Troubleshooting Condensers

For troubleshooting suspected foam problems, vaporize samples of feed and bottoms to look for suspended solids. Also, one can look for the Tyndall effect as described in the section on condenser fogging. 

How to Design Overhead Condensing Systems, Chem. Eng., Series beginning August 15, 1977. Lieberman, N. P, Troubleshooting Refinery Processes, Pennwell, 1981. 

This section introduces simple polymer reaction chemistry used to produce many commodity polymers. Understanding this simplified approach to the chemistry of polymer production Is Important In troubleshooting many extrusion processes, especially those that are producing unwanted degradation products that contaminate the discharge resin. There are two general types of polymer production processes 1) step or condensation reactions, and 2) addition or vinyl polymerization reactions. An overview of the reaction mechanisms wifi be presented in the next sections. 

O ust as every artist has their own style, every technician has their own way to troubleshoot. Some people use their instincts others use advice from other people. I have condensed the most common troubleshooting tips into a 10-step process. You try each step, in order. If that step doesn t narrow the problem down, you move on to the next step. 

Reboilers, condensers, and operation difficulties amount to about half of the remaining problems. Thus three out of four incidents are caused by either these or the factors previously mentioned. Familiarity with these problems, therefore, is of great importance to persons involved in distillation and absorption operation and troubleshooting. For this reason, these topics are also highlighted in this book. 

Nevertheless, reboilers and condensers are an integral part of a distillation system. As shown in Chap. 1, problems with reboilers and condensers account for a sizable fraction of distillation malfunctions. Distillation supervisors or troubleshooters cannot perform their duties effectively unless acquainted with the pitfalls in the operation of the column heat exchangers. There have been many instances in which the cause of an apparent poor column performance problem was traced back to the reboiler or condenser. 

This overview selectively describes only those principles of condensation that directly pertain to operation and troubleshooting of distillation condensers. This overview omits several considerations foremost for optimizing condenser pressure drop and heat transfer, and leaves their coverage to most standard heat transfer texts and review articles (e.g., 69, 187, 310, 319). Even the principles covered are discussed rather briefly the reader is referred to the cited references for in-depth treatment. 

---