Process Instrumentation

Dr. Fahad Rehman

Department of Chemical Engineering
CUI, Lahore Campus
CLOs covered in this lecture
• CLO2: Select appropriate instruments according to the process
conditions.

• Course contents: SII

Question 1, Part b
• A slurry reactor is fed with a toxic liquid X at 150C, 15 bar at a rate of 10 m3/hr. An organic and
non-toxic gas Y is bubbled in the reactor through a sparger (diffuser) at 150C, 15 bar at a rate of
30m3/hr. A Pd based catalyst has already been loaded in form of pallets of 3-5mm. The reaction is
exothermic. An ideal temperature of 140C is required to be maintained by circulating water in the
jacket around the reactor. Unreacted gas Y leaves the reactor from the top and is send to
separator and purifier for recycling. A multiphase product is taken out from the bottom
containing dissolved gas, an aqueous phase and an organic phase. A high pressure three phase
separator is use to separate the phases. The separator is provided with Nitrogen for blanketing at
14 bar and for safety purposes as well. The separator is operating at a temperature of 140C. The
aqueous phase contains ionic salts. The main product, organic phase, is sent to atmospheric
distillation for separation and purification. However, the organic phase needs to be throttled
down to 1 bar before it could enter the distillation column. The distillation column is operating at
135C and a purity of 95% is required. The required product consists of a heavy and frothy
hydrocarbon mixture. A kettle type reboiler is used to maintain the column temperature.
• You are required to select the appropriate instrumentation according to the requirements stated
above for smooth operation and ensure safety of the plant for the following lines/points.
• Pressure, temperature and flow instrumentation at feedline of reactant X. A high resolution instrumentation is
required. Pressure spike of 20 bar can be expected.
• Pressure, temperature and flow instrumentation at feedline of gas Y. The moisture contents at the inlet of the
compressor needs to be monitored continuously and should not exceed 10ppm.
• Pressure and temperature instrumentation on the reactor to monitor and transmit the data to control room. The
composition of the gas leaving the reactor contains higher concentration of Nitrogen and Phosphorous compounds.
The concentration is required to be continuously monitored and send to downstream separator and purification unit.
• Temperature, pressure and flow instrumentation of multiphase stream entering the high pressure separator. The
stream is foamy and tends to generate froth.
• Pressure, temperature and flow of nitrogen gas entering in the high pressure separator.
• Pressure, temperature, Level and flow of organic phase and Aqueous phase in the separator
• Pressure, temperature and flow of organic phase entering the distillation column
• Pressure, temperature of distillation column and reboiler
• Flow of stream leaving the column bottom and entering the reboiler
• Level of liquid in the reflux tank.
• Feed line X
• Toxic service
• No threading
• Flanged connection
• No field instruments such as gauge
• PI1:Preesure Differential Cell with a Pmax of 20 bar. No initial value is given
so range can not be defined.
Resolution: 0.2 bar/ or commercially available high resolution
• TI1: No Thermister as the temperature is already on its higher side.
Thermocouple are preferred over 650C where convective heat transfer is
dominating mode of heat transfer
RTD: is your obvious choice- but which type of RTD? Do we really need Pt
based RTD for a low temperature of 150C
• Flow
• No orifice/rotta or venturi as the service is toxic and data needs to be
transmitted.
• Thermal mass flow meters: Very expensive on used when a very high
accuracy is required.
• Vortex: Distorts the flow and does not have high accuracy
• Turbine flow meters: distort the flow.
• Electromagnetic flow meters can’t be used as it does not contain any ions
• Ultrasonic: suitable for large pipe diameter
• Coriolis: is your obvious choice
Interesting points
• Moisture content at the Y gas inlet
• Cooling water in and out
• Unreacted gas leaving reactor
• stainer at the reactor outlet before instrumentation
• Level for Aqueous and Organic
• Aq phase contains ionic salts.
• Throttling before distillation column
• 95% purity is required
• The product is frothy