Methanol washing issue
Thread Content
In the Ruchi process, 9 heat exchangers are used for heat exchange between purified methanol and sulfur-rich methanol, and these heat exchangers can be arranged in four different series configurations. What is the purpose of this design?
This post was last edited by “Eating 300 lychees a day” on September 8, 2015, at 10:32. This setup facilitates the removal of the portions of heat exchangers ABC that are prone to clogging due to high temperatures; some designs also include bypasses at DE. Also, the decomposed carbonyl compounds will adhere to the heat exchange surface, affecting the heat exchange efficiency; a bypass is provided for the purpose of removing and cleaning them.
There’s no pressure difference gauge either; how can you determine if it’s blocked?
This is mainly to address the issue of scaling in the hot zones (higher temperatures) of these heat exchangers, which leads to a decline in heat exchange efficiency, thereby facilitating their removal for cleaning. It can be determined from the temperature difference between the hot and cold streams at the inlet and outlet of the heat exchanger
Consider the setup for switching the heat exchanger cleaning.
It’s probably not a blockage; rather, there is concern about internal leakage, as those units have large temperature differences, which makes internal leakage more likely. A thermometer can be used to determine whether there is internal leakage