(Seeking advice) Operating issues with an azeotropic distillation column
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The butyl acetate azeotropic distillation column is a packed column, and the reboiler is a kettle-type reboiler; as the pressure in the kettle increases, the top pressure decreases. The reactor pressure rises to a certain level, then drops suddenly; the head pressure starts to increase, after which it decreases again, and the reactor pressure rises once more, creating a cycle. I suspect that there might be some blockage in the packing of the packed tower, but I’m not sure. I’d appreciate some advice
It’s caused by high resistance; the packing is probably dirty or blocked
Well, thank you. I haven’t encountered this situation before. However, during the shutdown for maintenance, there was a large amount of polymer at the packing area
It feels like there’s a one-way valve in the middle of the tower, which opens when the pressure at the bottom of the tank is high and closes when the pressure is low. Is it because there is too much slurry entrained in the gas-phase feed, or because the liquid phase contains too many particles, which causes blockage of the filler? Do the return flow and production volume follow the same pattern?
Yes, the entire tower system is like this
An excessive amount of processing may also lead to a reduced service life. A plate tower can be considered, in which case this problem does not exist.
Well, okay, I’ll go check again to see if it’s possible to make a change. Thank you so much!
Isn’t this causing flooding? Check the process operations, such as excessive steam or reflux