Earon Jay S.

Cadungog BSME-IV ME424

Pipe Sizing
Introduction: The chemical process industry is involved in many operations, for
different types of fluids, with different applications. Though in principle, various
guidelines and formulae are available for pipeline sizing for different services. Hence
it becomes critical at times conceptualization is necessary before deciding design
parameters.
When fluids are to be carried from one place to another in household piping to cross
country pipeline, piping and fitting constitutes a high cost. The size of piping plays an
important role in the pumping cost. Hence the selection of the line size becomes
important. Though in principle, various formulae are available for sizing for different
services, conceptualiation is necessary before deciding parameters.

Pipeline Sizing: In any chemical process industry, various types of fluids are being
used in different forms like liquid, gaseous, slurry, etc. Raw material, intermediate
product or finished product produced through various unit operations require
connectivity of all the units with pipelines and fittings due to the following reasons:

 Ease of operation
 Safe handling of materials
 Avoiding loss of material
 Hygienic conditions of the plant

For example, liquid feed is transported from its bulk storage area to day-storage using
pump connecting bulk storage tank, pump and day storage tank with the necessary
pipelines. It is very difficult to imagine a chemical process industry complex without
any pipeline work. Rather one can see huge piping network within the complex. The
design of any piping network involves various activities like the selection of piping
material, specification with respect to thickness, pipe size, its routing, etc. the
discussion deals with conceptual basis of pipeline sizing.
Though various formulae and thumb rules are available in literature and can be used
directly for sizing of pipelines, criticality with respect to experience in the fluid
handling of related chemical process industry cannot be avoided. Over or under sizing
of pipelines may even become a bottleneck for plant operations. For slurry
applications, a larger size pipeline not only increases the plant cost but also creates
operational problems. Likewise, the smaller pipe size may consume more energy for
fluid movement. One should bear in mind that the larger pipeline size than necessary
increases plant cost due to pipelines along with the connected valves, fittings,
supporting structures, etc.
Many factors should be kept in mind before sizing any pipeline. The basic principle of
pipeline size is based on the available pressure drop between its two ends. Normally
to maintain certain fluid velocity (may be from the available thumb rules), e.g.
considering 1.5 meter / second for clear water at pump discharge for the maximum
possible fluid flow rate through that pipeline, cross-sectional area (or diameter) of
pipeline is calculated. Based on this, the nearest commercially available pipeline size
(of inside diameter closely matching with the calculated value) is selected for
application. With these preliminary calculations of pipeline sizing and pipe routing,
pressure drop between start and end point, incorporating all fittings, is calculated.
Decision of the selection of higher or lower pipeline size is made according to the
available pressure drop versus calculated pressure drop.
Normally pipelines are sized after optimizing between the costs of material versus
operating cost (incurred due to line pressure drop). Higher the pipeline diameter (i.e.,
higher initial investment), lower will be the pressure drop (thus less operating cost)
and vice versa. Velocity norms are fixed for different applications, based on the
optimum design conditions and pipeline sizes are only calculated using these norms.
In some typical applications discussed here, these guidelines are not valid and one
needs to understand the typical application and size the pipelines accordingly.

Liquid Flow under Gravity: Liquid flows under gravity due to the elevation
difference between the start point (always at higher elevation) and the end point (at
lower elevation), i.e. difference in potential energy. The elevation difference mainly
governs the pipeline sizing. Additional effects of pressure conditions for start/end
point matter in pipeline sizing. If the available elevation difference is higher, a high
liquid velocity (i.e. with high allowable pressure drop) can be considered for pipeline
sizing. Thus, a lower pipeline size can be selected for such a condition.
In case, the end point is connected to a pressurized system, e.g. distillation column,
the equivalent pressure shall be deducted from the available elevation difference and
the effective available differential pressure is reduced. Thus even with the higher
available elevation difference, for the end point of the pipeline connected to the
pressurized system, the pipeline size will be of a lower size. Similarly if the start point
of the pipeline is under vacuum, i.e. in barometric condensers, pipelines of high
diameters are selected to reduce pipeline friction losses and thus increase the available
differential pressure.
Such applications are work-based on the available pressure drop. These cannot be
sized only as per the economic pipeline size guidelines only, i.e. optimizing material
cost versus operating cost.
Hot Liquid Flow: Various problems are commonly observed in the process plants
handling hot boiling liquids. These are mainly due to vaporization of flowing hot
liquid, i.e. the phase change of liquid to vapor, inside the pipeline or equipment. This
phenomenon is also called the flashing of liquid. A typical example is centrifugal
pump cavitation, which is due to low available NPSH (Net Positive Suction Head).
The higher pipeline size is preferred to lower down pressure drop and thus to achieve
higher available NPSH at pump suction port. Similarly in other pipelines, the pressure
drop due to sudden change in the flow direction or the reduction of the line size, hot
liquid vaporization takes place which generates vapor bubbles inside the pipeline. Due
to this more space is occupied by the mixture of generated vapors and flowing liquid
and subsequently fluid flow is obstructed. Similar type of phenomena are observed in
case of liquids carrying dissolved gases, which expand at higher temperatures. For
these types of applications normally higher pipeline sizes are recommended.

