Internal leakage in the regenerative reboiler
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The regeneration unit of my plant receives amine-rich liquid from the entire system; the reboiler has leaked – how should I deal with this?
The reboiler at the bottom of the regeneration tower: 1. All materials have been replaced with stainless steel. 2. Control the steam temperature to prevent thermal degradation of the amine solution. 3. Thermal steady-state salts of the control system. 4. Remove impurities from the filtration system by adding more filters.
If it cannot be removed, just run it as is. More acidic water is added to the top reflux tank, and less desalinated water needs to be added as make-up fluid for the lean liquid. If it can be removed for maintenance, the leak can be identified, and the cause analyzed to resolve the issue.
Internal leakage or external leakage? How is internal leakage detected?
Internal leakage also requires repair and replacement. Although, in principle, internal leakage means steam leaking into the amine solution, in actual production the condensate water can also become contaminated, unless you have no requirements regarding the quality of the condensate water. Regenerated reboilers are generally made of material grade 304L or higher; if there is a leak, the CL ion content is usually measured.