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Batch Reactor
Ajay Kalva 2 years ago Calculations, distillation rate, how to
Hello guyzzz..........!!!
Back after many months and sorry for not being regular here, i've received a query
from one of the visitor, and i think many of you too have the same question i.e., How
to calculate the rate of distillation in a batch reactor....??
And for this query today i gonna put a end mark, i'll explain you with an example
here,
but, before that you need to know some basics like, when are we going to do distillation in a
batch reactor during a product manufacturing......!!
Most commonly there are 2 cases,
1) after completion of reaction, for impurity removals we will do some workups with solvents
like water, which is followed by product layer concentration, simply called as product
concentration,
2) The 2nd one will be removal of Moisture from the raw materials, for this the raw materials
should be made soluble in a suitable solvent and then the solvent medium is distilled off
under vacuum, which will remove the water molecules from the raw materials and make
them suitable for carrying out reaction, this is usually done for moisture sensitive products.
So, here now i'll demonstrate an example case study,
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Our case is, we need to calculate the distillation rate in a reactor having a product layer of
Ethyl Acetate, and the distillation should be carried out with vacuum NLT 650 mmHg, and
temperature NMT 40 deg C,
Let suppose our reactor capacity is 10 KL with MOC SS316, and the product layer volume is
around 5 KL say,
Now we need to collect some raw data like HT area of SSR, Specific heat & Density of
Solvent, etc.
10 KL SSR will have an HT area of 19.82 Sq.m, but the effective HT area for this operation
will be equals to Total HT area x Occupancy of reactor,
Density of Ethyl Acetate is 897 Kg/cu.m, Specific heat : 0.454 KCal/Kg. K , Latent Heat of
vaporisation is 87.6 KCal/Kg,
As the MOC of the reactor is SS316, the Overall Heat Transfer Coefficient can be considered
as 250 KCal/Sq.m. Hr. K.
If you want to calculate the Overall Heat Transfer of a reactor with more accuracy, then read
this post,
So now, getting into our calculation we need to calculate the amount of energy that our HT
area is going to transfer per hour, and that we can calculate as follows,
Q = U x A x LMTD,
Sorry guys, i forgot to calculate the LMTD previously, anyway now i'll do it for you,
for calculating the LMTD we need two streams, one is utility stream and the other one is
batch volume,
So , coming to Hot water utility, now you may have one doubt that why i've used Hot water
as utility, the reason is we have a Specification that reaction mass temperature shouldn't
exceed 40 deg C, thats why i've considered Hot water instead of Steam, and now another
question may arise in your mind, what can be the hot water set point, usually we will
maintain a Delta T of 10 deg C, so the Hot Water Set point will 40 deg C + 10 = 50 deg C.
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so now Th1 = 50 deg C, Th2 = 45 deg C (say), Trxn = 25 deg C [ i've considered the reaction
mass temperature as 25 deg C because at 650 mmHg of vacuum, the boiling point of ethyl
acetate will be hardly 25deg C, this can be calculated from antonie equation],
Q = U x A x LMTD
Now we need to know what is the Heat load of the Reaction mass i.e., summation of Sensible
heat & Latent heat,
= M x Cp x dT + M1 x Lambda
= ( V x Rho ) x Cp x dT + M1 x Lambda
= 10180.95 + M1 x 87.6
Now, we need to equate the overall heat load to the reactor supply load i.e., 56306.143 Kcal,
So here today, i'll demonstrate my idea to calculate the height. If you are a new
reader and searching for Dia calculation of vapour line, then follow this,
This post is requested by Mr. Ram prasad.
But before going in depth calculation, i want you to know that this is just my way of
calculation, there may be a direct calculation or something, but i donno those all, and
openly speaking i don't like remembering all the equations, if required i'll try to
derive those equations.
Is there any relation between the height and dia of vapour column ?
There is nothing like that, if there is something like that earlier i should have
demonstrated you, As vapour column is meant for vapour / gas transferring from
reactor to condenser, and the dia depends on the boil-up that is generated in the
reactor, height should be designed based on the vapour density, if the vapour density
of a solvent that i need to distill out is high then automatically the vapour won't reach
much height and in between it will get condensed.
Anyhow, i think this knowledge is enough for getting started, if anything you need to
grab just comment in the below section.
simply, P = ꝭ x g x h.
Here today i'll calculate the vapour column height required for distilling methanol in
a batch reactor.
P x V = ( w / W ) x R x T.
