How to deal with air leakage from the exhaust hole on the flange surface adjacent to the tower in a distillation tower manhole?
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The manhole of the distillation tower is equipped with an exhaust vent on the flange surface at the side of the tower; after pressing inside the tower and testing for air tightness using soapy water, air leaks from this exhaust vent – is it necessary to address this issue? How to deal with it?
It needs to be dealt with; the signal hole is leaking, which indicates that there are leakage points at the joints of the lining material
Stop the machine, open the manhole, and introduce air into this airtight chamber. Apply soapy water to the flange sealing surfaces as well as any other welds in order to locate the leaks; then repair those areas by welding them. If it’s not a critical piece of equipment, a simpler approach is to simply weld this airtight chamber shut
The presence of this hole indicates that the manhole is made of a composite material, with carbon steel on the outer layer. Since it’s a composite material, the lining cannot be carbon steel; otherwise it would be a single-piece structure. In this case, blocking this hole is nothing but covering one’s ears while stealing. Repair is definitely necessary; otherwise, the outer layer will corrode and its strength will decrease, posing a safety risk{:9001:}
There are two scenarios: 1) When your equipment is shut down, air gets between the equipment’s casing and the lining; when the equipment is pressurized, this air is squeezed out between the casing and the lining. 2 If there is a leak for an extended period of time, and it is confirmed that the equipment’s lining is leaking, then the lining needs to be repaired. Before carrying out the repair, electrical spark testing should be used to locate the source of the leak.
I encountered this situation once in actual production, and the discussions at that time were more or less similar to what you mentioned. Later, during shutdown for maintenance, it was found that the leakage was caused by problems with the welds of the composite plate. The tower I was using was an acidic water stripping tower; fortunately, it was detected early and repairs could be carried out promptly.
Using sealing tapes made of expanded polytetrafluoroethylene is a simple and convenient solution; you can check on Baidu the properties of polytetrafluoroethylene to see if it can be used for this purpose.
The master knows a lot about this; I’ve encountered the same problem as well – it’s probably due to composite materials. It’s necessary to check the equipment drawings; currently it’s in the airtightness testing phase, so things should be fine for now. Handle it as soon as possible.