Are there no manual valves for the reboiler feed in the distillation tower?
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Is there no manual valve for material measurement in the reboiler? Does an internal leak in the reboiler require shutting down the tower for maintenance? Can a manual valve be added? If not, why? Thank you all for your answers
Generally, hand valves are found on those reboilers that are prone to coking, such as the reboilers in propane removal towers and butane removal towers. For materials that are generally lightweight and do not tend to clog, manual valves are not installed; there is no need to separate such sections. If a leak occurs, there is nothing else to do but to disconnect that section of the tower for maintenance. A manual valve can also be used, but a safety valve needs to be installed upstream of the manual valve in the return line, to prevent excessive pressure in the heat exchanger caused by internal leakage and dry burning of the valve after isolation. This is my understanding.
Unless the reboiler is prone to coking and is equipped with one in operation and one as a backup, valves need to be installed on the inlet and outlet pipelines of the reboiler to facilitate more frequent removal of the coke. Otherwise, there is no need to install a valve.
In my opinion, a reboiler is a device used for heating towers and reactors; it represents a critical element in systems operating under high temperature and pressure. The safety risks associated with the numerous sealing points are unreasonable, as any leakage could very likely lead to safety accidents.
There are no manual valves; the design takes into account the risk of leaks, as these are all high-temperature areas that can easily lead to accidents.
Our ethylene distillation column bottom reboiler is equipped with an inlet filter; therefore, there are two butterfly valves that can be used to perform flushing or backwashing when necessary. Because the reboiler may be clogged by green oil.
One more manual valve means one more potential point of leakage