Vacuum Pressure drop

Dewatering of high value products and particle systems sensitive to high pressure drops are the most likely candidates for electrofiltration. The Dorr-OHver Electrofilter is a commercial example of a vacuum filter adapted for electrofiltration. 

The most important feature of the pressure filters which use hydrauHc pressure to drive the process is that they can generate a pressure drop across the medium of more than 1 x 10 Pa which is the theoretical limit of vacuum filters. While the use of a high pressure drop is often advantageous, lea ding to higher outputs, drier cakes, or greater clarity of the overflow, this is not necessarily the case. Eor compressible cakes, an increase in pressure drop leads to a decrease in permeabiUty of the cake and hence to a lower filtration rate relative to a given pressure drop. 

In vacuum filters, the driving force for filtration results from the appHcation of a suction on the filtrate side of the medium. Although the theoretical pressure drop available for vacuum filtration is 100 kPa, in practice it is often limited to 70 or 80 kPa. 

The so-called hyperbar vacuum filtration is a combination of vacuum and pressure filtration in a pull—push arrangement, whereby a vacuum pump of a fan generates vacuum downstream of the filter medium, while a compressor maintains higher-than-atmospheric pressure upstream. If, for example, the vacuum produced is 80 kPa, ie, absolute pressure of 20 kPa, and the absolute pressure before the filter is 150 kPa, the total pressure drop of 130 kPa is created across the filter medium. This is a new idea in principle but in practice requires three primary movers a Hquid pump to pump in the suspension, a vacuum pump to produce the vacuum, and a compressor to supply the compressed air. The cost of having to provide, install, and maintain one additional primary mover has deterred the development of hyperbar vacuum filtration only Andrit2 in Austria offers a system commercially. 

Spiral-wound modules are much more commonly used in low pressure or vacuum gas separation appHcations, such as the production of oxygen-enriched air, or the separation of organic vapors from air. In these appHcations, the feed gas is at close to ambient pressure, and a vacuum is drawn on the permeate side of the membrane. Parasitic pressure drops on the permeate side of the membrane and the difficulty in making high performance hollow-fine fiber membranes from the mbbery polymers used to make these membranes both work against hollow-fine fiber modules for this appHcation. 

Purification using carbon is accompHshed by addition to the melt or to the soHd charge before vacuum melting. Pressure rises as a result of the reaction of the carbon with dissolved oxygen. Completion of the deoxidation process is marked by a rapid pressure drop indicating when the evolution of CO is complete. 

The fluid dehvery in an air-spray system can be pressure or suction fed. In a pressure-fed system, the fluid is brought to the atomizer under positive pressure generated with an external pump, a gas pressure over the coating material in a tank, or an elevation head. In a suction system, the annular flow of air around the fluid tip generates sufficient vacuum to aspirate the coating material from a container through a fluid tube and into the air stream. In this case, the paint supply is normally located in a small cup attached to the spray device to keep the elevation differential and frictional pressure drop in the fluid-supply tube small. 

Packed vs Plate Columns. Relative to plate towers, packed towers are more useful for multipurpose distillations, usually in small (under 0.5 m) towers or for the following specific appHcations severe corrosion environment where some corrosion-resistant materials, such as plastics, ceramics, and certain metaUics, can easily be fabricated into packing but may be difficult to fabricate into plates vacuum operation where a low pressure drop per theoretical plate is a critical requirement high (eg, above 49,000 kg/(hm ) (- 10, 000 lb/(hft )) Hquid rates foaming systems or debottlenecking plate towers having plate spacings that are relatively close, under 0.3 m. 

Heat Sensitivity. The heat sensitivity or polymerization tendencies of the materials being distilled influence the economics of distillation. Many materials caimot be distilled at their atmospheric boiling points because of high thermal degradation, polymerization, or other unfavorable reaction effects that are functions of temperature. These systems are distilled under vacuum in order to lower operating temperatures. For such systems, the pressure drop per theoretical stage is frequently the controlling factor in contactor selection. An exceUent discussion of equipment requirements and characteristics of vacuum distillation may be found in Reference 90. 

Temperature-sensitive mixtures are to be separated. To avoid decomposition and/or polymerization, vacuum operation may then be necessary. The smaller liqmd holdup and pressure drop theoretical stage of a packed column may be particularly desirable. 

Feed Slurry Temperature Temperature can be both an aid and a limitation. As temperature of the feed slurry is increased, the viscosity of the hquid phase is decreased, causing an increase in filtration rate and a decrease in cake moisture content. The limit to the benefits of increased temperature occurs when the vapor pressure of the hquid phase starts to materially reduce the allowable vacuum. If the hquid phase is permitted to flash within the filter internals, various undesired resiilts may ensue disruption in cake formation adjacent to the medium, scale deposit on the filter internals, a sharp rise in pressure drop within the filter drainage passages due to increased vapor flow, or decreased vacuum pump capacity. In most cases, the vacuum system should be designed so that the liquid phase does not boil. 

Vacuum pump capacity is conventionally based on the total cycle and expressed as mVh-m" (cfi7i/ft ) of filter area measured at pump inlet conditions. Thus, the gas volumes per unit area passing during each dry period in the cycle are totaled and divided by the cycle time to arrive at the design air rate. Since air rate measurements in the test program are based on pressure drop across the cake and filter medium only, allowance must be made For additional expansion due to pressure drop within the filter and auxiliary piping system in arriving at vacuum pump inlet conditions. 

Required vacuum pump capacity = 2.65/4.29 = 0.62 mVmiu X m of total filter area. AUow for pressure drop within system when specifying the vacuum pump. See next example. 

Entering vacuum condensers to cut down pressure drop... 

Values listed are guides, and final line sizes and flow velocities must be determined by appropriate calculations to suit circumstances. Vacuum lines are not included in the table, but usually tolerate higher velocities. High vacuum conditions require careful pressure drop evaluation. 

In general, the sonic or critical velocity is attained for an outlet or downstream pressure equal to or less than one half the upstream or inlet absolute pressure condition of a system. The discharge through an orifice or nozzle is usually a limiting condition for the flow through the end of a pipe. The usual pressure drop equations do not hold at the sonic velocity, as in an orifice. Conditions or systems exhausting to atmosphere (or vacuum) from medium to high pressures should be examined for critical flow, otherwise the calculated pressure drop may be in error. 

Figure 2-47. Acceptable pressure losses between the vacuum vessel and the vacuum pump. Note reference sections on figure to system diagram to illustrate the sectional type hook-ups for connecting lines. Use 60% of the pressure loss read as acceptable loss for the system from process to vacuum pump, for initial estimate. P = pressure drop (torr) of line in question Po = operating pressure of vacuum process equipment, absolute, torr. By permission, Ryans, J. L. and Roper, D. L., Process Vacuum System Design Operation, McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc., 1986 [18].

AP ae = Pressure drop in vacuum system due to friction, in. whaler/100 ft pipe... 

A distillation column is operating at 27.5 inches mercury vacuum, referenced to a 30-inch barometer. This is the pressure at the inlet to the ejector. Due to pressure drop through a vapor condenser and trays of a distillation column, the column bottoms pressure is 23 inches vacu-... 

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