if a plant is designed on 30MMSCFD and its turn down capacity is 30 percent...

then what will

happen if we operate the plant below its turn down capacity

Working on an engineering company, who is workin to design and construct the plant.
What I can say is, if we design the plant to be able to operate on certain amount of minimum feed
flow (turndown) let say 10 MMSCFD, it means that it can only operate at that certain feed flow (10
MMSCFD) and cannot go less than that.

This usually, because one of the equipment or system can only be able to work minimum at that flow
(10 MMSCFD). And if it goes lower, there may be a problem in operation which may damage the
system or equipment.

The minimum flow is usually requested by the operator based on their expected min flow during
operation, and it has been requested by the EPC company or consultant to the vendors, so that the
vendors will design the systems or equipments accordingly.

However, during brownfield project you may check the actual minimum flow of the equipment or
system by checking each of equipment or system mechanical datasheet. Because on reality, the
minimum flow that vendor has considered is usually even lesser than what has been specified,
which is an advantage for later stage of plant lifecycle.

I don't think that it may have too much of an adverse impact if you are talking of a gas processing
plant of 30 MMSCFD capacity.

Let us analyze this as the movement of material into and out of a system of a fixed volume. When
you reduce the throughput (capacity), each molecule has to stay in the system for a longer period of
time then it was at the design capacity. In chemical engineering terms the residence time for the
system components increases. Increased residence time may be detrimental if the components are
not supposed to be in the system for a longer time for reasons of longer exposure to conditions like
elevated temperatures and pressures.

As a different example, in plants which process polymers under high pressure and temperature,
increased residence time due to lower throughput can severely impact the quality of the final
polymer due to effects like thermal degradation because of longer exposure to heat and pressure.

Hope this explanation helps.

Suppose you are thinking about a continuous process!

You will be faced with a product not having the prespecified characteristics and specifications due to
following issues up to passing critical limitations:

- Increasing the reaction time if there would be a reactor in the process flow diagram
- Decreasing heat transfer equipment performance
- Decreasing performance of physical separation equipment
- Deposition of suspended materials in piping system due to fluid velocity reduction, if such materials
would be applied
- Minimum flow for pumps and surge conditions for compressors
- Parts of piping system may not remain filled with fluid due to fluid velocity reduction
- .......................................................................................
Obviously, there may be one issue/part among above issues that would have/create highest
turndown capacity and dictates its own turndown to whole other various plant issues/parts with
lower/equal turndown capacity.

Hope above helps you out!

well i am working on a MDEA based gas sweetening plant having a turn down capacity of
8MMSCFD...but a year back due to some reasons we have operated the plant at 2 MMSCFD for
about a week....but we have'nt faced any problem with such a reduced flow...that's why i was a bit
confused about the turn down capacity...we have observed that even at such low gas flow. all the
parameters ramained normal and the outlet gas specifications were according to requirements...

Below, delayed due to temporary web unavailability, speaks generally. Much belongs on the specific unit.
Let us take the example of a fuel oil boiler duty specification, elaborated twice and realized by the
successful bidder (without some objection or change). Following was written in this document.
Continuous boiler capacity: A ton/h of steam (of pressure and temperature as required).
Max capacity for two hour operation: 110%*A ton/h
Minimum continuous capacity with all burners in operation: 25%*A ton/h
Turn down ratio for each burner : 4.4 : 1
Note: The latter results from 110/25=4.4
There are burners that can obtain a turn down ration of 10:1 with proper instrumentation and
accessories, costing higher and judged to result in lower minimum continuous capacity. In case that
some of the burners are put out (placed out of operation), capacity lower than 25%*A can be
realized. This would not be recommended for long term use, due to uneven heat load, probably
causing higher maintenance (imagine one burner operating instead of two). But it does occur a few
times in practice, without apparent consequences.
Refinery units are usually designed for a minimum capacity of 30% - 50% of the normal one,
understood to represent continuous operating conditions, realizable by vendor's (licensor or
contractor) instructions. But we can see, extending the above, that capacity can go lower than what
vendor defines, if we define a relevant procedure. This can be an easy one (e.g. recycling), or
requiring a complete consideration of capacity limitation for each piece of equipment, a reverse
"debottlenecking" needing even plant modifications.
Operation at such low capacities can have some risk (if something is not taken into account), apart
from loss of material (efficiency goes lower and lower if nominal capacity goes down, even when it is
above vendor's minimum). It has to be done, if necessary. In such cases shutdown procedure might
be useful (not always, only in some cases), reaching capacity reduction to 0 %.

IMO, turn down capacity would usually be considered based on long term conditions such that short
term operating below that capacity may result in no immediate problem but you will see the problem
in, let say, reduction of plant life time.

