Abstract Boosting Ammonia Plant Performance - Heat Exchanger Updating Heat exchangers make up the largest number of equipment items for older as well as modern Ammonia plants. Each of the heat exchanger services in a plant performs an important role, including Process Gas Heating and Cooling, Gas Compression Heat Recovery, Process Waste Heat Recovery, Steam Generation, Boiler Water Heating, Reactor Preheat and Reaction Heat Recovery, Process Gas Chilling with Product Condensing, Gas Cooling with Steam Condensing, Steam Turbine Exhaust Condensing, Vapor-Liquid Separation Column Reboiling, Solvent Heating and Cooling, Lube Oil Cooling and Refrigerant Vapor Condensing. Various types of heat exchangers used in ammonia plants are described, including exchanger equipment construction and baffle arrangements, typical operating problems and solutions, and the technical and economic impact due to fouling, overload and excessive fluid pressure loss. |
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Boosting Ammonia Plant Performance - Heat Exchanger Updating Heat exchangers make up the largest number of equipment items for older as well as modern Ammonia plants. Each heat exchanger service in the plant performs an important role, which may include Process Gas Heating and Cooling, Gas Compression Heat Recovery, Process Waste Heat Recovery, Steam Generation, Boiler Water Heating, Reactor Preheat and Reaction Heat Recovery, Process Gas Chilling with Product Condensing, Gas Cooling with Steam Condensing, Steam Turbine Exhaust Condensing, Vapor-Liquid Separation Column Reboiling, Solvent Heating and Cooling, Lube Oil Cooling and Refrigerant Vapor Condensing. The vast numbers of Ammonia plants in North America were built 25-35 years ago, at a time when the price of energy was less than one third of modern energy cost. Thus, the original technical design basis for older plant equipment, including heat exchangers, permits some substantial opportunities for improvements in efficiency and capacity when individual items of heat exchanger equipment develop failures, demanding replacement for maintaining plant operation. New designs for replacement heat exchangers add lasting value to the plant operation through reduced gas pressure loss, higher throughput for given pressure loss, greater heat transfer or sometimes combinations of these benefits, reducing production costs. Sometimes plants prefer to stick with what has worked well over many years, including some improved features into replacement equipment, while at other times, historic equipment performance dictates the need for improved designs with specific features to replace older equipment concepts to overcome reliability or deteriorating performance issues. |
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