design the system with razor-thin margins to reduce steam
1st stage ejector Cooling water and CW consumption. They do this in part because selec-
vapour inlet
Tube bundles
‘Long air
baffle’ Tube support
Condensate
outlet
Figure 3 X-shell long air baffle
vacuum system design focuses on first-stage design con-
ditions because the first stage costs more and consumes
more steam and CW than the rest of the system. For that
reason, they represent the biggest opportunity for optimi-
sation and savings.
An ejector uses motive steam at a much higher pressure
than the suction pressure to entrain the process stream into
the steam chest (see Figure 2), where it is boosted from suc-
tion pressure Ps to discharge Pd at the ejector outlet. Ejector
operating discharge pressure Pd is set by the downstream
ejector process load and system pressure drop. An ejec-
tor’s design and performance can be related by a set of key
parameter ratios, compression, entrainment, and expan-
sion, as defined in Figure 2. These ratios are used to specify
the required size, shape, and motive steam requirement.
For a given suction load and pressure, two parameters
that impact first-stage ejector sizing are motive steam pres-
sure and MDP. Higher pressure motive steam will generally
require less steam than lower pressure steam. However, in
most refineries, steam header pressure levels are set, and
the ability to optimise is limited. In rare cases, the selection
of steam conditions can be used to optimise ejector design.
Once the motive steam pressure is set, the first-stage
ejector discharge pressure is optimised to minimise the
size of the ejector and the amount of motive steam it will
use. This relationship is reflected in the compression ratio
Pd/Ps, where Pd is MDP and Ps is the suction pressure. As the
compression ratio increases, so does the required motive
steam. Designing for higher MDP increases motive steam
consumption. With end users not providing adequate or
any design margin guidance, vacuum system suppliers
1st stage ejector
106
outlet vapour
105
78
CW outlet
87
87
72
CW intlet
101
104
Temperature, ˚F 78
Condensate to hotwell
Figure 4 Long air baffle bypass
30 PTQ Q1 2023
Q1 PCS.indd 30
outlet (typically
10˚F higher than inlet) tion criteria will often include utility consumption compari-
sons. In many cases, the MDP is so low that even small
changes in design conditions or underperformance of the
first-stage inter-condenser will lead to performance break.
Even worse, when the first-stage inter-condenser fails to
sub-cool there is a guarantee that the system will experi-
Vapour ence performance break.
outlet
Cooling water
inlet (coldest) First-stage inter-condenser design evolution
Modern large first-stage inter-condensers are supplied as
X-type shells that include a sub-cooling zone. This design
is an evolution from older and smaller designs that used
E-shells. The advantage of the X-shell is that it decreases
pressure drop compared to E-shell, lowering steam con-
sumption. The X-type first-stage inter-condenser is
designed to sub-cool the outlet vapour below the bulk out-
let condensate (see Figure 3).1 This is accomplished with
the ‘long air baffle’. The long air baffle’s function is to force
the outlet vapour across exchanger tubes with the coldest
CW, thereby sub-cooling the gas below its condensate.
Roughly 20-25% of the exchanger tubes are located under
the long air baffle and are dedicated to sub-cooling.
The sub-cooling zone is critical. When working as
intended, the sub-cooled zone minimises second-stage
ejector gas load. The selection of the ejector MDP is based
on the load to the second-stage ejector commensurate
with the sub-cooled zone working as intended. In practice,
when the first-stage inter-condenser does not sub-cool
the outlet vapour, the outlet vapour to the second-stage
ejector increases above its design point. The higher load
increases the suction pressure of the second-stage ejec-
tor, which ultimately leads to higher first-stage ejector
discharge pressure. When the first-stage ejector discharge
pressure exceeds its MDP, performance break will occur.
Mechanical design flaws that fail to seal the long air baffle
or damage, corrosion, or improper installation of the seal
strips are the root cause of the inter-condenser’s inability
to sub-cool outlet vapour and overload the second-stage
ejector. A performance break is guaranteed if the ejector
system was designed with minimal or inadequate pressure
drop margin. Therefore, the first-stage inter-condenser
must perform as intended and sub-cool outlet vapour to
avoid performance break.
Easy to diagnose, hard to troubleshoot
Long air baffle bypass is easy to diagnose because the
vapour leaving the first-stage inter-condenser should be
colder than the condensate draining from the bottom of
the shell. When the temperatures are inverted, that is an
Gas outlet indication of a bypass around the sub-cooling zone (see
109
Figure 4). Troubleshooting vacuum systems is inherently
113
difficult because much of the information required is not
94
readily available. It is more the norm than the exception for
vacuum systems to be poorly instrumented. Flow meters
for key streams are often missing. Conclusions made with
incomplete data or data based on design first-stage gas
loads or using original vacuum system design information
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