(PxW)/(RxT)=w/V
ꝭ = ( P x W ) / ( R x T ).
P - Vapour pressure.
These constants can be retrieved from google, anyway i'll provide those here,
P = 630.95 mmHg.
Now lets calculate the boil up from reactor, lets suppose the reactor capacity be 5KL
and the occupancy be 50%.
Heat transfer area of a 5KL SS reactor is 12.46 Sq.m. [ Donno how to calculate, Learn
it here ]
As occupancy is 50%, Effective heat transfer area be 12.46 x 0.5 = 6.23 Sq.m.
Boil up ( W ) = U x A x LMTD / ƛ,
ꝭ =(PxW)/( RxT)
= 4010 Kg / Cu.m.
P=ꝭ xgxh
h = 2.14 m
That's it......!!!
Now you got the height of vapour column that need to be arranged for a 5KL SS
reactor for getting a boil up of 176 L methanol with 50% occupancy,
[**Calculation is slightly modified, thanks to Bhaskar for pointing out the error in
unit conversion]
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Dear All.......!!!
Good Evening, Hope you all are good, Thanks for the support that i'm
receiving for maintaining this blog, wish this'll continue all time.
But before going to that there is some basic stuff, which need to be accepted
by all those who are reading this post, or else there may be slightly
misunderstanding erupted in-between.
What is a reactor ?
The main operation is reaction, apart from that it can be used for
extraction, concentration, crystallization and many more.
Also Read:
[How to] Map equipments for a manufacturing process
Below is the list of solvent and their boiling points [from my database],
1,8-Diazabicyclo(5.4.0)undec-7-ene 80 Diethylamine 55
1-Bromo-3,4,5-Trifluorobenzene 47 Dimethylsulfide 37
2-Methylfuran 63 Isonicotinaldehyde 77
N,N-
4-Isobutylacetophenone 107 102
Dimethylformamidedimethylacetal
Chloroform 60 Tetrahydrofuran 66
From the above mentioned listing, Petroleum Ether is highly volatile i.e.,
B.P. is 30°C,
To generate maximum boil-up the utility in reactor jacket shall be Saturated steam,
Jacket pressure: 0.2 Kg/Cm2. Temperature: 105.1 °C,[Refer Steam Tables]
A 10 KL SS reactor will have an Heat transfer area of 19.8 Sq.m,[Use this Spreadsheet to calculate the
HT Area - Learn it here]
Lets consider 70% occupancy, The effective HT area will be 13.86 Sq.m.
Step - 2 is successful.
Lets move to Step - 3.
(M x Cp x dT) + (M x ƛ) = U x A x LMTD.
Lets calculate,
(M x Cp x dT) + (M x ƛ) = (2954 x 0.22 x 5) + (2954 x 85) = 254340 KCal.
That's it......!!!
Hope you all got it, if any queries feel free to comment / message.
Related Posts:
[How to] Calculate NPSH of a pump ?
Hi! I am Ajay Kumar Kalva, Currently serving as the CEO of this site,
a tech geek by passion, and a chemical process engineer by profession,
i'm interested in writing articles regarding technology, hacking and
pharma technology.
Follow Me on Twitter AjaySpectator & Computer Innovations
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reactor
21 comments:
1.
Reply
Replies
1.
Dear ,
Its just a basic thing, when you are using Overall Heat transfer coefficient, it
shall be accompanied by LMTD.
Regards,
AJAY K
Reply
2.
Reply
Replies
1.
In the above post, i've considered the dead worst case, if the generated boil up
can be condensed than automatically it can be useful for all solvent
distillations.
Hope you understand, next time kindly comment with your name,
Regards,
AJAY K
Reply
3.
Hi ajay, how to calculate the secondary condenser for the above problem. here the
utility was -15.
Regards by
T.V.RAMANA
Reply
Replies
1.
Dear Sir,
Regards,
AJAY K
Reply
4.
seetha ramaiah4 April 2018 at 22:15
let me know how can you are considered U as 400 KCal/Sq.m.hr.K, and how can you
justify that considered valve is correct as you mentioned 10 kl reactor
Reply
Replies
1.
Dear Sir,
Regards,
AJAY K
Reply
5.
Nice Ajay,but when coming to distillation under vacuum, I think condenser area is not
sufficient.
Regards
B.MURALIPRASAD
Reply
Replies
1.
Dear Murali,
Can you tell me in detail, what makes you feel like that, if any valid reason i'll
extend my post, so that it can be helpful for many visitors.
