Investigation of the Process of Simple Distillation in Irrigated Pipe Elements

In modern chemical and oil refining complexes, separation processes are among the most popular and energy-intensive. Installations for their implementation should be equipped with nodes for creating vapor (evaporators) and liquid (deflegmators) irrigation. Evaporators of any type (film, thermosiphon, gas lift, cubic) belong to this class of devices. For example, in cubic evaporators, the gas flow is completely formed from flux bubbles that originate on the heat-conducting surface and float in the volume of the cubic liquid located in the apparatus. Due to the accompanying mass exchange, the bubbles are enriched with volatile components during ascent and noticeably increase in volume, and the growth of the bubble is determined, among other things, by the total flow. At the same time, in real bubbling-type equipment, the total mass transfer surface exceeds the cross-section of the device itself by more than two orders of magnitude. Thus, according to, the ratio of the internal cross-sectional area of the apparatus to the developed mass transfer surface is 0.0015–0.002. Based on the analysis of the integral equation of the diffusion boundary layer, it is shown that the presence of a resultant flow of substance through the phase interface (non-equimolarity of the process) in a two-phase gas (vapor)–liquid system leads to the transformation of the structure of the traditional mass transfer equation itself. The use of a new structure obtained for both binary and multicomponent mixtures makes it possible to significantly simplify the approach to the description and generalization of arbitrary mass transfer processes. The innovativeness of the proposed approach lies in its universality for non-equimolar processes. This simplifies the creation of models of any mass transfer devices and entire production lines. In addition, the proposed approach is a good auxiliary tool for various researchers and experimenters. It should also be noted that the separation processes of many products of organic origin during heating are characterized by the appearance of undesirable side reactions (thermal decomposition, condensation, polycondensation, formation of harmful impurities, etc.), which occur most intensively in the heating zones. At the same time, the evaporation and distillation units are subject to requirements for the minimum hydraulic resistance of the structure, the maximum separation capacity (efficiency), and the minimum residence time of the product in the apparatus (equivalent to the minimum holding capacity of the structure). It was noted that the specified requirements are most fully met by film-type devices.

Mini-Refinery Vacuum Unit: Functional Analysis and Improvement of Vacuum Overhead System

The purpose of this study was to analyze the functioning of the vacuum distillation unit of a mini-refinery and to develop recommendations for improving the vacuum overhead system with the aim to reduce the cost of creating and maintaining a vacuum in the fuel oil separation column. A calculation model of the vacuum unit was developed in the Unisim Design R451 software package, which was identified by comparing the calculated data with the data from an industrial study for two operating modes of the installation. Replacing the existing steam-ejector pump with a liquid-ring vacuum pump was proposed. A numerical experiment was carried out on the developed model, the purpose of which was to determine the “bottlenecks” of the scheme. The peculiarity of the experiment was that the vacuum column and the vacuum overhead system were considered as a single whole. As a result, it was determined that the “bottleneck” is the condenser, which was proposed to be replaced. During the technical and economic analysis, two possible vacuum overhead system schemes were considered; according to the results, it was determined that the vacuum overhead system scheme based on a liquid-ring vacuum pump will help reduce operating costs by 78%.