® _ Accounting for dissolved gases « in pump design When the liquid being pumped contains no dissolved gases, calculating the available net positive suction head is simple and straightforward. However, when §ases are present, difficulties may arise. This article presents a method that can be used then. Mao J. Tsai, Tichcon International, The. 0) To operate satisfactorily (ie, without cavitation), a Pump requires a certain net positive suction head, (NPSH) , This can be regarded as the minimum liquid head needed at the pump suction to prevent vapor binging when the pump is operating at a given rate. Tt is specified by the manufacturer in the form of perform ance curves, which relate (NSH), to the pump's ca. pacity and 4 In designing @ pumping system and selecting a pump, the engineer must determine the available NPSH_—(NPSH) Consider a typical system as shown in Fig. 1. (PSH), can be calculated as follows: (NPSH), = (P,P) + HL a where Py is the liquid vapor pressure. The liquid pres- sure at the pump section, Py, is given by: Py Pj +H—L @ Combining Eq. (1) and (2): Py = (NPSH), + Py ® which, when (NPSH), is equal to (PSH), can be weit- ten as (PSH), = Py = Py ” ‘The liquid will begin to lash when the pressure at the Pump eye (where presure reaches a minimum), Pp equals the liquid’s vapor pressure, Py. In actual opera. tion, a pump can tolerate a minimal amount of ashing with no significant adverse effects, so that when (NPS#), = (NPSH)g: Pr= Py 6) Under these conditions, combining Eq. (4) and (5) will Produce: (NPSH), = (NPSH)y ~ Py — Py © ‘Thus, (NPSH) is approximately equal to the pressure drop from the pump suction to the pump eye, Eq. (6) can be rewritten as: Ppa Py +8 where 5 is a small positive number. Combinin; ig Eq. (4) and (7) result in: (PSH), = Py — Py 48 © Eq, (8) indicates that the manufacturer-apecified (NPSH1)g can be expected tobe slightly greater than the Dresure drop from the pump suction tothe pump eye, This is because (NPSH)p includes a built-in safery free tor, which is represented by & ‘Therefore, if one uses Eq (6) to calculate the pump- eye pressure, the result will always be conservative, ‘Altematively, combining Eq, (3) and (6) given Fa= (NPSH),—(NPSH) + Py (8) Eq, (7) can be rewritten as: Py-Py>0 (10) ‘Combining Eq, (9) and (10), one has: (PSH), — (NPSH), >0 ay which shows that (NPSH), should be greater than fe“Available net positive suction head, pai Net positive suction head required for” a, stacey, pal esp eat re Tinad ganas acts done EC Maximum value’ for: ealculated —at Specific volume of dicived gas at pump: iction-source conditions per unit weight of liquid i which the gas i dimolved Specific volume of liquid in which the gas is solved, f per unit weight of quid’ Mam Gracin of dinclved gas at prsureP, (NPSH), for the pump to operate safely and free from liquid Aashing. Prbifect of dissolved gas Se analysis needs to be modified when the \eaGhsidis saturated with a gas at the suction-source pres ure, Py. The ‘disolved gas will start to desorb if Pp sump-source conditions (temperature T, and presure eed stele and cxprened a2 weight fraction, W, the percentage (by volume) of gas (CVF) in a hyps- thetical gas-liquid mixture, The specif volume of this mixture isthe sum ofthe liquid specific volume, 9, and aan associated gas volume, 2p, which i calculated for the sg21 dixolved in that specie volume of liquid ata given Presure and at the same temperature as the liquid. From the above definition, the amount of dissolved gues can be represented as: GVP = og/(0, + ¥q) X 100% (1s) and W,/ MW) (ZRT,/P) 09) “The aociated gas volume, ag, is based on one unit weight of the liquid in which the gas is disalved, and willbe referred to as the specific volume ofthe dimolved oa Generally, a pump can tolerate about 2-3% flashed {gas at the pump eye without encountering serious me- ° chanical problems such as cavitation—the formation ' and collapse of vapor bubbles [/,2]. We will, therefore, accept the midpoint of 2.5% as a safe and tolerable amount of flashed gas at the pump eye. (We could use 2% to be more conservative) This enables us to extab- lish a “significance level,” below which the dissolved gases can be ignored. ‘As the pressure is reduced, the gas volume increases. However, the pressure should never go below the liquid vapor pressure in any pump application. Therefore, the maximum volume of the dissolved gas that must be dealt with at the pump eye is calculated by setting P = Pyin Eq, (16). The corresponding volume percent, calculated from Eq, (15), will be denoted as GVPy. ee is less than 25%, the amount of the dissolved ‘Bot siguificant ‘and can’ be ignored. In that case, 7 the lig vapor pesure shuld be wed in Be Q) 0 caleulate’(NPSH),? ayeHR RS RUPS, i i 2 i Coping with significant gas levels If, on the other hand, GVPy is greater than 25%, an “artificial” vapor pressure, Py, should be calculated such that when Py = Pyy, the amount of flashed gas at the pump eye is 2.5% of the gavliquid mixture. This * artificial vapor pressure, rather than the actual liquid vapor pressure, Py, becomes the critical criterion for determining the pressure requirement at the pump eye. ‘Using Py, instead of Py, Eq, (1) becomes: (PSH), =(P,—Py)+H-L (17) and Eq, (9) becomes: Py = (NPSH), —(NPSH)_ + Py (18) ‘Thus, when Pyy is used to calculate (NPSH)4, and (NPSH), > (NPSH) one can be assured that Py > Pry and that no more than 25% of the gas-liquid mix- ture at the pump eye would be flashed gas. ‘A method described by W. R. Penney (3] can be used to estimate P, It assumes that the inert gas obeys the ideal gas law, Dalton’s law, and Henry's law, and that Raoult’ law applies for all components in the liquid except the inert gas. The volume fraction of the fashed ‘gas, ¢, in the gas-liquid mixture, as the pressure at the suction source, P,, is reduced to P, is given b ae TRE ag CEN -z By definition: 4 =e, (20 Since o¢,, the specific volume of the gas at the pump- suction-source conditions, as defined by Eq. (16), and W, are both based on a unit weight of liquid: dag = W,/ 65 (21) Substituting Eq. (20) and (21), Eq, (19) becomes: (-#)('-#) ? Ce) -#) Te should be noted that ag, is based on a unit weight of the liquid in which the gas is dissolved, and it is not the specific volume generally used elsewhere. Eq, (22) is implicit in pressure P, so it is necessary to use the trial-and-error method to determine the liquid pressure corresponding to a given volume fraction of flashed gas. A plot of a vs. P can be made, and the pressure at which a = 0.025 used as the art Pressure, Pry. Example 1 ‘A pump receives water from a cooling tower at 20°C and atmospheric pressure. The static head can be as- sumed to be zero, and the friction losin the suction line is 0.5 pai, What is the available NPSH? The cooling water is assumed to be saturated with air. Therefore, the amount of air disolved in the water, Volume fraction of flashed gas as a funct of cooling-water pressure (Example 1) ti. omootion, mate Ho on oo ano 0 20 533 oh ‘ois us O88 “ asa _Randensate pump Condensate, Synthesis gas separator and condensate Pumping system for Example 2 ~~ 700. 79375000880 5009 Pa psia ‘Volume fraction of flashed gas as a function of condensate pressu Ce a a 67