pbrod (Industrial)

3 Oct 12 17:00

dear all, we have a vacuum problem in a dimethylphtalate/water-methanol stripping column. after a washing section the mixture with aprox 2% water/methanol is entering the stripping column at about 130C. a vacuum unit (Nash) should keep the column at 50mbara using 3barg steam. we have no reasons to believe that our top condensor (15C) water is not working well.

we equipped our three stage ejector system with manometers. when working well the pressures are as following: 40mbara vacuum 120mbara between the first and second ejector. the outlet of the second ejector is to a condensor on 45C water (shell and tube) 500mbara before the last ejector. the last ejector is condensed on a 15C water (shell and tube). we allmost always have a pulsating regime on the vacuum. remarquable is that when we reduce the steam pressure from 3barg to 2barg is that the pressure before our last ejector goes down to 340mbara. the drive steam is dry and the condensors of the ejector system is checked for fouling. we also checked for flooding of the condensors but this was not the case. do we need to look deeper into the ejector system? is this a normal behaviour of our last ejector? in advance, many thanks for the help and tips!! very best regards, pieter MatthewL (Chemical) Pieter, Did you check to make sure the outlet of the condensers have a long enough vacuum leg, and that there is enough water available to seal the vacuum leg? We use a 40' (12 m) vacuum leg for our barometric, direct contact condensers on our Nash system. For the pulsation, look at your condenser cooling water temperature, we notice vacuum fluctuations that correspond to fluctuations in the cooling water temp. Hope this helps, 4 Oct 12 13:32

Matt Matt Quality, quantity, cost. Pick two. pbrod (Industrial) dear Matt, thanks for the response! we did multiple tests with our vacuum leg. We now work with a seperate 20m leg straight down from the intermediate and end condensor. so normally this could not be te problem. I will log for some time the water temperature today. but we are running with a seperate cooling unit that sets the water temperature on 6C instead of 15C and the 45C water circuit (intermediate condensor) is now running on 28C. what was also noticed is that when we loose vacuum in our column 100mbara drop to 500mbara (flashing in the feed line) the first 3 meters of the vacuum pipe (50mm) inlet to the ejectors is getting hot. can this be explained? best regards, pieter Compositepro (Chemical) 5 Oct 12 14:46 5 Oct 12 4:00

Have you checked your ejectors for wear or deposits? When the diffuser nozzle that the steam jet flows through gets too large you will get back-flow around the steam jet when the differential pressure gets too high. MatthewL (Chemical) Pieter, The hot inlet is probably due to the higher pressure in the column. At 100 mbara, saturated steam (the assumed condition in the column, since you are flashing the water) is 46 C, but at 500 mbara it is 81 C. Regards, Matt Quality, quantity, cost. Pick two. pbrod (Industrial) 6 Oct 12 4:00 5 Oct 12 15:54

we checked the ejectors for deposits and wear but could not find something (but we do not have the original orifice diameters). also the condensors were checked for fouling. Matt, the high temperature is at the inlet of the ejector system. between our top condensor outlet there is about 20 meter pipe towards the ejectors. And it is at the ejector side of the pipe that we can notice this temperature increase. After our top condensor we can't notice this temperature increase. i also measured the temperature drop on the intermediate condensor and this was 2C. anyone experience with calculating the steam nozzles, venturi nozzles? we will do a capacity test using orifices and restart the leak tests on the column. chief (Marine/Ocean) 8 Oct 12 3:21

The ejector nozzles are usually of stainless steel construction and do not generally wear very much. Check the throat body of the ejector, this may be of cast iron material and wears, reducing the vacuum efficiency over time. Offshore Engineering&Design pbrod (Industrial) 8 Oct 12 4:01

the throat body of the ejector is also stainless steel. we checked this and it looked OK. thanks for the tip! pierreick (Chemical) 8 Oct 12 8:01

