Utilities Systems: Selection, Sizing and Design

Introduction
If one were to take a dispassionate and of course, a rather deglamourized view of the basic functions of a chemical engineer, it would be obvious that they boil down to two sets: to either bringing intimately together certain chemicals under pre specified environmental conditions of temperature, pressure for a certain period of time Given a mixture of chemicals, to separate them from each other into their relatively purer form with the least am ount of equipment and expenditure of energy. For defining these two function sets, with the first one covering the synthesis of chemical molecules while the second covering purification of synthesized molecules, most of the core chemical engineering skill s we learn such as chemical kinetics (both what environmental conditions and for how long), thermodynamics (what environmental conditions) with heat / mass transfer and fluid flow thrown in for good measure (mixing and energy / material transfer, for example) are called upon. While the weighty questions of what process environmental conditions and for how long etc. are undoubtedly important, having once decided these parameters, it then becomes equally important to decide on how theses environmental conditions are to be created in actual practice. Th us for e xample, one may want to carry ou t ozo niz ation of an un sa turated compound at -30 - -40 C whereas, the steam cracking of naphtha might require temperatures as high as 850 900 C and while a host of other reactions take place under conditions which are in between these two widely spaced extremes. A ch e mi cal e n gin e e r i s cal le d u p o n n o t m e r e l y t o in d ic at e wh at p r o ce ss e n v i r o n m e n t a l c o n d i t i o n s a r e r e q u i r e d b u t a l s o t o s p e c i f y h o w t h e s e environments are to be created. It is easy enough to guess that the creation of the process environmental conditions would involve transferring energy either in or out of a system or equipment. Thus for an exothermic reaction, the challenge would be to take the heat of reaction out just as soon as it is released thus maintaining the

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temperature at the desired level, wh ile in the case of an end othe rmic r ea ct ion , the de sign obje ct ive would be providing the requisite quantity of heat rapidly enough so the reaction reaches the desired degree of completion within a reasonable time. The creation of the desired process environmental conditions for carrying out the chemical transformations and physical separations is what Utility Engineering is all about. In addition to the basic function of providing means of energy transport, the smooth running of the plant also requires other subsystems such as cool, clean, dry compressed air to operate the pneumatically operated controls, the motive energy : electrical energy, Nitrogen for blanketing inflammable liquids, clean, treated soft or de-mineralized water, specialized systems such as sterile air etc. Given that the "Plant Utility" has now been made an elective subject as opposed to a mandatory one makes the discussion of the utility sys tems, their selection and sizing all the more important since many of the students taking up this subject are thoroughly unaware of how the process conditions they need to bring about the intended chemical transformations are to be actually achieved in practice.

Scope of Plant Utilities

While the range of auxiliary subsystems needed to successfully run a plant have been touched upon in passing, it is appropriate to broadly list these at the very beginning : 1. Heating Utilities Required, for example to make a reaction to occur at commercially viable rate, or to make a material melt / volatilize. Whilst steam is the tbiquitous utility in chemical plants, there are a fair amount of other heating utilities available depending upon the temperature range of interest and these are discussed in detailed further on. 2. Cooling Utility This would be required when for example maintaining the temperature of a reactor in which an exothermic reaction is taking place at a predetermined desirable level or for ensuring condensation of a vapour in a condenser or for inducing crystallization from a supersaturated solution. Here again, while a recirculating cooling tower type of system is present practically in every

Compiled By Prof. Prasad Parulekar

chemical plant, a number of other cooling utility subsystems are available depending upon the temperature range desired.
3. Compressed Air

4.

5.

6. 7.

