[...]... circulation reboilers 3 4 A Working Guide to Process Equipment I saw hundreds of such reboilers in Amoco’s many refineries I never stopped to think what caused the liquid to circulate through the reboilers I never thought about it, even though the reboiler feed nozzle on the tower was below the vapor return nozzle Now, with my fish tank experience as a guide, I was able to understand: • The reboiler... 9 10 A Working Guide to Process Equipment of the more volatile alcohol too However, the primary effect will be to increase the percentage of alcohol in the vodka This is good The secondary effect is to reduce the vodka production This is bad We would like to keep our product on spec (100 proof vodka) and also not lose production To overcome this problem, we must first increase the heat input to the... of BTUs needed to heat 1 lb of liquid 1°F; for water, 1.0 BTU, for diesel oil, 0.5 BTU 13 Copyright © 2008 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc Click here for terms of use 14 A Working Guide to Process Equipment Friction A fluid moving through a pipe loses pressure The lost pressure is converted to heat by friction inside the pipe Friction converts work into heat Converting heat back into work is much... Used to isolate different portions of the process equipment not used to control flow The valve closes clockwise and takes about a dozen turns to close Ninety percent of the valves used in process plants are gate valves Plug Valve This valves goes from 100 percent open to shut by turning a valve 90° The natural gas supply to your house is shut off with a plug valve Control Valve This valve is used to. .. displacement machine It increases pressure by squeezing or pushing the fluid into a region of greater pressure Turbine A turbine uses steam pressure or burning gas to drive pumps and compressors at variable speeds Motor drives are usually 19 20 A Working Guide to Process Equipment fixed-speed machines Variable speed is an energy efficient way to control flows by eliminating the downstream control valve Surge This... for the stains Stop blaming Arlene What I want is for you to get the stains off.” So I went into the kitchen, got a bottle of Coke, poured it over the stains, and the sink was clean From this single incident, my mother decided I was a genius and that all the teenage girls in south Brooklyn should fall in love with me Actually, I went out with one of those 5 6 A Working Guide to Process Equipment girls—Gloria... drags along the walls 15 16 A Working Guide to Process Equipment Centipoises or Centistokes Both terms have about the same value A high viscosity fluid has 100 centipoises (cP) such as cold, heavy crude oil A low viscosity fluid has 1 or 2 cP such as water or kerosene Going from 2 to 20 cP would about double the pressure drop in a pipeline Liquids over 100 cP or centistokes (cSt) are not easily pumped... wrong gasket is a common cause of fires in process plants Gaskets have different temperature and pressure ratings Pipe Size 0.75 in 1 in 2 in 2.5 in Process piping comes in particular nominal sizes: — 25 mm 50 mm — 17 18 A Working Guide to Process Equipment 3 in 4 in 6 in 8 in 10 in 80 mm 100 mm 150 mm 200 mm 250 mm The nominal size does not refer either to the outside or the inside diameter of the... air down the toilet’s drain But the sucking of air out of my bathroom, could only happen if the pressure in the toilet’s drain was less than the pressure in my bathroom This idea bothered me for two reasons: 1 What caused a sub-atmospheric pressure (a partial vacuum) to develop at the bottom of my toilet bowl? 2 Where did the air sucked down into the drain go to? Here’s the way it seems to me: When... mix tank 1 Copyright © 2008 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc Click here for terms of use 2 A Working Guide to Process Equipment Air water mixture Water Riser tube Air B Filter A Aquarium FIGURE 1.1 An air lift pump circulates water by injecting nitrogen into the bottom of a 2-in riser pipe The shift operators called it an “air lift pump.” The problem was that in 1974 I didn’t understand how the acid . circulation reboilers. 4 A Working Guide to Process Equipment I saw hundreds of such reboilers in Amoco’s many refineries. I never stopped to think what caused the liquid to circulate through the.