Class Activity

Question

You need to perform the preliminary design of the first distillation column in the product
recovery system. The specification of the first distillation column as per below:

Inside diameter 2.5 m

Height of top section 30 m

Height of bottom section 40 m

Design temperature 120 oC

Design pressure 0.5 N/mm2

Shell and dish end material Carbon steel (semi killed - IS:2002-1962, Grade I)

Corrosion allowance 2 mm

Insulation material Asbestos (ρ, density = 2.8  103 kg/m3)

Insulation thickness 50 mm

Skirt support height 3.5 m

Joint factor for vessel 0.8

Contacting plate 50 plates equally spaced, with 8 mm plate carbon

steel

(a) Minimum wall thickness of the column that required for pressure loading.
(2 marks)

(b) Selection on one of suitable and economical dish end (closure) for the column, detail
calculation and justification on selected type of closure to be included. Three types of
closure to consider in the calculation: flat-end closure (welded plate), 2:1 ellipsoidal
dome head and torispherical dome head. For torispherical dome end, the ratio of
knuckle radii, Rk to crown radii, Rc should not be less than 6%.
(7 marks)
 LIST OF EQUATION

PD M  Di 
1 e i i
13
b    t
2 Jf  Pi Iv  2 

PD
e 14  s (tensile)  f s J sin s
i i
2
4 Jf  Pi

PD  ts 
e 15  s (compressive)  0.125E  D  sin  s
i i
3
4 f  1.2 Pi  s

Pi 
4 e  C p De 16 Iv  ( Do4  Di4 )
f 64

PD Wv
e i i W 
5 17  ( Di  t )t
4 Jf  1.2 Pi

PD W
e i i  ws 
6 18  ( Ds  ts )ts
2 Jf  0.2 Pi

PR 4M s
i c Cs  bs 
7 e 19  ( Ds  ts )ts Ds
2 Jf  Pi  Cs  0.2 

8 Cs 
1
4
3  Rc / Rk  20  s (tensile)   bs   ws

9 WV  240CV Dm ( HV  0.8Dm )t 21  s (compressive)   bs   ws

10 Dm  Di  t
PDm
11  h 
2t
PDm
12  L 
4t
 APPENDIX

Figure 1: Flat-end closures (a) Flanged plate (b) Welded plate (c) Welded plate (d) Bolted
cover with a full face gasket (e) Bolted cover with a narrow-face gasket

Figure 2: Size and weight of available carbon steel plate

Plate
thickness 2.5 3 3.2 4 5 6 8 10 12.5 15 20
(mm)

Weight
19.6 23.6 25.1 31.4 39.3 47.1 62.8 78.5 98.1 118 157
(kg/m2)

Weight
0.19 0.23 0.25 0.31 0.39 0.46 0.62 0.77 0.96 1.16 1.54
(kN/m2)
Table 1: Typical design stresses for plate