Hi all,

I have the following query.

I have a jacketed reactor (25m3) which is heated by directly charging steam into the jacket.

The steam is supplied by an external supplier that feeds several companies at a specific specification,

'Low Pressure Steam - saturated 2.15barg / 135oC.

The reactor involves heating its contents to 125oC and involves ammonia gas release above 75oC. 

This takes 8 hours to achieve due to the vessel being heat transfer limited and due to the gas release and solvent reflux from the condenser.

My query is as follows:- is there a way to increase the steam pressure/temperature of this steam if I have no access to higher pressure steam?

Compressor etc?

Kind Regards

Andrew

Be very careful with anything that involves increasing the pressure of the steam until you have checked the external pressure rating of the kettle's inner shell.

I have solved this type of problem before by installing an electrical heater in the steam line to superheat the low pressure steam.  Unfortunately this is an expensive solution and the heat transfer coefficient for superheated steam is dramatically less than for condensing steam and even if the temperature is increased, you may find your batch time actually increases.

Hi ,

I believe Harvey gave you the right answer . You may want to review the cycle time of your process , heating up may not be the only issue . You may want to consider to heat up the reactant with an external HX  prior to transfer to reactor to save some time .

I've added a paper about CT where you can find options .

Hope this is helping you.

Breizh

To add to breizh's answer: You might also want to heat up the reactant with an external HX after transfer to the reactor by circulating it with a pump.

Hi all,

Thank you for your responses. The installation of an external loop looks the most promising option so far. 

We charge a solid into the reactor prior to heat-up which limits our ability to heat the vessel due to the gassing of the reaction.

Thank you all for your responses.