Is your steam ejector jacketed ? Any risk for ice formation ? Pierreick pbrod (Industrial) 8 Oct 12 8:16

last campaing we checked the convergent-divergent section and there was no risk for ice formation. now the ejector system is insulated. pbrod (Industrial) 8 Oct 12 15:21

a vacuum phenomena: - to give anyone an idea about the problem, in the attachemen there is a trend of our vacuum. the green line (1) is the vacuum. the scale is from 0mbara to 200mbara. the time axis is 40 hours. the purple line is the temperature of the 15C cooling water circuit which cools the end condensor and the top condensor of the stripping column. the red line is the level in the bottom of our stripping tower. it is clear that the vacuum can be stable and low for some hours, then it goes back up and later

stabelises at a higher level.

our top condensor is a alpha rozenblads lamella heat exhanger. its a counter current system, oval tube, one pass.

http://files.engineering.com/getfile.aspx?folder=edb8cd0e-856e-45f8-b952-fc 10 Oct 12 4:44

chief (Marine/Ocean)

Have you considered a check valve on the final ejector stage. This is common on Steam turbine plants, and a problem with low vacuum can be traced to a faulty check. Offshore Engineering&Design chief (Marine/Ocean) http://www.uniquesystems.com/pvs/brochures/Bulleti... You may some pointers here,would appear you may have worn ejectors. Offshore Engineering&Design Longinthetooth (Chemical) 10 Oct 12 7:52 10 Oct 12 5:03

Echoing the comments on worn ejectors. You should check for cracks also. Even a tiny crack on the tip of the nozzle can distort the jet and cause it to lose it's efficieny. I have seen this several times. pbrod (Industrial) 10 Oct 12 15:00

tomorrow we will do a pressure test on the stripping column to search for leaks. we will also do a second check of the ejector system, wear, steam quality,... to chief: where is the check valve installed? is it a possibility that the gas speed in the top condensor (of the stripping column) is to low to have a good heat exchange? rmw (Mechanical) 10 Oct 12 21:19

you need to check were the nozzle threads into the housing of the ejector. Steam can develop a leak past the threads and that adds steam to the load and load to the condensers. rmw chief (Marine/Ocean) 11 Oct 12 5:01

The check valve is usually at the first stage suction manifold, this prevents 'leak back' and

maintains the vacuum. Offshore Engineering&Design mjpetrag (Mechanical) 3 Nov 12 10:54

I've had a similar problem with a binary distillation column. As we increased reflux and got more of the light component in the overheads, the vacuum will fall off. When we cut the reflux and stripped more of the heavy component out, the vacuum would drop back to set point. Trend your all your flows (steam, feeds, etc) with the top pressure in the column. That may help us determine where the source of the problem is. Also, do you have parallel offline ejectors? If so try swinging on to them. Also, make sure that if you have parallel ejectors that the steam, discharge & inlet process valves are blocked in to the offline one. If these are opened, the discharge of the online jet can recirc back through the offline jet and screw up the online jet. A picture of your system with pressures and temperatures will also help us determine what is happening. If you are checking for a leak, block in all flows to the column and let the ejectors pull down vacuum until it flatlines at the lowest pressure. Block in the ejectors and let the pressure start building. If th e pressure starts coming up quicker than 4-5 mmHg/minute, you have an air leak. -Mike

Question
How do Ejectors Work?

Answer
Operation of Ejectors is based upon Bernoullis Principle which states: When the speed of a fluid increases its pressure decreases and vice versa. The principle is demonstrated by air moving over the top of a piece of paper is moving quicker than the air underneath. Thus, the local pressure on the top surface of the paper is less than on the underside. The resulting pressure imbalance causes the paper to rise.

First Diagram

Shows a length of pipe which includes a valve. The pipe is arranged to discharge to atmosphere. At the point of discharge there is a restriction (or a nozzle). The upstream side of the pipe is connected to a pressure source. The valve is closed so there is no flow. Upstream of the valve there is pressure energy. The arrangement is very similar to that of a garden hose connected to a domestic water tap.

Second Diagram When the valve is opened the fluid can pass through the pipe and discharged out of the end. Because there is a nozzle at the discharge of the pipe, we can make the following observations:a) There is a pressure on the upstream side of the nozzle. b) A jet of fluid, moving faster than the fluid within the pipe, emerges from the nozzle. So, on the upstream side of the nozzle there is high pressure and low velocity and at the nozzle discharge there is low pressure and high velocity. The nozzle has converted the pressure energy available upstream of the nozzle into kinetic (or velocity) energy. Now, if we were able to see the surrounding air in the region of the nozzle discharge, we would see that there would be eddy currents of air, circulating around the jet. In other words, the jet of fluid emerging from the nozzle has imparted some of its kinetic energy onto the surrounding air.

