Steam cannot be supplied to the reboiler
Thread Content
The tower is a reactive distillation column, and the reboiler at the bottom of the tower is a vertical thermosyphon reboiler; one of them has normal flow, while steam cannot be supplied to the other one.
1. Check whether the steam valve switch is functioning properly and whether the valve core has fallen off； 2. Check whether the valves upstream and downstream of the steam trap are functioning properly, and whether the steam trap is clogged.
What type is used for the steam trap? It is inspected at normal pressure, while it operates under backpressure; the permeability may differ in these two conditions
Are the two in parallel? Is it like this all the time, or does it occur during operation? Is there a strainer bypass?
There is another scenario in which the heat exchange efficiency is poor; the steam does not condense, or rather, it is not utilized and remains inside the heat exchanger shell, unable to be condensed and removed, preventing new steam from entering
I contacted the manufacturer to get a new one, but it still doesn’t work
One on each side means parallel connection. Has it been run before, or has it been like this since it was first started? Remove the steam trap and allow the steam to flow directly out – check if there is steam I once saw a minor error: there was no opening in the tube through which steam entered the reboiler.
It suddenly stopped working during normal operation; previously, the reboiler was isolated to relieve pressure and steam was introduced again. This way it can be used normally. I tried all those methods this time, but it didn’t work
It seems the problem lies in the tube side of the reboiler; either there is blockage due to feed in that section, or scaling has occurred