Surface condensers elevation

Air-cooled surface condensers. Figure 8.11 shows a surface condenser elevated above the steam turbine. This creates an additional problem, in that moisture from the turbine exhaust steam will accumulate in the bottom of the turbine case. A special drain line from the turbine s case is needed to prevent condensate backup from damaging the spinning wheels. 

Above ground (internal surfaces only) Surface and elevated water storage tanks condensers and heat exchangers hot-water storage tanks, processing tanks and vessels hot- and cold-water domestic storage tanks breweries and dairies (pasturisers). 

The pressure in condenser A is greater than that in the surface condenser, and less than that in the final condenser (condenser B). This means that condenser A is operating at vacuum conditions. This prevents the condensed steam formed in condenser A from draining out to atmospheric pressure, unless the condenser is elevated by 10 to 15 ft. To avoid this problem, the condensate is drained back to the lower-pressure surface condenser. To prevent blowing the noncondensable vapors back to the surface condenser as well, a loop seal is required. The height of this loop seal must be greater than the difference in pressure (expressed in ft of water) between the surface condenser and the primary jet discharge condenser (condenser A). 

The vacuum at the top of the flash column is often produced by a sequence of three elevated steam-jet eductors with intermediate and final surface condensers to remove the steam. A liquid-ring compressor can be substituted for one or more eductors to conserve steam. Mechanical vacuum pumps are seldom used because of the corrosive nature of the off-gas. The noncondensible sour compressed gas and condensate are led away through a water seal for safety in case of steam system failure. The seal pot is equipped to skim off condensed oil continuously. 

Fig. 7-2. Reactions of hydroxyls on the silica surface at elevated temperatures, (a) Condensation of reactive hydroxyls (b) condensation of free hydroxyls (c) condensation...

With turbine surface condensers, it often pays to choose a pump with a low NPSH, especially when die condenser is directly below the turbine. The compressor house floor can be lowered. With the lower elevated condenser, operation and maintenance access is improved. Vertical pumps are usually specified with a minimum height from grade to equipment because their suction inlet nozzle is below grade. 

Space constraint Require elevated platforms for surface condensers, (semi-) barometric drain pipes for condensate removal, and separators for separating foul water and oil. Non-barometric installation is possible by combining SJEs and LRVPs Surface condensers and elevated structures are not required. Instead, they require closed-loop liquid coolers for reducing water consumption and gas-liquid-liquid separators. They are compact and require less plot space... 

For Case 2, each DVP requires 72.66 kWh of electricity, and operating cost savings due to this modification are US 257 801/year. Installed cost of two DVPs, based on vendor quotation, is US 400 000. So, payback period for this retrofit modification is 1.6 years. Thus, replacing the existing SJEs by DVPs is attractive for low capacities and non-hazardous applications such as a steam turbine s surface condenser vacuum system. DVPs are efficient, they require less electricity and so modification required at the substation is minimal. They are very compact and can be installed at ground level or on elevated platforms. Depending on the area classification of their location, explosion-proof motors may be required. 

Exhibit 4-27 illustrates how primary process considerations govern the elevation of the surface condenser and some of its auxiliary equipment. Because a pump is needed to remove the condensate from the hot well, the pump net positive suction head (NPSH) must be satisfied to operate satisfactorily. Vertical pumps are generally used in this application because the NPSH requirement is calculated from the bottom of the lower impeller for vertical pumps, compared with the centerline of the inlet nozzle for horizontal pumps. Setting the elevation of the inter-after condenser, usually located to the side of the suifice condenser, can be done with fewer restriaions. Ilie bottom of the inter-after condenser shell must not be more than 3 ft (900 mm) below the condensate return nozzle on the side of the hot well. The plant layout designer is then free to set the elevation as high as necessary. 

