Pressure fluctuations in the ammonia vapor stripping tower – what are the causes?
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This post was last edited by hai8487 on 2018-3-19 07:11. The ammonia vaporization stripping tower in our plant is a packed tower used to treat the process condensate; the heat source is low-pressure steam. Currently, both the pressure at the top and bottom of the tower are increasing, with the pressure increase at the bottom being faster, reaching up to 0.22 MpaG (normal value: 0.16 MpaG), while the pressure at the top is 0.18 MpaG (normal value: 0.15 MpaG). Meanwhile, when the pressures at the top and bottom of the tower start to decrease, the liquid level in the separator rises rapidly. It is possible that the packing in the tower is dirty. Do any of you experts have any suggestions?
If it is suspected that the tower packing is dirty and possibly clogged, it may be necessary to take a sample from the separator for analysis. If there is little change in the concentration of the condensate compared to before treatment, this indicates that there is a problem with the packing, and the stripping tower is not functioning properly.
1. Is it related to your cooler? Is the water level in your cooler stable, or is there any air blockage? 2. Is the tower operation normal? Did this problem occur right after it was put into use, or while it was already in operation?
The circulating water is operating stably; this situation only appeared recently and occurred during operation.
If both the bottom and top of the tower are pressurized simultaneously, there should be no problem inside the tower； Could it be that the amount of steam or the volume of the feed gas is too high? The liquid level in your separator is rising rapidly – is there a lot of moisture inside?
Not much, but the pressure at the top and bottom of the tower increases and decreases simultaneously; only the rates of pressure change are different. When the pressure starts to decrease, the liquid level in the separator rises again.