This could be of several different types depending upon end use : for cleaning, flushing, for running diaphragm pumps, instrument air, in air curtains etc. depending upon the end use, the air pressure would be different, as also the degree of treatment (filtration, drying, sterilization etc.) Nitrogen This is not a commonly used utility but is always present in plants using inflammable liquids / gases. Normally produced through PSA rou te, the end uses would normally involve flushing, inerting and evacuation amongst others. In certain rare instances, this may also be used for inerted pneumatic transport, inert heating (e.g., drying of an oxidizable / inflammable material in a spray dryer) Vacuum:Vacuum is another almost ubiquitous utility encountered in chemical plants especially those in which vacuum distillations etc. are routinely carried out. Vacuum is used for several purposes including reducing pressure in an enclosed vessel for reducing the boiling point of substances (as in a vacuum distillation apparatus), evacuation before inerting, transfer of liquid from one equipment to another etc. Electricity:For motive power, fan / lighting / air-conditioning, instrument cabling Water: For use as water for process, washing & cleaning, special purpose (boiler feed, softened, de-mineralized, sterilized etc). We will now look at some of the utilities in greater details to determine criteria and heuristics which govern their selection.

Heating Utility
As mentioned above, the need to heat material is a *perpetual requirement in chemical plants. The way to heat material depends upon the temperature range to wh ich the he atin g is t o be done . The acco mpanyin g t able provide s a list of commonly used heat transfer fluids for temperature range indicated against them. In designing / sizing / selecting a heating utility, the following designer chosen variables values are used : Phase change heat transfer modes always yield much better heat transfer rates as compared to convection type.

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AT between the material to be heated and the heating fluid between 200 400 subject to the maximum tolerable skin temperature to which the material to be heated exposed. Improving heat transfer through high turbulence from the heating liquid side (see hook-ups) Ensuring clean, hydrophilic (for condensing organic vapours Dowtherm Vapours) / hydrophobic (for condensing steam applications) surfaces to ensure drop-wise condensation as opposed to film condensation

Steam Systems Steam is the most widely used heat transport fluid being a non -toxic substance whose only hazards are its basic limitations : Low critical point : it has no latent heat above 372 C Re lat ive ly h igh vap o u r p re ssu re re qu irin g eq u ip me nt capab le b e arin g progressively higher pressure for phase change type heat transfer as the temperature of heat transmission rises For the temperature range 100 - 270 C, steam is the ideal working fluid. Further, in many instances, direct injection of steam is a viable o ption as the systems to be heated are aqueous and thus steam condensate tolerant. Installation of a condensate collection and recycle system enable at least a partial utilization of the condensate sensible heat and reduce considerably the quantity of boiler feed water which needs to be treated. In fact for thermal power stations this is routinely done. Pressurized Hot Water systems This is a favourable system which allows the use of higher density (vis -a-vis steam) and higher heat capacity but requires system pressures of 17.5 bar g to maintain wat e r in liq u id st at e . Ame ri c an n u cle ar r e a ct o rs are b a se d o n p r e s su riz e d superheated water systems for extracting heat from the nuclear reaction. Thermal Fluid systems Thermal fluids used for heating and cooling co nsist of liquids and vapours or a combination. These include tempered hot water (as opposed to superheated pressurized water) for moderate heating and controlled skin temperature, various organic liquids such as Diphenyl Diphenyl Oxide Eutectic (Dowtherm A), Treated o-Dichlorobenzene (Dowtherm E), Sodium Potassium alloy (NaK alloy), Mercury, Molten Salt Mixtures, Mineral Oils, Aryl Aryloxy

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Silanes (Hydrotherm 750 200), Tetra Aryl Silicate (Hydrotherm 700-160), and Chlorinated Biphenyls (Therminols). Dowtherm A Dowtherm A is a eutectic mixture containing 73.5% Diphenyl Oxide and 26.5% Diphenyl, wt / wt. At its freezing point of 12.2 C, Dowtherm contracts slightly thereby reducing the possibility of damage to process equipment when shut down under cold conditions. Dowtherm A is non-toxic to humans and does not attack commonly employed heat transport systems MOC (Steel). Dowtherm A is stable up to about 340 C with no decomposition. Above 400 C, 2 molecules of Diphenyl may react to yield p-Diphenyl benzene and benzene. Of these the former dissolves in Dowtherm A while the latter escapes as a vapour through vent. Diphenyl oxide may also undergo similar type of decomposition. In case of extreme overheating, Dowtherm may decompose into carbon and hydrogen. This may occur for example under circumstances of poor circulation / flame impingement etc. The deposited carbon increases resistance to heat transfer aiding further thermal degradation. In such an instance, in a matter of a few hours, the entire material may be carbonized. To prevent overheating, Dowtherm vapourizers are of liquid tube / fire tube with natural convection type or liquid tube with forced circulation design. Dowtherm E Dowtherm E is specially processed o-Dichlorobenzene which boils at about 177 C and freezes below -15 C. Dowtherm E is normally used in the range 177 to about 260 C. Although when working within the recommended range of temperature, Dowtherm E does not show signs of decomposition, there is some evidence that Aluminium te nds to catalyze the decomposition of Dowtherm E with generation of HCI which then attacks metallic surfaces. Aluminium is therefore to be avoided when using Dowtherm E. Inorganic Salt Mixtures Mixtures of inorganic salts, one of which consists of 40% Na NO 2 , 7% NaNO3 and 53% KNO 3 are widely used in salt baths and petroleum refining where high temperatures are maintained and where the system is in continuous operation.