Regards,
AJAY K
Reply
6.
Hii ajay thanq for this blog and educating many of the people
I just had a simple formula for selecting a condenser
For example HTA is 20 m2
Take 30% of HTA and add to it. Now it may get approx condenser selection in a
simple way.
Reply
Replies
1.
Dear Bhaskar,
Whatever you mentioned is thumb rule and can be applicable for GLR's with
graphite condensers,
For SSR as per the thumb rule, for reactors with capacity above 2 KL,
primary condenser capacity = 2 x reactor capacity,
Secondary condenser capacity = 0.3 x primary condenser capacity.
Regards,
AJAY K
Reply
7.
Reply
Replies
1.
Dear Karthik,
Compare both the Heat transfer parameters with time, i mean to say Time is
inversely proportional to Heat transfer(U x A x LMTD).
if any queries pl feel free to comment, even you can directly use the RC1e
data.
As you have asked for comparison of lab vs plant, i've given you the relation.
Regards,
AJAY K
2.
Reply
8.
Dear Ajay,
In one of our product after purification getting tap density above 0.7 limit is 0.3 to
0.7i.e always higher side, after reprocessing the same batch with same purification
procedure with same cooling pattern then tap density comes within limit...so pls share
thought on it...
Reply
Replies
1.
Usually during purification stage the material composition will vary, so once
try to compare the analysis at both stages, if there is any reduction in
impurities in both analysis, then we may say that due to the binding / presence
of the subject impurity in that stage lead to that particular tapped density, and
then try to evaluate based on varying solvent quantities. It may solve the issue
if the vary in quantities lead to subject impurity reduction.
Regards,
AJAY K
Reply
9.
Reply
10.
Dear Ajay,
One of our product we have initially water content 6% after Jetmilling it goes down
below 4% but limit is above 5 % ..
We are using 9 kg/cm2 pressure air with contain 0.0009 gm/m3 water content.
So please tell me that how to match both partial pressure so we can't lose moisture
content below 5 % ..please give some calculations for the same...
Reply
Replies
1.
Dear Mahesh,
Perform the milling operation with cylinder nitrogen as utility instead of air, it
may help you,
As per my knowledge the inlet air is not having enough equilibrium moisture,
so the air is gonna absorb the moisture from the material during the
micronization.
Regards,
AJAY K
Reply
11.
Dear sir,
Please share latent heat and specific heat capacities of different chemicals.
Regards,
Pradeep
Reply
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Equipment Mapping
Ajay Kalva 2 years ago Equipment Mapping, how to, selection.
Hello Readers....!! Happy to be back here....!!!
Two days ago i got a query asking me to give some guidelines for Equipment mapping, and
this seems to be a very interesting topic where everyone will have their own view which is
convincing for themselves, and as i got this query to my mail i gonna present you here with
my own view.
Before getting into the topic all should have a little idea about Equipment Mapping and what
does it means exactly......???
When is it required ??
Equipment Mapping is necessary while going to achieve some target yield or to validate a
process during a scale up, tech transfer, site transfer of a existing product or while
performing a trial for a product that is newly manufactured.
The equipment which were mentioned in a particular Process flow/Piping & instrumentation
Diagram, which are recommended while going for manufacturing of a product like Reactors,
Receivers, Storage tanks, Filters, Filtration Equipments, Process Pumps, Vacuum Pumps,
Dryers etc.
Now, i think you got a basic idea of Equipment Mapping, so now Lets go deep into the topic,
If the reactor is used for carrying out reaction then the occupancy of the reactor should be in
range of 30% to 60%,
If a reactor is used for Work ups like extractions/washings then the occupancy should be in
range of 40%-75%, if there is 75% occupancy during extractions then the agitator should be a
turbine or propeller, if there is minimal occupancy then the agitator should be Anchor.
Filters were of many types, the mostly pharma involved filters were Micron filter, candy
filter, Leaf filter, Sparkler Filter, Nutsche Filter, Pressure Nutsche filter etc.
The above mentioned filters can be classified into two types based on their usage,
Multi time filtration: The term Multi time seems to be an rare term, but for delivering its
purpose through its name i've mentioned multi time filtration and dont get confused over
that, The main purpose of the multi time filtration equipments were to separate the large size
particles from the slurries or solutions, these filters efficiency depends upon the filter
medium like filter cloth, and the filters that fell under the Multi time filtration were Leaf
filter, Sparkler filter. The MAin reason for considering those two in this category is they were
widely used for filtering the carbon slurries/ charcoal slurries with recirculation, during
recirculation the particles were left over the filter cloth in leaf filter and over the cellulose bed
in sparkler filter, and the small size particles will also be retained over these filter medium
upon continuous recirculation, as the bed thickness increases over the medium the pore size
decreases.
