3 replies to this topic

[jayari]

Hi everyone,

 

I am a chemical engineer new to the industry (5 months in API production).

 

I recently started working for an acrylamide polymerization plant as supervisor and have noticed that we have a lot of issues with foam generation in almost every step of the process; the foam generation in the dissolution tanks really gets out of hand once it hits the reactors. The foam is based on the liquid monomer bubbling and expanding, it isn't like foam insulation or other hard foams.

 

I was wondering if anyone could recommend some resources I could look at to get a handle on this problem or recount their experience with similar problems.

 

Thanks,

Jay

[latexman]

Have you looked for a defoamer?

[breizh]

Jayari,,

You may consult about anti foam agents ! Did you talk to the acrylamide's supplier? silicon based agent ?

Among the big names for defoamers , Dow chemicals  .

Good luck , not an easy task.

Breizh

Edited by breizh, 24 February 2015 - 12:51 AM.

[jayari]

Hi everyone,

 

We produce the acrylamide at plant on site and I've been told they don't add anything because of transfer price issues. On my side of the operations, we do use a silicone based defoamer (Silfoam brand) that isn't very detrimental to the process. As I asked around, I found out that the management has decided to address this problem by having operators add more defoamer at more points along the process. The engineering group is still looking for ways to engineer out this issue so that the foaming issue doesn't make a big problem.

 

Thanks,

Jay