How to solve the water hammer effect
Thread Content
A water hammer phenomenon occurred at the point where the reflux line from the top of the distillation tower enters the tower, causing significant vibration in the pipeline. How can this be resolved? The temperature at the top of the tower is around 100 degrees Celsius; it is mainly water vapor. The temperature of the return stream is about 45 degrees Celsius, and its flow rate is 9500 kg/h.
It is mainly because the heat load of the reboiler at the bottom of the tower changes too rapidly, which causes the amount of steam rising within the tower to change quickly as well. The reflux flow rate, on the other hand, can be maintained at a stable level through the reflux pump; therefore, rapid evaporation and condensation occur at the point where the reflux stream enters the tower, leading to pressure changes in that area and resulting in water hammer； So the best solution is to stably control the reboiler steam flow
Is there any fluctuation in the tower pressure? Can the return water temperature be lowered a bit? Give it a try.
Thank you, big bro, for sharing – I’ll learn from it*
The lower the return water temperature, the greater the temperature difference between the return water and that in the tower, resulting in more intense instantaneous vaporization; shouldn’t this lead to more severe water hammer?
It was mentioned earlier that 55 degrees doesn’t yield any particularly significant effects, and mentioning the content of light components at the bottom of the tower would result in it exceeding the limit
There is no reboiler at the bottom of the tower, as the gas entering the tower is a mixed gas; the tower is used to separate the light and heavy components in this gas
Is this an atmospheric pressure tower? It just reaches the critical point – not common