Nonetheless, in your case either it might be considered the big safety margin value between given
turn down and the critical capacity or it might be calculated based on considering some remote
conditions among probable ones.

thanks all,,

well what about minimum operting pressure?

if we operate the plant below minimum operating pressure on a continuous basis....what will be the
effects on plant?

- Malfunction of reactors and separation systems (e.g. distillation towers) need to be operated at a
minimum pressure in order to have a prespecified performance

- Malfunction of the plant in hydraulic point of view

- Possibility of damage due to external pressure for systems/equipment operating below atmospheric
pressure

-..................................................

Dear Morvenlight,

A plant will consist of many equipments and integrated system which, you can reduce the minimum
operating pressure of the overall plant but you may experience less performance of some
equipments or system.
For example in a separator, if you operate this on less pressure but at same flowrate (mass) I can
assure you that you would not get the separation that you wanted, it is because of the volumetric
flowrate of the feed is increase, and the cross sectional area inside the separator or separation
efficiency in vessel internal is decrease.
I have done a project of adequacy check, in order to ensure is there any additional facility required
just because the operating pressure of the plant is decrease.

Optimising turndown
Aligning plant operation to demand is clearly sensible but it needs to take account of fundamental
engineering principles. Bernard Dawson* explains how this principle applies to burner and boiler turndown.

The term ‘demand control’ is one that is being used increasingly in relation to reducing energy consumption and
carbon emissions. It is a well-established, and highly sensible, principle and one that is becoming increasingly
important as control technologies become more sophisticated and the environmental performance of buildings
improves.

An obvious example of this is reducing the output of heating plant (turndown) when demands for heat are low and
ramping up output when demand increases. Where the heating is provided by boilers, this is achieved by using a
modulating (or high/low) burner to vary the heat input to the boiler. In implementing such measures, though, it is
important not to lose sight of the underlying engineering principles of the plant in question as these may impose
practical constraints on the level of turndown that can be achieved. All boilers will have a minimum working capacity,
determined by the water flow rate and the difference between the flow and return water temperatures. The
temperature differential between flow and return temperatures influences whether condensation from the exhaust flue
gases will occur in the heat exchangers and flue system.

Condensing boilers are clearly designed to allow for and encourage condensation, as this enables extra latent heat to
be recovered from the flue gases and improves energy efficiency. A high burner turndown is therefore beneficial for
condensing boilers. However, the heating plant in many industrial premises comprises low temperature hot water
(LTHW) boilers, where the situation is very different. Many LTHW boilers are limited to a turndown of just 2:1 or 3:1 to
ensure that the boiler exhaust gas temperatures are maintained above the 130-140°C required to avoid
condensation. So this is something that needs to be borne in mind when specifying burners for use with LTHW
boilers, but our experience suggests this principle isn’t always properly understood.

Clearly, when specifying burners it is tempting to opt for the largest possible turndown ratio, as this would seem to
offer the optimum energy performance. As a result we have seen turndown ratios of 8:1 or even 10:1 specified for a
burner that is to be used with a low temperature hot water (LTHW) boiler that is limited to a turndown of 2:1 or 3:1. If
the burner was actually set to the specified turndown, then at lower firing rates the boiler exhaust gas temperature
would not be high enough to avoid condensation, potentially resulting in serious damage to the heat exchangers and
flue system. This illustrates the importance of seeking appropriate advice on the matching of burners and boilers to
ensure that such damage is avoided.

With commercial and industrial high temperature hot water (HTHW) and steam boilers the situation is different again.
Compared to LTHW boilers, they have lower minimum operating outputsso that higher burner turndown is possible.
However, there are very few cases where a burner turndown of 8:1 or 10:1 is justified or beneficial. Indeed, it may
even result in damage that increases maintenance costs and reduces the life of the plant. When specifying
modulating burners it is also important to ensure that modulation is consistent and responds smoothly to changes
throughout the life of the burner. Modulating control uses a servomotor to control the volume of air and gas required
for correct combustion, with either an electro-mechanical cam or an electronic cam control system.

A potential problem with electro-mechanical cams is that mechanical wear can result in ‘slippage’ that results in lack
of precision and reduced efficiency and performance. In contrast, mechanical wear and tear is virtually eliminated
with electronic cam control systems, so that burner efficiency remains consistent. Electronic cam burner control can
also be combined with a variable speed drive (VSD) and oxygen trim to achieve further efficiencies.

There are, therefore, two key points to be aware of. The first is that the relationship between a burner and boiler is
more complex than many people realise. The second is that burners can vary in how they achieve modulation and
this can have a significant impact on efficiency and performance. So it makes a lot of sense to engage with
companies that can offer practical advice and guide you to the best solution.

What is turndown ratio of a distillation

column and what is its significance?
Turndown ratio in any plant is the ratio of maximum to minimum throughput it can process
to produce the products with the desired specifications.

