Dear all,
The operation engineer has requested us to study the effect of changing the temperature setpoint on column reboiler TC controller which measures the inlet temperature of hot process water(Shellside). This hot process water is used to heat up and partially vapourise the feed containing 89 wt% H20 & 11% EO prior to being introduced into the column.
The distillation column is used to make pure refined Ethylene Oxide and contains 86 trays. On normal operation, almost all trays consist mostly of liquid ethylene oxide. We are interested in studying the effect on reducing the temperature setpoint on column performance. Our main concern is by reducing the temperature, we might stall the column and cause weeping/dumping due to insufficient vapour flowrate.
By reducing the temperature setpoint, less of the hot process water is bypassed from heat exchanger E6774 which is upstream of the column reboiler.
Appreciate if anyone can advice and point me to the right direction on how I can accomplish this. I was thinking of running simulation on the column since design data is available