Should a quick shut-off valve be installed at the outlet of the catalytic slurry pump, and what is the basis for this?
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Should a quick shut-off valve be installed at the outlet of the catalytic slurry pump? What is the basis for this?
I don’t think it’s necessary to add it; what’s the point of adding it? The entire process involves many valves, which allow for the isolation of the point of failure.
Quick cut-off valves are generally activated in a cascading manner to ensure safety in emergency situations. Have you heard of quick shut-off valves for crude oil, feedstock, and main air? What about slurry?
The quick shut-off valve of the slurry pump, also known as a fire valve, serves to isolate and protect the equipment in case of emergency situations. The catalytic units in large refineries built today all have a capacity of 3 million tons per year, and the large valves in the slurry system pipelines operate slowly in the event of an accident. Based on the characteristics of the combustion caused by slurry leakage, fire dampers are installed at the bottom of the distillation tower as well as at the inlet and outlet of the slurry pump.
In my opinion, especially at the exhaust port of the fractionation tower, a quick-acting shut-off valve should be installed for safety reasons; this is also an issue identified in the safety analysis
In actual production, the isolation valves in the slurry system can become stuck, fail to close properly, or even stop functioning due to factors such as erosion by solid contents and the structure of those solids. Additionally, this leads to an excessive number of sealing points; being overly cautious for safety’s sake can sometimes be a necessity
Following the raw oil accident at Dalian Petrochemical, we are now planning to install emergency shut-off valves in key areas such as those where heavy oil is handled, as a precaution.
Personally, I think it is for safety reasons; for example, in the event of a leak in the slurry pump, it is possible to shut down the pump quickly to prevent the accident from worsening
It is mainly considered from a safety perspective, but adding it increases the sealing points, which in turn increases the potential leakage points. Currently, the feed oil used in catalysis is mainly paraffin oil, and the temperature at the bottom of the distillation tower is kept low; in my opinion, there is no need to activate the quick shut-off valve.
I haven’t heard of cut-off valves being used at the outlet. What is more common these days are cut-off valves installed at the slurry extraction outlet, as well as power-assisted devices for the large valves at the slurry pump outlet, so that in the event of a leak and when it’s not possible to get close, the flow can be quickly stopped!