Regarding the temperature control of the tower top condenser

Thread Content

On the production floor where I work, there is a distillation tower. The condenser at the top of this tower uses circulating water as a cooling medium, and the control valve for this water is located at the return stream side. What I don’t understand is that in order to lower the temperature of the material after it has been condensed, increasing the opening of this circulating water control valve should result in a decrease in that temperature. However, without making any adjustments under other operating conditions, the temperature of the condensed material not only didn’t drop but actually increased, and the tower pressure also rose accordingly. When the valve was adjusted back to its original opening, the temperature and pressure returned to their levels before the valve was opened wider. I am truly confused by this phenomenon; I hope those with more experience can help me figure it out!