Distillation Archives - Chemical Engineering

Tower Doctor: Can the Cure be as Bad as the Illness?

Chemical Engineering — Tue, 01 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000

During a course that I was presenting in Houston one year, a participant asked me the following at the end of one of the sessions: “Do you have experience with BX-type wire-gauze structured packings?”

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PVDF Bubble Caps for Distillation Columns

Chemical Engineering — Thu, 01 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Polymer components in column trays can avoid issues associated with corrosion of metal equipment Gujarat Alkalies & Chemicals Ltd. (GACL) — a major chemical producer in Gujarat state in western India —

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Pilot-Scale Distillation Process Design

Chemical Engineering — Wed, 01 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The inherent characteristics, requirements and special concerns of pilot- and laboratory-scale distillation columns differ from those of commercial-scale equipment. The scale-related differences of

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Lessons Learned in the Classroom: Tower Pressure and Capacity

Chemical Engineering — Sat, 01 Oct 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Henry Kister shares lessons learned from troubleshooting distillation towers In my courses, I discuss the effect of column operating pressure on flooding and capacity. There are two counteracting effects: The

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Tower Doctor – Downcomer Unsealing: A Correct Diagnosis Brings a Correct Cure

Chemical Engineering — Thu, 01 Sep 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Following a distillation conference hosted by a simulation vendor, the delegates were transported by bus to a venue where the simulation vendor hosted a delicious barbecue. A gentleman sitting next to the

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Tower Doctor: X-Raying The Patient: Gamma Scanning Vapor Cross-Flow Channeling

Chemical Engineering — Mon, 01 Aug 2022 00:00:00 +0000

In 1988, the author led a team to troubleshoot a chemical tower that was revamped to achieve a small increase in capacity (up to 4%) by increasing the tray hole areas from 8.5% to 13% of the active area. In

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Can Trash Interfere With a Cure?

Chemical Engineering — Wed, 01 Jun 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Construction of new production units has an undesirable byproduct: trash. Sometimes the hard question is— Who will clean? The author was the startup superintendent on a new unit in an olefins plant in

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Should the Doctor Believe a Flowmeter?

Chemical Engineering — Sun, 01 May 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Many cooling-water systems do not have flowmeters. This is a tale about a cooling-water flowmeter that made a difference. As a startup superintendent at ICI Australia in the late 1970s, the author was in

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