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The MP of the mixture indicated above is about 142 C which precludes any low temperature use and requires that the circulating fluid be kept hot and molten throughout its flow path. The salt mixture need not be pressurized higher than to cover the system AP. Inorganic salt mixtures are non-toxic and stable up to about 450 C in the absence of contaminants. Between 450 C to 900 C, a slow decomposition reaction sets in converting the nitrite into a mixture of alkali metal oxide, nitrate and nitrogen. This reaction is evidenced by a slow generation of nitrogen and is also accompanied by a gradual increase in the freezing point of the salt mixture. The nitrite is also subject to slow oxidation by atmospheric oxygen above about 450 C with the formation of NaNO 3 . By blanketing the salt mixture with nitrogen this reaction can be eliminated. Other reactions which also affect the composition of the salt baths is slow absorption of C O 2 and water vapour from atmosphere to give rise to carbonates which may settle out of the melt and formation of alkali hydroxides. While these two transformations do not interfere with the process application, if allowed to continue over a long tem, will give adversely affect the utility of the system. Again, by use of nitrogen blanketing, both these deterioration modes can be held in check. For the system, ordinary carbon steel is an acceptable MOC up to about 450 C. Beyond this temperature, more resistant alloys are recommended. Copper is found satisfactory for moderate temperatures (up to about 340 350 C). Cast iron, however is unsuitable on account of reaction between the molten salts and iron which leads to embrittlement and / or fissuring. 5 Mineral Oils Conventional mineral oils are of low cost and readily available for process use and are valuable as heating fluids in the range 0 through about 315 C. The paraffinic type cylinder oils are used in open systems till about 230 C while a closed system is required for higher temperatures up to about 315 C. Beyond this temperature, the mineral oils are susceptible to thermal cracking type reactions commonly encountered in producing gasoline from heavy stock. Although the actual attack may not be as severe as what happens during petroleum refining, such reactions give rise to volatiles which increase the flash point and AIT on the one hand and heavy stock on the other w hich flows less easily leading to carbon deposition after long periods of operation.

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Mobiltherm 600 and Mobiltherm Light are aromatic mineral oils of lower viscosity than conventional mineral oils and can operate between 0 C and 315 C for the former and between -25 C and 210 C for the latter. These oils will not decompose if used within the recommended temperature range. If subjected to excessive temperature, the aromatic mineral oils also tend to decompose through thermal cracking. However, due to the superior solvent action of the aromatic mineral oils, sludge formation and coke deposition does not readily occur. The aromatic mineral oils can be used in an open system as they undergo rapid oxidative degradation. All systems involving aromatic mineral o ils must include a "cold oil" expansion tank with temperature not exceeding 55 C to prevent the hot oil coming in contact with atmospheric oxygen. Copper and copper bearing alloys are to be avoided in contact with aromatic mineral oils as they catalyze oxidation and sludging. Iron and carbon are the preferred materials of construction for such systems. Other oils such as lubricating oils etc. should not be allowed to come in contact with these oils as they tend to reduce solvent power of these oils and may lead to harmful sludge deposition on the heating surfaces in the system. Silicon Compounds Three types of silicon compounds are used as heating fluids : substituted silanes, silicones and silicates. The most commonly used heating fluids of this type are silicates, i.e., organic esters of silicic acid. Hydrotherm 750 200 is an aryl Aryloxy (mixed) silane used in the temperature range of 60 C to about 380 C. It is a transparent amber coloured liquid, with a faint phenolic odour. There appears to be no chronic effect from exposure to vapours. Skin tests show results similar to those of phenol. It is lethal if ingested or injected. Hydrotherm 700 - 160 heat transfer fluid can be used in the temperature range -45 C to 345 C, neither reheating not steam tracing is required.These thermal fluid are con-corrosive to steel, Cu and alloys even at highertemperatures. Therminols Therminols are heat transfer fluids based on chlorinated biphenyls. Whenusing these fluids, provision must me made for an expansion vessel alongwith a desiccator trapped air vent for escape of HCI if formed and also for tapping moisture from any aspirated air.

