Process design issues
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Newcomers, please help us out. We need to process the sodium sulfate mixture that comes from the desulfurization and salt recovery unit in the coking plant. However, since the annual production volume is only 3,000 tons, and if we assume an operating time of 8,000 hours, the processing rate per hour will be very low, as will the size of the equipment required. I would like to know how to determine a reasonable processing rate and, accordingly, a reasonable operating time. Also, once the processing rate has been determined, by how much do we usually need to increase the scale to determine the appropriate size of the equipment?
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Coking plant production is intermittent; if you consider an annual operating time of 8,000 hours, the equipment already seems quite small – how can it be made any larger? 8,000 hours represents a full-production level for 11 months in a year.
So, your problem is that the number of operating hours was not selected correctly.
1. Is the time required for desulfurization and salt extraction fixed? If it’s a fixed time period, that would be a problem. (I’m not very familiar with this process; it seems to belong to the distillation category, where the temperature is increased to extract salts or chemicals are added along with vigorous stirring.) I’m not sure if that’s correct, everyone.* 2. Is the time the same when the batch sizes for desulfurization and salt extraction vary? If the time is the same, considering expanding the equipment is an option. 3. It’s likely that that facility won’t be operating at full capacity either. Regarding the issue of equipment size after the processing capacity is determined: is the product obtained from the desulfurization and salt extraction process meant only for storage? Is it liquid storage or particles/powder? For liquids, you can make reasonable calculations based on the conditions in your facility; for solids, it’s sufficient to set up a warehouse for storage.
8000 hours refers to continuous production. Is your manufacturing process batch intermittent or continuous?