lighter boiling components which condense with tire sidestreams. 

It would be possible to remove all of the heat by pumping cold reflux from the distillate drum to the top of the tower and thus eliminate the cost of the pumparound circuit. Where more than one sidestream is withdrawn, however, it is usually economical to withdraw part of the heat in a pumparoimd reflux system farther down the tower. The following economic factors affect the choice ... 

To obtain a low flash zone pressure, the number of plates in the upper section of the vacuum pipe still is reduced to the minimum necessary to provide adequate heat transfer for condensing the distillate with the pumparound streams. A section of plates is included just above the flash zone. Here the vapors rising from the flash zone are contacted with reflux from the product drawoff plate. This part of the tower, called the wash section, serves to remove droplets of pitch entrained in the flash zone and also provides a moderate amount of fractionation. The flash zone operates at an absolute pressure of 60-90 mm Hg. 

Steam stripping is not adequate for the bottoms purity required. More positive stripping is obtained by charging the tower bottom liquid to a heating unit known as a reboiler. In a typical reboiler, 50% of the feed is vaporized and returned to the tower below the bottom plate. A fractionating tower equipped with a steam heated reboiler is shown in Figure 4. The reboiler may also be heated by a hot oil stream, such as a pumparound reflux stream from the primary fractionator of a cracking unit, or by a fired furnace. 

Pumparound Flow Failure - The relief requirement is the vaporization rate caused by an amount of heat equal to that removed in the pumparound circuit. The latent heat of vaporization would correspond to the temperature and pressure at PR valve relieving conditions. "Pinchout" of steam heaters may be considered. 

Emergency Conditions in Integrated Plants - In integrated plants, a process upset in one unit may have an effect on other units (e.g., loss of flow of a pumparound which is used as a source of heat for reboiling other towers). All possibilities such as these must be carefiiUy considered and the potential for resulting overpressure evaluated. 

The bottom section of the main column provides a heat transfer zone. Shed decks, disk/doughnut trays, and grid packing are among some of the contacting devices used to promote vapor/liquid contact. The overhead reactor vapor is desuperheated and cooled by a pumparound stream. The cooled pumparound also serves as a scrubbing medium to wash down catalyst fines entrained in the vapors. Pool quench can be used to maintain the fractionator bottoms temperature below coking temperature, usually at about 700°F (370°C). 

Fleavy cycle oil (HCO)—used as a pumparound stream, sometimes as recycle to the riser, but rarely as a product... 

Heavy naphtha—used as a pumparound stream, sometimes as absorption oil in the gas plant, and possible blending in the gasoline pot>l... 

Heavy cycle oil, heavy naphtha, and other circulating side pumparound reflux streams are used to remove heat from the fractionator. They supply reboil heat to the gas plant and generate steam. The amount of heat removed at any pumparound point is set to distribute vapor and liquid loads evenly throughout the column and to provide the necessary internal reflux. 

Increasing gasoline end point by reducing the main column top pumparound rate... 

Increase in the use of main column overhead reflux rate instead of top pumparound to control the top temperature... 

HCO is the sidecut stream from the main column that boils between LCO and decanted oil (DO). HCO is often used as a pumparound stream to transfer heat to the fresh feed and/or to the debutanizer reboiier. HCO is recycled to extinction, withdrawn as a product and processed in a hydrocracker, or blended with the decant oil. 

Nearly every cat cracker experiences some degree of coking/fouling. Coke has been found on the reactor walls, dome, cyclones, overhead vapor line, and the slurry bottoms pumparound circuit. Coking and fouling always occur, but they become a problem when they impact throughput or efficiency. 

Fouling and subsequent loss of heat transfer coefficient in the bottoms pumparound exchange... 

Insufficient bottoms pumparound to the main column heat-transfer zone can also form coke. 

Keep the tube velocity in the bottoms pumparound exchanger(s) greater than 7 ft/sec. Putting the bundles in parallel for more heat recovery may lead to low velocity. 

Low Reactor temperature Long Residence Time in the Reactor and Main Column High Bottoms temperature Low Bottoms Pumparound Rate Cold exchanger tube wail V temperature ... 

One method of maximizing the LCO end point is to control the main fractionator bottoms temperature independent of the bottoms pumparound. Bottoms quench ( pool quench ) involves taking a slipstream from the slurry pumparound directly back to the bottom of the tower, thereby bypassing the wash section (see Figure 9-9). This controls the bottoms temperature independent of the pumparound system. Slurry is kept below coking temperature, usually about 690°F, while increasing the main column flash zone temperature. This will maximize the LCO endpoint and still protect the tower. 

If flooding occurs in the main fractionator, increasing the bottoms pumparound rate reduces vapor loading, but can have a negative affect on fractionation. 

Removing more heat from the pumparound returns, either by generating steam or adding coolers. This can decouple the fractionator from the reboilers in the gas concentration unit. 

If slurry pumparound is the heat medium, consider HCO pumparound to minimize fouling. 

If a single, large CSTR is desired, internal heating coils or an external, pumparound loop can be added. This is another way of departing from geometric similarity and is discussed in Section 5.3.2. 

All reactor modes sometimes can be operated advantageously with recycle of part of the product or intermediate streams. When the recycle is heated or cooled appropriately it can serve to moderate undesirable temperature travel. This function is well served with pumparound from a stirred tank through an external heat exchanger. Recycle streams also can be processed for changes in composition before return. 

A second order reaction is conducted in a CSTR that is provided with a pumparound heat exchanger as sketched. Heat transfer rate in the exchanger is Q - 15000(AT) lm Btu/hr, The reactor is to be kept at 200 F. Other temperatures are shown on the sketch. Feed rate is V = 100 cfh, inlet concentration is 0.5 lbmol/cuft Also AHr= -50000, p = 50, Cp = 0.8. 

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