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The accompanying Table I lists the various thermal fluids types commonly encountered in chemical industry and their useful temperature range.Table ll liststhe branded fluids, their chemical nature and their useful temperature range of application. Ratings of boilers is done by their evaporating capacity while the heating systems using thermal; fluids are based on their "Heat Delivering Capacity",typically, Kcal. / hr. Table - I Heating Fluids Their Recommended Operating Temperature and Pressure Ranges Temperature Range, o C

Fluid

Pressure Range, bar g

Water Steam Dowtherm A Dowtherm E Mineral Oil Molten Salt Baths Silicon Compounds (Silicones, silanes and silicates) Chlorinated Diphenyl NaK Alloy Mercury

50-600 150-200 220-400 150-260 0-310 145-600 35-370 -15-315 35-760 300-530

0-16 6-16 0-10 0-5 0 0 0 0 0 0-12.5

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Flue Gases or Hot Air

0-1100

0-7

Table - II Commercially Available Heating Fluids, Their Chemical Characteristics, and their Useful Operating Temperature Ranges Fluid Name Dowtherm A Chevron Heat Transfer Oil Diphyl DT Dowtherm G Dowtherm J Gilotherm Ad X 10 Marlotherm S Mobiltherm 600 Shell Thermic Oil C Transcal LT Syltherm 800 Santotherm / Therminol 66 Chemical Nature Diphenyl / Diphenyl Oxide Eutectic Paraffinic Dimethyl Diphenyl Oxide Di - and Tri-aryl Compounds Mixture of Isomeric Alkylated Aromatics Alkyl Benzenes Mixture of Dibenzyl Toluenes Paraffinic Mineral Oil -------Maximum C Temperature, 400 340 330 370 370 250-280 350 315 287 260 400 345

Siloxane Polymer Hydrogenated Terphenyls

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Cooling Utility As important heating is in chemical synthesis and separation, cooling systems play an equally important role. In choosing a particular heat transfer fluid for cooling duty, the considerations are always the freezing temperature of the fluid, chemical aggressiveness vis--vis the common MOC's, flammability, toxicity, viscosity in the operating temperature range and finally, the cost. In choosing cooling utility, especially for reactors in which exothermic reactions are carried out, it is important to avoid cold shock / dead volume around the coolant entrance area. The temperature of cooling utility thus should be calibrated such as not to "extinguish" a reaction. A typical AT of 10 15 should be chosen consistent with the least acceptable "low" skin temperature. In certain extreme cases, much smaller design AT are chosen in order to ensure good heat transfer without the fluid to be cooled does not freeze due to too low a temperature of the coolant. When this happens, it leads to solidified fluid to be cooled introducing additional thermal resistance and hindering cooling of the fluid in bulk. Typical cooling utilities include cooling tower water, chilled water, "brines" of various compositions and special low melting chlorinated hydrocarbons systems for low temperature use, direct refrigerant cooling. The cooling utility subsystems are rated by their heat removal capacity measured in "Tons Refrigeration" or "TR", with each TR representing approximately 3025 Kcal / hr. heat removal duty. Cooling Tower Water The most commonly used cooling utility is of course cooling tower water with typical operating range of between 5 10 C AT range (i.e., between incoming hot water and outgoing cold water temperatures) with the lowest temperature limited by the local atmospheric conditions of ambient temperature and humidity. With careful cleaning up, periodic blow-down, timely dosing of anti-algal compounds, cooling towers give excellent service over long periods. The various types of cooling towers and their construction / limitations are outside the scope of the present discussion. Chilled Water Providing that the temperature does not fall below 4 C, chilled water is an excellent cooling medium. The actual chilled water loop typically involves a twin water reservoir consisting of a "cold well" and a "hot well". A separate circuit takes the "hot" water returning from the "process" from the hot well, cools it in a heat exchanger by the primary refrigerant (ammonia / Freon / Other refrigerant) from the heat pump circuit before returning it to the "cold" well. A separate chilled water circuit pump would extract the "cold" chilled water from the cold well and circulate it throughout the process and finally return the "hot" chilled water to the hot well.