It is clear from these experiments that two stable Ga coverages exist, which condense at low temperatures into a (1 x 2)/(4 X 2) reconstruction at bUayer coverage and a (4 x 4) reconstruction at bilayer coverage. On surfaces with noninteger amounts of adsorbed Ga, both reconstructions may coexist (presumably in the form of domains), although we have no experimental evidence for such a coexistence. Furthermore, the recovery behavior of the surface at elevated temperatures provides the opportunity to study the adsorption/desorption kinetics of Ga in real time. 

Catalysts in this service can deactivate by several different mechanisms, but deactivation is ordinarily and primarily the result of deposition of carbonaceous materials onto the catalyst surface during hydrocarbon charge-stock processing at elevated temperature. This deposit of highly dehydrogenated polymers or polynuclear-condensed ring aromatics is called coke. The deposition of coke on the catalyst results in substantial deterioration in catalyst performance. The catalyst activity, or its abiUty to convert reactants, is adversely affected by this coke deposition, and the catalyst is referred to as spent. The coke deposits on spent reforming catalyst may exceed 20 wt %. 

Thin films of metals, alloys and compounds of a few micrometres diickness, which play an important part in microelectronics, can be prepared by die condensation of atomic species on an inert substrate from a gaseous phase. The source of die atoms is, in die simplest circumstances, a sample of die collision-free evaporated beam originating from an elemental substance, or a number of elementary substances, which is formed in vacuum. The condensing surface is selected and held at a pre-determined temperature, so as to affect die crystallographic form of die condensate. If diis surface is at room teiiiperamre, a polycrystalline film is usually formed. As die temperature of die surface is increased die deposit crystal size increases, and can be made practically monocrystalline at elevated temperatures. The degree of crystallinity which has been achieved can be determined by electron diffraction, while odier properties such as surface morphology and dislocation sttiicmre can be established by electron microscopy. 

Since cyclone filters can operate at elevated temperatures, the sensible heat in the product gas can be retained. Cyclone filters also remove condensed tars and alkali material from the gas stream, although the vaporized forms of those constituents remain in the gas stream. In practice, the separation of significant amounts of tars from the gas stream may be done sequentially by first removing particulates at higher temperatures, where tars remain vaporized. The gas stream is then cooled and condensed tars are removed. The step-wise approach reduces the tendency of particulate material to stick to tar-coated surfaces and contribute to plugging. 

An obvious correlation between polar and alpine environments is the decrease in temperature with increasing latitude or elevation. This temperature change leads to a shift in environmental phase distribution equilibria - i.e. a chemical moves from the atmosphere to terrestrial surfaces, including direct deposition to surface waters, but also to snowpack and soils from which movement into surface and groundwater is possible. This process has been termed cold condensation but should more correctly be called cold-trapping because the contaminants are not actually condensing. 

The F, T curve beyond this point is again linear, but the surface pressure decreases rapidly with elevation of the temperature until the point B is reached where an abrupt change in the slope of the curve is noted, in many cases such as in the long chain esters the film is found to be condensed at A and expanded at B, thus AB is the expansion interval of Labrouste and Adam. For acids on the other hand with the exception of stearic, the film is already expanded at the melting point and the portion of the curve AB is missing. 

An increase in the elevation that the condenser effluent must flow up into the receiver will reduce the pressure of the liquid refrigerant, in the same way as the 10-psig piping friction losses. This loss in pressure, due to increased elevation, will also require an increase in the surface area of the condenser sacrificed for subcooling. 

The fact that the polyreaction of diacetylenes is topochemically controlled is especially well documented by the polymerization behavior of the sulfolipid (22)23 . (22) forms two condensed phases when spread on an acidic subphase at elevated temperatures (Fig. 10). UV initiated polymerization can only be carried out at low surface pressures in the first condensed phase, where the molecules are less densely packed. Apparently, in the second phase at surface pressures from 20 to 50 mN/m the packing of the diyne groups is either too tight to permit a topochemical polymerization or a vertical shift of the molecules at the gas/water interface causes a transition from head packing to chain packing (Fig. 10), thus preventing the formation of polymer. 

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