Seeking advice on changes in the condensation load at the top of the tower
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Dear experts: I have a question. There is a distillation column that is operating normally, and the pressure at the bottom of the column is controlled by the flow rate of the condensate at the top of the column; the feed is saturated liquid； Now the feed rate is gradually decreasing to 0, and the draw rates from the top and bottom of the tower are also decreasing to 0; the entire tower is in a full reflux state. As the feed flow rate approaches 0, the steam flow rate at the bottom of the tower remains unchanged. I have a question for the experts: when the entire tower is in a full reflux state, does the amount of condensate at the tower top increase, decrease, or remain the same compared to normal operating conditions? I would be grateful if experts could provide detailed and specific explanations for this. Thank you.
This post was last edited by ylb913 on 2015-9-15 21:04; it should be increased. Without feed, a large portion of the cooling medium is lost, and the steam supply at the bottom doesn’t decrease. As long as the top cooler is able to cool down, the steam heat supplied at the bottom of the tower must be balanced entirely by the cooling reflux.