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Chilled Brine Systems The original observation that adding salt to water decreased its freezing point led to the concept of using a salt solution as a cooling medium for sub -zero temperature cooling and hence the word "brines". Sodium or Calcium Chloride as the ingredient to reduce freezing point of water has several drawbacks, the most objectionable amongst them being the strong corroding action of salt / CaCl2 on the commonly used MOC's for these systems. In past, the corrosive action was kept somewhat in check by using a strong oxidizing atmosphere by using dichromate. The toxic and potentially carcinogenic nature of hexavalent chromium has made this approach unviable and for most parts, common salt / CaC12 brines are seldom used. An alternative to this was use of Calcium Nitrate brines which are good up to - 24 C. Calcium Nitrate brines do not need the use of dichromate and the attendant toxic hexavalent chromium pollution question is eliminated. The most widely used brines for low temperature are aqueous solutions of mono, di-and polyethylene glycols which depress the freezing point of water substantially. Given below are the temperatures and the compositions of these glycol "brines" :

Sr. No.

Constituents in Aqueous. Solutions Salts CaCl2 NaCI CaNO3 Glycols Propylene Ethylene (MEG) Alcohols Methanol

Min. Practical Temperature, 0C -40 -10 -25

Explosive? Toxic? Corrosive?

1 2 3

No No No

No No No

Yes Yes No

4 5

-10 -15

No Yes

No No

Some some

-35

Yes

Yes

Some

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Ethanol

-30

No

Yes

some

Constituents Sr. No. Other Low Temp. "Brines" Methylene Chloride Trichloroethylene Trichlorofluoromethane Acetone

Min. Practical Temperature, 0C

Toxic?

Explosive?

Corrosive?

-85

No

No

-75

No

No

No, but incompat. With Al, Zn and most elastomers No No

10 11

-100 -100

No No

No Yes

Hook-Ups Transfer of heat is a relatively inexpensive operation as long as the source of heat is at a higher temperature than the ambient temperature. Refrigeration involves "heat pumping" from a source at a lower than ambient temperature to atmosphere which is at ambient temperature. The difference between the temperature at which heat is to be extracted and for the temperature at which it is to be rejected can be looked upon as the "thermal head" for the heat pump that a cooling utility is. As one requires lower and lower temperatures (e.g. for condensing out the last traces of vo latile organ ic vap ours in a vent cond enser), the the rmal "he ad " ke eps on increasing, thus requiring more and more energy expenditure for the pumping action. Further, the larger the difference between the desired low tem perature and the ambient temperature, larger is the "leak back" of heat from the surroundings into the refrigerated space / system. This explains why the rating of the same Freon / ammonia compressor gets progressively lower as the target temperature of th e secondary coolant ("brine") dips. This also explains why one TR duty at say - 30 C is considerably more expensive as compared to one TR duty at say - 10 C.

