The strange phenomenon of fractional distillation
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For one of our projects during the trial production phase, fractional distillation was used. At the beginning of the distillation process, the pressure at the top of the tower alternated between negative and positive values, and reflux occurred sometimes but not always. We’re not sure what the cause is; we hope experts can provide some guidance!
Distillation operations require some time to establish a gas-liquid equilibrium, as at the beginning of operation the amount of rising vapor is unstable, and the amount of liquid falling on the trays is also unstable; moreover, changes in the amounts of gas and liquid affect their respective resistances. For products with high requirements for quality indicators, batch processing is generally not suitable. When batch processing is indeed necessary, product collection should only take place after a balance has been established and maintained for a certain period of time; prior to that, full reflux processing should be employed. The interval operation time should be longer each time, so the volume of the storage tank should be set larger.
Is the condenser draining properly? Is the heating steam flow normal?