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HTFS HANDBOOK
TM9: CORRELATION FOR KETTLE REBOILERS ENTRAINMENT IN

1.

INTRODUCTION

The information in this handbook sheet is taken from the HTRI report BK1/2 by Nakajima et al. (1970) which is available to HTFS members. The method presented here is one of two methods described in the HTRI report and was chosen because it is possible to give some indication of the possible error. An introduction to kettle reboilers is given in sheet BE3. The performance of kettle reboilers can be limited by entrainment of liquid drops from the boiling liquid. These droplets can increase the pressure drop in the vapour return pipe to the distillation column, and also decrease the efficiency of the distillation by carrying back liquid rich in heavy components into the distillation column. If the reboiler is feeding a compressor, then a separator will be needed (see Sheet TE1). Entrainment, E, is defined as the mass of liquid leaving the reboiler per unit mass of vapour leaving the reboiler. Section 2 gives some guidance on what values of E can be tolerated and Section 3 presents the method of calculating the shell diameter necessary to reduce E to the desired value. 2. SPECIFICATION OF THE ENTRAINMENT

4 gn (l g ) (3) v max = 1.77 E 2 g where gn is the acceleration due to gravity (9.81 2 m/s ) 1 1 3

is the surface tension (N/m)

3

3 l is the liquid density (kg/m )

and

g is the vapour density (kg/m )

Written in this form, the constant (1.77) is nondimensional. (2) Calculate vgV, a vertical vapour velocity from

v gV =

& M g g L L c

(4)

& is the total vapour production rate (kg/s) where M g

and L is the length of the tube bundle (m) Lc is a chord length (shown in Figure 1). Lc is given by Figure 2 if Ds/Db < 2, and by Lc = Ds (5)

if Ds/Db > 2. Ds and Db are the shell and tube bundle diameters.

The entrainment fraction E for normal kettle reboilers is limited by two factors as stated in Section 1. (i) If the fractional permissible increase in pressure drop in the vapour outlet pipe above the single phase value is I, then from homogeneous flow theory (approximately) E=I (ii) (1)

If the fractional permissible decrease in the efficiency of the bottom tray of the distillation column is D, then

1 L V 1 E= 1 D e

(2)

where e is the bottom tray fractional efficiency when E = 0 and L/V is the reflux ratio (mass of liquid/mass of vapour). 3. (1) CORRELATION Calculate the maximum velocity, vmax from permissible vapour

Figure 1: Location of Chord, Lc

(3) Calculate vgH, a horizontal vapour velocity from & M g (6) v gH = g S g N where Sg is a vapour cross flow area (see Figure 1) which can be found from Figure 3. and N is equal to twice the number of vapour

TM9 (Amended November 1983)