Bypass Line for Equipment/Instrument: Equipment/instruments especially which

create a high-pressure drop and are provided with a bypass line (to have the facility
for maintaining process continuity even during maintenance work). i.e. plate heat
exchangers, control valves, etc. are provided with a bypass arrangement, which
normally has two isolation valves in line of the unit and a flow regulation valve in
parallel to this unit.
In normal operations, as fluid passes through the main units either the plate heat
exchanger or control valve, it exerts an additional pressure drop. Accordingly the
supply pressure for the fluid stream is estimated, which the connecting unit like the
centrifugal pump creates. The centrifugal pump is selected based on this created
pressure drop by the unit. During bypassing of the connected unit, this additional
pressure is eliminated, while running pump discharges the high flow rate as per the
typical pump characteristics. To avoid this situation, it is always recommended to use
a lower size bypass line with a regulation valve to create pressure equivalent to the
main connecting unit.

Sample Line: Normally a small fluid quantity is collected for analysis to determine its
composition. It is applicable for any stage of processing like for raw material,
intermediate product, finished product or it may be even utility or effluent. Even for
small quantity of sample collection, line size mainly depends upon the type of fluid
being handled and the location of the sample point in the process.
For example, for gases under pressurized conditions, small lines with valves (e.g. 6
mm) are sufficient for withdrawing the representative sample quantity. Providing a
high sample line size will not only be difficult to control but higher wastage of gases
during sample collection cannot be avoided. On the other hand, small sample line will
create trouble for slurries where solid particles may choke the sample line quite
frequently. Thus, irrespective of material losses and the cost of the pipeline and valve,
the sample line size is dependent upon the solid particle size and the characteristics of
the slurry. Similar are the experiences for viscous liquids.
Even for clear liquids, the sample line size depends upon its location like at the
atmospheric tank, pump suction/or discharge, etc. Though it is very difficult to define
proper guidelines for sample line sizing, the following points should be kept in mind
while sizing:

 Characteristics of sample fluid

 Less fluid losses
 Safety during sample withdrawal
 Ease of operation
 Location of sample point, etc.

Cooling Water Circulation: Higher velocities are preferred for cooling water
circulation pipelines. This is mainly due to the following two reasons:
Cooling water, in the cooling tower, is exposed to sunlight that helps in the
development of algae formation. This generated algae material goes to the circulating
cooling water. At a lower liquid velocity in the pipelines, algae starts growing within
the pipeline and after some time, they start blocking cooling water circulation or it
passes to the connected heat exchanger unit. Thus, a higher liquid velocity (e.g. 1.8 -
2.5 meter/second) for circulation line is recommended to avoid algae development
within the pipeline.
Normally higher cooling water circulation flow rates are encountered in the chemical
process industries that require large size pipelines with longer lengths to cover various
heat exchanging units. Thus, to reduce the cost of pipe material even with high power
consumption (due to increased pressure drop) will be an appropriate choice.

Tank Overflow: Overflow lines in the tanks are provided for the following reasons:

 To avoid liquid losses (overflowed liquid is recovered in another tank)

 To avoid unwanted spillage of liquid around plant building
 To maintain liquid levels in the overhead tanks

In all the above-mentioned cases, overflow line is sized for the maximum possible
input liquid flow rate to the tank irrespective of the outlet liquid flow rate. Other
design guidelines are similar to the pipeline sizing for gravity liquid flow, i.e. as per
the availability of vertical available height between the highest and end points (where
it comes in contact with the atmosphere) of the overflow pipeline.
Here the highest point which is also the start point of the liquid flow line is located
almost at the top of the tank (overflow nozzle of the tank), while the endpoint may be
somewhere near the drain gutter (close to ground). This may not always be true, as the
overflow line may also be terminated at the higher elevation floor. In that case the
available differential head will be lower. Hence as per the pipeline location, the
overflow line shall be sized, based on the gravity flow principle.

Slurry Flow: Slurries, mixtures of suspended solids in liquids, are kept in agitated
conditions to maintain homogeneity, other wise, depending upon the solid's
characteristics, lighter or heavier than liquid, particles float or settle down
respectively. Agitated conditions are maintained in equipment, like tanks by the use of
agitators or gases sparing. While in the pipelines it is achieved by maintaining
turbulent fluid flow conditions.
At a lower fluid velocity in the pipeline, solids have a tendency to separate out from
the liquid phase. Thus sufficiently high fluid velocity shall be maintained in the
pipelines, irrespective of encountering a high-pressure drop in the pipelines for
slurries (beyond the guidelines for optimum pipeline sizing for clear liquids).
On the other hand, for very small pipeline size for slurries, its choking is quite
frequently observed in plants. Thus, a small pipeline size is also not recommended for
these applications. Apart from this, some slurry containing abrasive solid particles
may cause pipeline erosion at very high fluid velocities. Hence, high fluid velocities
are not recommended. Various slurries behave in different fashions at different fluid
velocities, hence pipeline size is more critical. Along with the basic design guidelines,
past experience to understand slurry behaviour shall also be used during pipeline
sizing.
Apart from above discussion, many other applications can be seen in any chemical
process industry. i.e. very low fluid velocities are considered for designing pipelines
carrying highly viscous liquids, storage tank vent lines (depending upon the tank
design pressure), tank drain lines (related with the vent line size as well as the time
required for the draining out tank), etc.