Thermosyphon Reboiler 1

Thermosyphon Reboiler

© 1998 AEA Technology plc - All Rights Reserved

TASC 7_1.pdf 1
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Workshop
The purpose of this exercise is to provide an example of a checking
operation for a thermosyphon reboiler.

The Thermosyphon option provides a "simulation" of a specified

exchanger geometry and the pipework connecting it to the distillation
column.

The example consists of a vertically mounted E-type shell, with a single

tube side pass. The tube side circuit is formed by pipes connecting the
reboiler to the bottom of the distillation column. Boiling of the process
fluid takes place from within the tubes, which are heated by steam on
the shellside. Flow through the reboiler is achieved by natural
circulation since the density of the liquid at the bottom of the
distillation column is greater than the vapour-liquid mixture in the
reboiler tubes. The pressure drop imposed by the external inlet and
exit piping circuits determine the flow through the reboiler.

Learning Objectives
Once you have completed this section you will be able to:

• Enter a thermosyphon and set up the external circuit

• Add data at different pressure levels

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Process Overview
The process conditions and exchanger geometry are given in the tables
that follow:

Shellside Tubeside

Hot Cold

Stream Steam Debutanizer Bottoms

Flow rate (lb/h) 470000

Inlet Temperature (oF)

Operating Pressure 50 75
Inlet (psi)

Pressure Outlet (psi) 48

Fouling Resistances 0.0005 0.000568

(h ft2 F/Btu)

Inlet Quality 1 0

Outlet Quality 0.02 0.2

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TEMA Type AEM

Orientation Vertical

Tube Length 144 in

Number of Tubes 195

Shell Diameter 20 in

Baffle Type Single Segmental

Baffle Cut 45%

Baffle Pitch 20 in

Number of Baffles/Parallel 6
orientation

Tube o.d. 1 in

Tube Wall Thickness 0.083 in

Pitch Ratio 1.25

Tube Layout 30 degrees

For the cold stream, tube side fluid consists of three components (each
defined in the NEL40 databank) with the following composition:

Component Mass Fraction

1,3 Butadiene 0.02

Pentane 0.71

Benzene 0.27

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Schematic of Vertical Thermosyphon Reboiler, TEMA Class C, and

made of carbon steel. (All dimensions are in inches).

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Building the Simulation

The New option will clear any existing data and call up the Startup
screen. Select the units.

1. In the start up menu, select the calculational mode to

thermosyphon and set the number of components to 4.
2. Enter the physical property information.

Property button As this is a thermosyphon case, it is best to add properties for the tube
side at two pressure levels; the inlet and exit. Enter the information as
you would normally do for one level.

3. After entering the cold stream information in the Pressure

Reference box, set this to 75 psi. Then click onto the Add
Pressure button, and set the reference pressure for the second set
of cold stream data to 70 psi ( a good initial estimate).

A tick will appear in the pressure dependence box to indicate that this is
now set.

A total of 10 different pressure

level datasets may be entered.

4. Click OK.
5. Enter the exchanger, bundle, and nozzle geometry. Note that the
tubeside nozzle type is axial.

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6. Enter the process conditions. Note that the Debutanizer Bottoms

flowrate is just an estimate to start the initial calculation.

Process button

7. From the thermosyphon detail screen enter information into the

T/S Specification tab as given by the screen.

The Thermosyphon Calculation is set to Find Flow. TASC will then

Thermosyphon button
determine the tubeside flowrate consistent with the driving head of
liquid given, the pressure losses in the exchanger and associated
pipework.

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8. Select the Inlet Circuit tab, and enter the information concerning
the element that constitutes the inlet circuit, such as length,
diameter and bends. Note that there are two bends placed in
series in the pipework.

9. Select the Outlet Circuit tab and enter the necessary pipe
information concerning vertical and horizontal height, bends
and the diameter.

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Results
Enter your results in the table below:

Shellside Flowrate

Shellside ∆ p

Shellside exit temperature

Tubeside flowrate

Tubeside ∆ p

Tubeside exit temperature

Duty

Is the design acceptable in terms of stability?__________

What is the effect of changing the inlet circuit pipe
diameter or length?__________

Save your case!

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Additional Exercise
1. Repeat the example using the same information, but mount the
exchanger horizontally.
2. Change the exchanger type to an AGU and increase the shell
diameter to 30 inches, defaulting the tube count to allow TASC to
calculate it.
3. Estimate the pipe lengths and heights from the schematic for the
You need to set the number of
tubeside passes to 2 as "U" vertically mounted reboiler.
tube is used.
Record your results in the table below:

Shellside Flowrate

Shellside ∆ p

Shellside exit temperature

Tubeside flowrate

Tubeside ∆ p

Tubeside exit temperature

Duty

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