What is an appropriate pressure difference control for the methanol water tower?
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Our company keeps the pressure difference in the methanol-water tower for low-temperature methanol washing under 14 KPa, with values generally ranging between 12 and 14 KPa. I would like to ask everyone: what is the typical pressure difference in your methanol-water towers? Is such a low pressure difference really good?
The pressure difference should be related to the equipment; our tower’s pressure difference is around 30 kPa.
Our methanol-water column has a diameter of 1.4 m and a height of 25 m; it is a floating-valve column with 40 trays. The pressure at the top of the column is typically around 0.2 MPa, the feed rate is about 14 m3/h, and the flow rate of the lean liquid returning to the column is around 7.5 m3/h. The water content in the methanol vapor at the top is generally between 1.0% and 1.2%, with a minimum level of 0.95%. Is the return flow rate a bit low?
The theoretical pressure difference per tray can be 0.7 KPA