Regarding the issue of liquid in the vacuum pump.
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Our factory produces MTBE, and the raw materials contain a high proportion of carbon components, which causes the pressure at the top of the catalytic distillation tower and in the reflux tank to increase. Production is difficult to control; previously, the material was directly vented through flares. Now, in order to recycle these C3 components, a pipe has been installed at the vent point to send the material to a compressor for pressurization before it is used as fuel gas in the boiler. However, in practice the performance is poor; the compressor often operates with liquid present and thus cannot function properly. The preliminary analysis suggests that the reason is: the drain point is located at the top of the reflux tank, near the cold feed point at the top of the tower. After starting the compressor, draw the liquid phase into the compressor as well. The planned solution is: 1. Add an insertion tube to the cold discharge at the top of the tower to create a liquid seal and prevent the liquid phase from being drawn out. 2. Add vacuum-sealed tanks, but this incurs higher costs. Liquid phase recovery inside the sealed tank is also a problem. So here’s the question: 1. Are there any other better ways? 2. How far should the insertion tube be inserted from the bottom of the tank? 3. How should the size of the vacuum-sealed tank be determined?
Add a buffer tank, and use variable-frequency control for the compressor so that it operates automatically based on pressure levels
Just adding a buffer tank won’t solve the problem of liquid presence, right?
First, connect the drain pipe to the buffer tank, and also connect the compressor inlet to the buffer tank. In this way, if there is liquid present, it will be drained from the bottom of the buffer tank. A demister should be installed at the top of the buffer tank
Using a screw compressor will yield better results