Feasibility study on eliminating the air-cooled tower
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It features 5,000 cubic meters of inlet gas flow, two high towers; the nitrogen output from the towers is 1,200 cubic meters, while the oxygen output is 800 cubic meters. This air separation unit was designed and manufactured by Kaifeng Air Separation Plant in the 1990s. The air from the centrifuge enters the air-cooling tower, then the refrigeration unit, followed by the water separator, and finally the molecular sieve for purification. Over the past few years, equipment upgrades have been carried out, and imported Atlas equipment is now used in the centrifuges; the temperature of the air at the outlet is less than 40 degrees. In this process, can the air-cooling tower be eliminated?
The last edit to this post was made by CHANGBAISHI on 2018-8-29 at 16:52. As for whether to eliminate the air cooling tower, it is first necessary to ensure that after its removal, the temperature of the air entering the purifier will meet the design requirements (the operating temperature required for the molecular sieve). This has little to do with the device brand; as long as this condition is met, it can be canceled. This section is the air cooling process.
Thank you! In other words, the air-cooled tower is only used to address cooling issues, while purification is handled by the molecular sieve. Will eliminating the air-cooled tower affect the service life and adsorption capacity of the molecular sieve?
Air-cooling towers generally serve two purposes: dust removal and cooling. 1. Although inlet filters are now used, a small amount of dust still may make it through the gas (filters have limitations in terms of cleanliness, and impurities may also be carried out from the compressor). Washing the gas through an air-cooling tower makes it even cleaner; without this step, such dust is likely to reach the molecular sieve or even enter the tower via the molecular sieve. Although the amount is small, it can add up over time, and this could have an impact on the molecular sieve (high humidity in saturated air can cause water and dust to stick to the surface of the molecular sieve, affecting its adsorption capacity). It can also affect the analysis pipelines inside the tower, as these impurities may block the sampling lines after passing through the molecular sieve and plate filters, in the form of mechanical contaminants. 2. The temperature at the compressor outlet, at 40 degrees, is still too high for use with molecular sieves; it should be reduced to below 20 degrees at least. Otherwise, the molecular sieves require a very large size, impose a heavy load, and necessitate a complex regeneration system. Theoretically, as long as the temperature of the material entering the molecular sieve can be controlled, an air cooling tower may not be necessary. Based on these two points, I believe that air-cooled towers are still necessary; or, when the air temperature drops below 20 degrees, a precision dust removal system can be used as a substitute for water-cooled dust removal. At present, it seems that a combination of both approaches represents the best option. For reference
Hehehe, this is a common problem among beginners, especially those who have just left university; they start discussing a topic before they fully understand its procedures and principles: lol
The air compressor is equipped with a final-stage cooler that cools the air to 40 degrees; it is then connected to an air chiller that cools it further to 8 degrees before it enters the molecular sieve