Single time filtration: Single time filtration name itself denotes the filters from this category
will be used only once in a whole filtration, it means every time a Multi time filtration filters
will be accompanied by a single time filtration but it is used only once as a final effect,
Micron filters, candy filters will come under this category as they will have low filtration area
and finest pore size, they can resist even very fine size particles but can resist high volumes of
particles over them.
Usually receivers will be used for storage of solvents, product layers, impurity layers and
some times during distillations to hold the distillate.
Receivers used for storage should be mapped based on occupancy, and receivers can have a
maximum of 90% occupancy, if the occupancy is more, then the vapors generated due to
saturation will be low as there wont be much space left in the receivers and this is simply
called breathing losses of solvent,
Receivers used in distillation should have small capacities in order to increase the distillation
effectiveness, this statement doesnt mean selecting a 10 L / 100 L receiver while distilling 2
KL or 3 KL, it means just to consider an optimized occupancy receiver which will enhance
the rate of distillation, but not the one which will stay as a reason for low distillation rate.
And the Transfer lines of the receivers should be of small length to avoid accumulation of
solvent in the receiver and also the flow of solvent from the receiver to the destination should
be mostly of gravity but not by pumping, and the lines in between the receivers and
destination shouldn't have any negative slopes, which will retain the solvent as holdup
volume.
Mapping of filtration equipment's always remains as a difficult task for an engineer, as even
if the pore size of the filtration medium is of enough size, but the filtration wont happen due
to the nature of the slurry, it may be of different reasons like pH, low temperatures etc., if the
pH of the reaction mass is high then the mass will be sticky so the filtration rate will be low if
a filtration equipment like ANFD is selected, and with the same filter cloth that is used in
ANFD, if used for a centrifuge then the filtration may happen comfortably, so the Filtration
equipment must be tested with our traditional method of Trail and Error without any
hesitation, and some of the mass won't create that much headache as mostly they will be
compatible with equipments like ANFD and Filter Press.
if a reaction mass is compatible with ANFD then mostly it will have compatibility with
centrifuge also, but being an engineer centrifuges should be avoided as they are of high
hazard, and also the solvent loss during handling will be more.
Drying Equipments are the most critical one in pharma Industry, as the yield mostly
depends on them on the final stage of manufacturing, mostly filtration equipments will be
accompanied with drying setup also, and some times drying will be a part of product
concentration equipments as like ATFD[Agitated Thin Film Dryer], APD[Agitated Pan
Dryer] etc, and these drying equipments will be two types,
1. Direct Contact Dryers,
2. Indirect Contact Dryers,
There are many types of dryers available in market like Vacuum tray dryers, Rotary cone
vacuum dryers, agitated thin film dryers, Agitated nutsche filter dryer, Air tray dryers,
Agitated pan dryers, Fluidized bed dryer etc.
Mostly if the material is having tendency to loose the solvent or water content from its lattice
and wherever agitation is required, then its better to go with dryers like ANFD, APD.
And if the batch manufacturing process is off small scale and the solvent to be removed is
having high volatileness, then its better to go with Vacuum tray dryers/tray dryers.
If the Crystal lattice is having a high tendency to hold water content/solvent content, then
the material should be taken for size reduction with a miller and after reduction it should be
taken into a dryer like FBD, where direct heating takes place.
And finally coming to dryers like ATFD[Continous dryer], APD, these are far critical
equipments than other dryers, they can be used from product layer concentration to final
stage drying.
Finally, what ever may be the capacity of the dryer, it should have a maximum occupancy of
60-70%, as if there is high occupancy than the mentioned then the vacuum that needs to
perform its job would be uncomfortable, i mean the vacuum contact area with material will
become low, and the efficiency of drying will become less.
That's it......!! This is upto my knowledge and hope you will understood this simply,
A chiller unit is nothing but just a cooling unit, which can be used to maintain
some high temperature variation from room temperatures, Basically a Chiller Plant
works on the Principle of Carnot Cycle, and Heat Transfer. Many of you think that
the chiller plant as a big mystery to solve, but trust me by the end of this post, i'll
make you feel better when you again think about Chiller Plant.
