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Distillation

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

Henry Kister shares lessons learned from troubleshooting distillation towers 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…

PVDF Bubble Caps for Distillation Columns

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 — was facing corrosion challenges with its distillation columns.…

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Pilot-Scale Distillation Process Design

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 distillation assemblies are presented here Distillation processes at any scale share many of the same theoretical and…

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Lessons Learned in the Classroom: Tower Pressure and Capacity

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 volatility effect increases in importance at higher pressures and for…

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

Henry Kister shares lessons learned from troubleshooting distillation towers 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…

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

Henry Kister shares lessons learned from troubleshooting distillation towers 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…

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Can Trash Interfere With a Cure?

Henry Kister shares lessons learned from troubleshooting distillation towers 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…

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Should the Doctor Believe a Flowmeter?

Henry Kister shares lessons learned from troubleshooting distillation towers 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…