condenser back pressure 1

[brendam]

i have a problem with our condenser backpressure, it was suppose to drop during winter season but it is increasing. can you please help me i tried to look at the cooling water inlet temperatures but this seems to be not good enough.

 

[davefitz]

Sounds like excess noncondensible gases are building up in the dearation zone of the condenser.

Maybe the air ejector is not working properly ( check the cooling water flow and temp to the vaccuum pump skid)

Can also be excess air is leaking in thru cracks in teh condenser casing, LP heater casing or instrument connections, etc.

The better way to operate is to control the cooling water temperature entering the condenser to not less than the min value determined by the condenser vendor, while maintaining 100% design cooling water flowrate. This is to avoid causing subcooling of the condensate and the associated high oxygen content in the condensate, and also avoid other problems with too low a flowrate of cooling water.

 

[pablo02]

A couple of questions: what is the heat sink for the condenser, a lake? cooling tower? river? how is the CW chemistry maintained? (pH levels, etc.)

is this a new problem or ongoing? when were the water boxes vented? cleaned? is the condenser outside or inside?

review the items identified by dave above..