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To avoid large scale use of this expensive utility, many times cooling is done in stages staring with the cheapest cooling utility viz. cooling tower water finally ending up with the really cold brine utility. While this increases the equipment cost as multiple heat exchangers / condensers are required, given that the bulk of heat pumping duty has been carried out by the inexpensive utility, the size of the final condenser and the significantly lower TR duty required from the expensive brine utility reduces the recurring cost significantly. The trade-off, as always, is between the one time equipment cost and its amortization v s. the recurring cost of the more expensive utility. Other considerations as regards the design AT to avoid extinguishing/ thermally shocking the process requires special hook- up to ensure proper maintenance of the desired temperature with concurrent adequate heat removal. Schematic representations of a cascade of heat exchangers in series and a hook up for ensuring a correct temperature on the process side are depicted below:

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Sizing of Cooling Utility In majority of detailed engineering exercises, the sizing of utilities requires estimating t h e t o t a l h e a t l o a d f r o m a l l s o u r c e s , r e a c t o r s , c o n d e n s e r s , s i d e - a r m h e a t exchangers, product coolers, heat losses / ingress to / from the atmosphere and arrive at the total heat pumping (in or out) required. This can then be suitably increased to take into account future developments / additional reserve capacity required for design errors etc. before arriving at the size of the cooling utility. For smaller capacity cooling towers to which several heat sources are connected, it is always a good practice to oversize the tower and provide an independent circuit similar to a chilled water / brine system ensuring that the full capacity of the tower is always on tap. A pump taking cooling tower water to process and returning to the top of the tower has the inherent potential of the total water flow being reduced with the attendant reduction in the TR capacity of the tower. In extreme cases, the TR capacity can be further degraded due to inadeq uate wetting of the tower p ackin g. An o th e r a lt e r nat ive in su ch case s is to sp lit t he to t al coo lin g lo ad strategically and layout-wise over several cooling towers, each tower catering to the cooling need of a particular section / plant in a complex thus all owing partial shutdown without affecting the working of other plants. While such a solution may increase the capital outlay, many times, the flexibility and safety provided by such an arrangement far outweigh the increased cost. Compressed Gases : Air, Nitrogen Compressed Instrument Air In most plants for operating the final control devices, compressed air ("instrument air") is commonly used. Air used for actuating pneumatic instruments must be free from particulate impurities including dust, oil particles etc as well as moisture. In majority of case, such air is generally compressed in non-lubricated ("oil free") type of compressors which have a appropriately sized pressure vessel type reservoir and an attached adsorption type air drying unit (the PSA drying units) with twin desiccant packed towers alternating in "dry" and "regenerate" modes. Typical pressures 6 7 bar and post dehydration, the dew point of air is - 40 C or lower. Here again, the total quantum of the "instrument" air required will have to be calculated based on the no. of pneumatically actuated devices and the manufacturer's recommended air requirements plus adequate spare capacity to tide over such emergencies as leakage.

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Other type of special purpose air utility such as air used as a c urtain, aseptic air for packing areas of pharmaceutical industries are somewhat more specialized and are outside the scope of the present discussion. Compressed Nitrogen Compressed Nitrogen is another commonly encountered utility in chemical plants especially where flammable easily polymerizable substances are handled. The compressed nitrogen is used for blanketing tanks / vessels, flushing out contents of a vessel under oxygen-free atmosphere, packing of foodstuffs / other perishable items u n d e r o x yg e n - f r e e a t mo sp h e re as a h e a t t ran sf e r f lu id f o r d ryin g t h e r m al ly degradable / oxidizable products in equipment such as spray dryers, fluid bed dryers etc. Like instrument air, nitrogen used in plants is generated using pressure swing adsorption technique with the oxygen from compressed, dried air being adsorbed out on special carbon molecular sieves. These pSA units are similar in construction to the air drying units described in instrument air above. For large scale use, it may be preferable to have an air liquefaction and fractionation unit which would generate a purer nitrogen. Indeed, steel making units invariably have both the oxygen and nitrogen separating units for different requirements. Sizing of nitrogen and even the method of generating it would depe nd upon the sum total of the specific, individual needs in a plant, the % recovery from air as specified by the PSA / Adsorbent supplier, and the purity of nitrogen desired. Vacuum Vacuum is available as utility in many plants to suck spillage, transfer to liquids etc. Vacuum connected with specific unit operations such as distillation normally is a dedicated system as opposed to a general utility. In case that a number of units are carrying similar operations, they may be all connected to a single vacuum system but this is best avoided to eliminate the sudden change in vacuum in other systems and corresponding deleterious effects due to accidental venting periodic drain-out of surge tanks etc.

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