Advantages and disadvantages of electric heat tracing for pipelines in polymerization plants
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Let’s discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using electric heat tracing for insulating the pipes in polymerization units (excluding monomer pipes). I have encountered situations where electric heat tracing wires short-circuited and caused arcing; fortunately, no serious accidents occurred. I wonder what types of insulation methods are used in the factories where everyone works? As far as I know, there are hot water tracing and steam pipe tracing.
In Class A explosion-proof areas, it is recommended to use hot water tracing or steam pipe tracing.
We do not use electric heating for insulation; instead, we use the mother liquor water after precision filtration as a means of insulating the pipes before sending it to the acetylene unit, and this approach yields good results.
Vinyl chloride is a highly insulating material; aren’t you concerned about the generation of static electricity when using electric heating?
It seems better to use a dual-function heating system that can utilize both steam and water. By sharing the same heating pipeline, when the equipment is shut down for maintenance, the supply of liquid water is stopped, and the system switches to steam heating. This approach appears to be better, as there is no need to drain all the circulating water during shutdown for maintenance.
Hehe, in the south, I’ve never seen snow; the temperature has never dropped below 0 degrees. I’ve always only had to worry about high water temperatures in the circulation system.......
Haha, but our factory has always used electric heat tracing! The temperature of the circulating water in the south is high; why not use lithium bromide units?
We recycle some as steam tracing, and the rest as electric tracing
Our plant uses electric heat tracing, but it is not used for the liquid and gas monomer pipelines. Electrical heating is also used for the slurry pipeline. It’s not the kind with a flat feedline. It has a stainless steel casing.
Our factory’s pipelines for slurry, soft water, and additives are all equipped with electric heat tracing, and the results are good.
Electric heating and other forms of heating each have their advantages and disadvantages. The main points are as follows: 1. For enterprises with stable power supply, mainly in southern regions, electric heating is a viable option; its safety performance is generally satisfactory these days. It’s not very suitable in the north, unless it’s devices such as eye washers that have special temperature requirements. 2. Steam tracing is relatively stable and faults are easy to handle, whereas issues with electric tracing can be more difficult to resolve. 3. Hot water is not suitable as electric heating in winter, especially in the north.