Now compare the 4 major units shown in the above pic with those in the Chiller unit,
The Piston can be compared to a Compressor, Condenser will remain the same as
Evaporative Condenser, Pump can be compared to as Expansion Valves, and finally the
boiler to be Chiller.
So, now i'll Explain you the major units of chiller plants and also how they
have impact on the cooling of the utility,
1. Compressor: A Compressor is the major part of the chiller plant as the process
will start from here, Compressor will be used to compress the chilling agent,
usually a chilling agent will be Ammonia, as ammonia will have somewhat higher
heat capacity. Immediately you may have a question that when a compressor was
made running for many hours, wont it have any wear-tear problem, and for
avoiding this problem an oil is circulated to cool the overheated compressor screw,
Usually the Ammonia Pressure that is developed in a compressor will be very high,
and of the the orders 12-15 Kg/cm2, And for this we need to select pipes having
very high Design Pressure, the Red line represnt the high pressure Ammonia.
2. Evaporative Condenser: This Evaporative Condenser is usually used to cool
the high Pressure Ammonia that is forwarded from the compressor, usually water
is used as the cooling in the cooling towers as coolant for cooling ammonia from
gaseous state to liquid state, as shown in the figure the Water is sprayed over the
tube bundle [Not Shown in pic] in which the Ammonia flows, Usually the water
after getting into contact with the tube bundle will get vaporized and these vapors
are immediately sucked off by the blower, and the water which is not vaporized get
collected in the below bed, the water which is collected get re-circulated by the
pump, and based on the water level that is being vaporized, a makeup water
quantity is added in to the collection tub.
Consider the Ammonia quantity to be cooled is 800 L per 4 hrs from 20°C to 0°C, and the
Heat removed per hr is 800 W, So now i gonna calculate the makeup water here,
[ ** here Water is considered to be vaporized at 45°C due to the blower effect as the blower
Creates some suction ]
Cooled Ammonia is collected in the Receiver, the Receiver Capacity should be considered
as 40% excess to the volume of ammonia processed.
Basically the ammonia shouldn't contain any oil, but in practical cases the ammonia will
carry oil also with it, so after collecting it in receiver, the oil should be removed/separated,
The Liquid ammonia is then taken back to a shell and tube heat exchanger which is used to
cool the oil from compressor, thos job is done inside the Oil Cooler chamber as given in the
above pic, the cooled oil will be transferred again to the compressor.
So, Now lets consider the compressor is creating a pressure of 15 Kg/cm2 [ 20°C], and in
this process 70 L compressor oil [rho = 1300 Kg/Cu.m, heat capacity = 0.8 KCal/kg.°K] is
getting heated upto 70°C, and i'm having ammonia cooled to 0°C, so now i need to cool the
oil back to 30°C to reprocess it, then we need to calculate the Heat Transfer area of the
Required heat exchanger, shown below,
3. Economizer: An Economizer is something like a vessel, but actually its not a vessel, but which
helps to stabilize the flow of ammonia towards the expansion valves, and also reduce the load on the
compressors, Cold, low-pressure chiller vapor is used to subcool the saturated liquid refrigerant. This
decreases the refrigerant circulation rate, and may reduce compressor power.
Credits: Jmcampbell.com
Let’s consider removing 1.0×107kJ/h which is equal to 2778 kW (9.479 MMbtu/hr) from a
process gas at -35°C (-31°F) and rejecting it to the environment by the condenser at a
condensing temperature of 35°C (95°F). Assuming 5 kPa (0.7 psi) pressure drop in the
chiller and 5 kPa in the suction line pressure drop, the compressor suction pressure is 132.4
kPa (19.1 psi). The condenser pressure drop plus the pressure drop in the line from the
compressor discharge to the condenser was assumed to be 50 kPa (7.3 psi); therefore,
compressor discharge pressure is 1270 kPaa (184.2 psia). The compressor discharge
temperature is 66°C (150.8°F). At these conditions, the condenser duty is 4434 kW (15.13
MMbtu/hr). Pure propane is used as the working fluid.
4. Expansion Valves : The Expansion Valves plays a major role on the degree of cooling
in the chiller as the extent of opening of these expansion valves defines the amount/flowrate
of chiling agent into the chiller, so as the flowrate into chiller increases the temperature of
the process fluid out will be reduced, Usually these are not regularly operated valves, they
were kept consistent.