Third Diagram If we then placed a tube with open ends around the area of the nozzle discharge, we would see that the eddy currents had disappeared and that they had been replaced by a steady flow of air moving through the tube, in a direction from left to right, as shown in the diagram.

Fourth Diagram If we then blank off the upstream end of the tube and added a side inlet, we would see that the air would be sucked in through the side inlet and discharged from the end of the tube. We now

have a simple device that is capable of pumping the surrounding gas. This is a very basic form of an Ejector.

Summary The device we have created uses the available pressure energy in a fluid to do work on (pump) a secondary fluid. Ejector Design This diagram shows the basic components of an Ejector used in the Oil and Gas industry. This Ejector was designed for use with gas. It has similarities with the basic Ejector developed on the previous slide. These are:1. There are three connections. One for the high pressure fluid, one for the gas sucked in (or entrained) and one for the discharge. 2. The gas entrained comes in at the side. 3. There is a nozzle for converting the pressure energy of the high pressure fluid into kinetic energy.

The biggest difference between this and the previous slide is the venturi shape towards the discharge end of the Ejector. This part is called the Diffuser. The Diffuser is designed to firstly mix the two incoming streams. Then, when mixing is complete, the diverging section slows the mixture down, thereby increasing its pressure. This is the reverse of the process occurring in the nozzle. This feature enables the Ejector to discharge at a pressure that is greater than that at the suction branch. Thus, the Ejector is capable of compressing or boosting the pressure of the fluid entrained. Summary Ejectors use a high pressure fluid to compress low pressure fluid to an intermediate pressure. Other Terminology

Ejectors are also often referred to as Jet Pumps or Eductors, but in gas production they are commonly referred to as Gas Ejectors and in oil production, Jet Pumps.

Operating Principle of Steam Jet Ejectors Contact Us

An ejector has two inlets: one to admit the motive fluid, usually steam (inlet 1), and the other to admit the gas/vapor mixture to be evacuated or pumped (inlet 2).

Motive steam, at high pressure and low velocity, enters the inlet 1 and exits the steam nozzle at design suction pressure and supersonic velocity, entraining the vapor to be evacuated into the suction chamber through inlet 2. The nozzle throat diameter controls the amount of steam to pass through the nozzle at a given pressure and temperature.

The entrained gas/vapor flow and the motive fluid (steam) flow mix while they move through the converging section of the diffuser, increasing pressure and reducing velocity. The velocity of this mixture is supersonic and the decreasing cross sectional area creates an overall increase in pressure and a decrease in velocity. The motive fluid slows down and the inlet gas stream picks up speed and, at some point in the throat of the diffuser, their combined flow reaches the exact speed of sound. A stationary, sonic-speed shock wave forms there and produces a sharp rise in absolute pressure. The shock wave in the diffuser throat changes the velocity from supersonic to sub-sonic. Then, in the diverging section of the diffuser, the velocity of the mixture is sub-sonic and the increasing cross sectional area increases the pressure but further decreases the velocity.

The net result of these energy transformations is an increase of the absolute pressure of the mixture on discharge to several times the pressure at which it entered the ejector inlet.

The choice of the ejector system will primarily depend on the final vacuum to be achieved. The presence and, indeed, the amount of condensables in the gas stream will influence the choice of system, as will the operating costs and capital available.

A Nash vacuum pump may, of course, be used as the final stage of any package, an option that is often employed to reduce operation costs.

Air Ejectors
Pressurized motive fluids other than steam, such as ethylene glycol, air or nitrogen, follow the same operating principles as steam ejectors.

This also applies to ejectors using air at atmospheric pressure as motive fluid, but these systems are limited in compression ratio. The energy in motive air is developed with the help of a vacuum pump, operating at lower pressures, pulling atmospheric air thru a diverging nozzle,

increasing its velocity and dropping its pressure at the nozzle exit. This process, as in a steam ejector system, entrains process gases thru the suction connection.