Good morning!
I'm a Chemical Engineer from Venezuela from the USB, I have one year of experience on an engineering consultant company as process engineer.
I would like to request your help about an issue that I have and I'm not totally sure about the argument that the people that works with me is giving me.
We have to design a pump that will handle Atmospheric Residue stored in a tank and will be transferred to the Vacuum Distillation Feed Drum.
The main issue is that the pump suction nozzle is higher than the tank outlet nozzle, the heights over sea level (osl) are 74.90 ft and 71.42 ft respectively. Also I've noted that the tank's LLLL (4' 11") is at 73.75 ft osl.
Considering this, I think that the tank won't be able to operate at it this LLLL (4' 11") and it will have a lower working capacity, because the liquid will stop flowing when the tank liquid level reaches the same height as the pump nozzle.
The people that works with me says that the operation (lowering the liquid level under the height of the pump inlet nozzle) is possible because "the pump is able to suck the liquid if the operation is continue".
Also, I have another issue with this pump suction line. This line requires and expansion loop of 6 elbows (due to the reduced space in the area) and is possible that the TOP of the expansion loop will be higher than the tank outlet nozzle. Is a similar issue than the previous.
Thanks a lot for taking your time for answering and sharing your knowledge.
Edited by Leonardo285, 30 June 2014 - 11:33 AM.