Polyester process
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In our polyester production process, the raw materials are purified terephthalic acid and ethylene glycol; the catalysts used are those based on antimony and titanium. However, in the ethylene glycol recovery system, the vacuum heat well and the pump inlet filter often get clogged; it takes about half a day for them to become completely blocked. What is the reason for this? Is there any way to solve it? Let that expert explain.
Is it a sintered mesh filter element or something else? 1. Is the filter element dirty? It needs to be cleaned or replaced ； 2. Do the actual operating conditions meet the design requirements of the filter? Perhaps the actual medium flow rate is too high, or there are too many impurity particles, resulting in the filter’s filtration area and precision not meeting the required standards.
See what substance is causing the blockage; it is suspected that it is phenol, which volatilizes and then precipitates in the ethylene glycol recovery system.
The problem of blockages usually requires identifying the root cause; it is caused by the properties of the medium (is there a high amount of particulate dust?) Crystals formed during the transportation process? Or aggregation? ), or is it caused by the pump (temperature increase? Crystallization? Coking? ). Especially in chemical processes, problems are rarely caused by a single factor; once the cause is identified and a solution is found, the issue is naturally resolved.
What if we add a backwashing system? Let’s recalculate the flux to see if it is too low