Problems with steam flow meters
Thread Content
Heroes, come to help! The most important parameter in ammonia synthesis is the water-to-carbon ratio, where water refers to steam. Here, the measurement of steam flow is carried out using standard orifice plates; the steam temperature is around 300 degrees, the pipe diameter is 350, and the pressure is approximately 4.0 MPa (in most cases it is not at full load, with a pressure of around 2.3 MPa for saturated steam). The pH value of the boiler feed water is between 9 and 11. Now the problem is this: the stainless steel pipe between the pressure tapping of the orifice plate and the condensation tank gets clogged quite frequently, about once a day, which severely affects production. To this end, the tube was cut open on one occasion, and white powder was found inside; analysis showed the presence of phosphate ions, ammonium ions, carbonate ions, and bicarbonate ions. Now, the quality of the steam basically cannot be changed. What methods can be used to avoid blockages in such a situation? Once a week is acceptable; more frequent treatment would be even better. PS: I have insulated this section of pipe with low-pressure steam, but the problem still persists
Replace the flow measurement instrument with one such as a vortex street meter equipped with voltage stabilization compensation
Vortex flow meters were the first ones I ruled out – what to do about scaling on the inner wall? Vortex flow meters are typically used in small-diameter pipes!
The quality of this steam is really poor; use a coolant to fill it instead of relying on the steam to condense on its own
Reply to 5# yang_wang1974: The water in the condenser tank is desalinated water that we add ourselves!
Reply to 4# shakic: What I want to do now is use a small steam pipeline at high pressure to perform backwashing on the areas prone to blockage. The key issue is determining which joints should be subjected to backwashing; the differential pressure across the orifice plates is already very low, and this has a significant impact on the results!