In a distillation column, it is the ratio of maximum to minimum vapor load the trays can
handle without compromising with the desired product specifications.

At flow rates lower than the turndown, trays may start to weep and its efficiency will
decrease. This will result in poor separation and hence the products will not match the
specifications required.

Significance: It tells about the operational flexibility of a column. At times, one has to
operate a plant at a lower flowrate than the normal operating conditions. It is this turndown
ratio that determines how much one can reduce the flowrate without hampering the
products.

What is difference between distillation

and stripping columns?
 Stripping is essentially a distillation process where the heavy product is water/liquid and
the lighter product is generally mixture of organic volatile materials. Generally steam/air is
used for heating purpose in the column.

For example a wastewater stream (i.e contains some organic volatile materials) is put into
stripping tower at the top. Steam or hot air is introduced at the bottom and it makes contact
with liquid in counter current fashion either in a packed or tray tower. As the liquid
proceeds down the tower it becomes leaner in organic material and vapor which rises up
becomes richer in organic material. In this way clean water is collected at the bottom of the
tower.

Typical examples are

1. Benzene separation from wastewater

2. Removal of organics from quench waters
Distillation is general known process where multi components are separated into pure
components based on their difference in boiling points. This column typically consists of
enriching section where concentrated vapors are sent to condenser and a stripping section
where liquid/heavies are present.

A column is divided into a series of stages. These correspond to a cascade of equilibrium

stages. Liquid flows down the column from stage to stage and is contacted by vapor flowing
upward

Typical examples are

1. Distillation of petroleum products

2. Separation of ethanol from water

Distillation is any process where a mixed stream is separated by

boiling point. For example, we might start with a mix of A and B. If we
know that A has a much lower boiling point, we can heat the mixture
to A's boiling point and get a much more concentrated stream of A out
of the top (called the distillate). Depending on how you design the
distillation tower, you can also potentially get a more concentrated
stream of B out of the bottom (called the bottoms), but it's not
guaranteed.
Stripping is a separation process where a contaminate is removed
from a liquid stream by a vapor stream. For maximum effectiveness
they are generally made to flow counter-current to each other (vapor
into the bottom, liquid into the top). For example, if we had a stream
of chemical A that was contaminated with chemical B, and we knew
that air has a higher affinity for chemical B than chemical A does, then
we can mix our contaminated stream with air and the air will carry
away the contaminate, leaving us with a concentrated A stream.
Extraction is a separation process where two immiscible liquids are
mixed to remove a contaminate from one of them. "Immiscible" means
that the two liquids do not mix (like oil and water). Say for example
we had a stream of A which is immiscible in water, that's contaminated
with some B which is miscible in water. We could mix some water into
our contaminated A and the water will dissolve the B and carry it
away. A and water can be easily separated because they do not mix,
and will create distinct layers.
Distillation is used to separate and concentrate certain components of
a liquid mixture that have a lower boiling point than others. The most
common, and oldest example being distilling alcohol from fermented
beverages. Alcohol has a boiling point of about 78 C. So if you heat the
liquid slightly above this, the alcohol boils/evaporates much more
quickly than water does. If you then cool the resulting vapors, a high
percentage of alcohol is produced. (for various reasons you can't
produce pure alcohol by this process, some water is always present in
the distillate.)
Stripping is used to separate some easily dissolved fraction in a
mixture of gases, by running the gas mixture through a shower of a
liquid solvent. It may be used to remove contaminants from a liquid
stream by exposing it to a gaseous reagent, also. Alternately, gases
can be bubbled through the liquid, but this is generally less efficient.
An example of the former is removing sulfur dioxide and nitrogen
oxides from flue gases of a coal fired power plant. This is typically
done by spraying a mist of calcium hydroxide solution into the top of
the stripping column. This results in the formation of a slurry of
calcium sulfite (and to a smaller extent dissolved calcium nitrite) in the
bottom of the column, this can be further processed into either
gypsum or sulfuric acid.
Extraction is a bit of a general term, but in usually refers to "Liquid-
Liquid Extraction." There are many applications of this but it usually
involves mixing two liquids which don't dissolve in each other, such as
water and dichloromethane, for example. The goal of this is to select
certain components which are more soluble in one liquid than the
other, from other components which aren't highly soluble. This has a
wide variety of uses in chemistry.
The design of an extraction column is such to promote the greatest
amount of surface area contact between the two liquids. A common
example of this is removing acetic acid (a useful waste product) from
various products of a previous chemical reaction.
An extraction column may also refer to ion-exchange extraction, in
which a solid material which absorbs certain ions or species
preferentially is used to separate the desired product from a solvent.
The most common example of this being removing calcium and
magnesium ions from household water, in a water softener.
However, this technically falls under the category of "Adsorption,"
rather than "extraction."
Hope this clears things up a bit.