5. Chiller : This is just a Shell and Tube Heat Exchanger used to Cool the Process fluids that
were incoming with the available chilling agent, usually the process fluid will enters the tube
side, and the chilling agent will enters shell side, the required capacity of the chiller can be
calculated as follows,
Let the flowrate of the water inside is 50 cu.m /hr, and the overall heat transfer coefficient be
450KCal/hr.Sq.m.°C, LMTD be 50°C, and the incoming water to be cooled from 30°C to 5°C,
then
Qwater = 50 * 1000 * 1* 25 = 1250000KCal
Req. Heat Transfer Area, A = Qwater / U * LMTD = 1250000 / (450*50) = 55.6 Sq.m
6. Surge Tank : Surge tank is like a storage tank which allows to store the ammonia
vapors that were produced after heat transfer in the chiller with the process fluid, the size of
the surge tank should be 30% less when compared to that off ammonia collection receiver
from the evaporative condenser, the residence time of the ammonia vapors in the surge tank
depends on the Compressor suction pressure.
So, Now we came to an end and i'll discuss you the Elements that effect the Cooling Rate of
the Process fluids in a chiller,
1. Expansion Valves Opening - if the opening is high, then the flowrate will be high into
chiller, ultimately leading for high temperature gain from process fluids,
2. Compressor Suction Pressure - if the suction pressure is low then the chilling agent
will have some high retention time in chiller which leads for high heat transfer rate.
So, Now if you understand the principle of working of Chiller Plant just say
Cheers....!!
If any queries, then feel free to ask us, Comments are most
appreciated.........................!!!
Hope all having a happy weekend, Today i gonna explain you the purpose and significance of
the Equalization line in batch reactor distillation setup, Yesterday i've received a message
from Mr. Shyam Prasad(working as a production executive in a reputed pharma) through
this site asking me to explain about it.
First of all i'm happy after knowing that guys apart from process engineering also visiting
this site and reading our posts. And Now i'll deliver it here in a simple and understandable
way to all.
What is Distillation ?
Equalization line is used to maintain constant vacuum in the distillate collection vessel and
the kettle/reactor.
In what type of distillation this line is used ?
The major advantage with this equalization line is considerable amount of solvent recovery
and it will also increase the efficiency of vacuum pump.
With these above discussion, i think now itself you came to know its purpose and advantage,
but i'll make it little clear to all in the remaining post.
Usually the distillation setup in a batch reactor have two styles, i.e., one with equalization
line and the other without.
This is the traditional setup used in most of the companies, this setup is shown in the below
fig.
From the above fig you can clearly observe that the vacuum is generated at the pump and
sucks the pressure from the pump trap, followed by the Collection receiver then condensers
and finally Batch reactor through vapour line.
It is obvious that the vacuum will be high at trap then collection receiver followed by
condensers and then reactor.
So if most of the cases the collection line will have a greater lengths as the receiver will be
placed in the minus one floor of reactor(if its capacity is higher), sometimes receiver will be
placed near by reactor(if the capacity is low).
If the capacity is low there wont be much issue, but in case if the receiver is placed in minus
one stage of reactor then the condensed distillate will reach the receiver with some extra
pressure and because of this pressure some of the vapour will be escaped into the receiver
without getting condensed in the condenser, and the vapour will be further sucked into the
vacuum trap, if the cooling efficiency is good the vapour will be cooled in the trap, or else it
will enter the pump and the medium may get corrupt, which leads to drop in pump
efficiency.
To address these issues the Equalization line concept is introduced. Lets see below where it
need to be placed in a distillation setup.
Also Read:
This is the innovative setup which is trending currently in most of the companies, this setup
is shown in the below fig.
Innovative setup - Current trend
If you can see here, the Vacuum line from the pump trap is connected to the secondary
condenser and the distillate collection receiver is having two connections, one is collection
line and the other is Equalization line.
The vacuum will be high in trap then in secondary condenser and then in both primary
condenser and collection receiver. So, whenever as discussed above if any uncondensed
vapours escapes into the collection receiver due to the pressure exerted by the condensed
distillate then those vapours shall be sucked back into the secondary condenser from the
collection receiver through equalization line and then those uncondensed vapours shall be
condensed in the secondary condenser.
Because of these special effects of Equalization line the solvent recovery will be better in case
of Distillation setup with Equalization line.
That't it.......!!! Now i think you have clearly gotta idea and difference between the two
setup's.