Method for carrying out a mass-transfer process in a column

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9403103-B2
Application number	US-201414202735-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 10, 2014
Priority date	Mar 11, 2013
Publication date	Aug 2, 2016
Grant date	Aug 2, 2016

Abstract

A valve for carrying out a mass-transfer process, in which a gas flows through liquid standing on a separating tray, when the gas supply is interrupted the liquid flows into a lock and, when the gas supply is restarted, the liquid flows out of the lock, wherein the valve contains a closing element which is designed in such a manner that, with the closing element in a first valve position, a first opening in a lower tray of the lock is closable, and the closing element is conducted in a first sleeve which is positioned between the upper tray bordering the lock and the lower tray in which sleeve, in the region of the lock, second openings are formed, and which projects over the upper tray and has a lift limiter for the closing element.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A valve for carrying out a mass-transfer process, in which a gas flows through liquid standing on a separating tray ( 5 ), when the gas supply is interrupted the liquid flows into a lock ( 13 ) and, when the gas supply is restarted, the liquid flows out of the lock ( 13 ), wherein the valve ( 11 ) comprises a closing element ( 15 ) which is designed in such a manner that, with the closing element ( 15 ) in a first valve position, an opening ( 23 ) in a lower tray ( 9 ) of the lock ( 13 ) is closable, and the closing element ( 15 ) is conducted in a sleeve ( 21 ) which is positioned between the upper tray ( 7 ) bordering the lock ( 13 ) and the lower tray ( 9 ) in which sleeve, in the region of the lock ( 13 ), openings ( 27 ) are formed, and which projects over the upper tray ( 7 ) and has a stroke limit ( 35 ) for the closing element ( 15 ), wherein the closing element ( 15 ) comprises a hood ( 51 ; 59 ) having an upper plate ( 73 ) and a rim ( 53 ) extending downward, and, in the rim ( 53 ) extending downward, openings are received ( 57 ; 71 ), which openings are positioned in such a manner that the openings ( 57 ; 71 ) at least in part overlap with openings ( 31 ; 65 ) in the sleeve ( 21 ) above the upper tray ( 7 ) when the valve ( 11 ) is open, wherein, when peripherally the valve ( 11 ) is open, the hood ( 51 ; 59 ) of the closing element lies against the upper stroke limit ( 35 ; 61 ) on the sleeve ( 21 ), or wherein the closing element ( 15 ) comprises a piston rod ( 43 ), an upper closing element ( 33 ) and a lower closing element ( 29 ), wherein the upper ( 33 ) and lower ( 29 ) closing element are each designed in the form of a valve disk, and the lower closing element ( 29 ) has a larger diameter than the upper closing element ( 33 ) and the sleeve ( 21 ) in the lower region has a greater diameter than in the upper region, in such a manner that both the lower closing element ( 29 ) and the upper closing element ( 33 ) are conducted in the sleeve, or wherein the upper closing element ( 33 ) and the lower closing element ( 29 ) are connected to a sleeve ( 79 ), wherein the sleeve ( 79 ) is conducted on an axle ( 81 ).

2. The valve according to claim 1 , wherein the ratio of the diameter of the upper closing element ( 33 ) to the diameter of the lower closing element ( 29 ) is in the range from 0.5 to 0.9.

3. The valve according to claim 1 , wherein the closing element ( 15 ) comprises a piston rod ( 43 ), an upper closing element ( 33 ) and a lower closing element ( 29 ), wherein the hood ( 51 ) forms the upper closing element ( 33 ), and the lower closing element ( 29 ) is configured in such a manner that, with the lower closing element ( 29 ) in the first valve position, the opening ( 23 ) in the lower tray is closed.

4. The valve according to claim 1 , wherein the upper closing element ( 33 ) and the lower closing element ( 29 ) are each movably connected to the piston rod ( 43 ).

5. The valve according to claim 1 , wherein the hood ( 59 ) forms the closing element, wherein the hood ( 59 ) is configured in such a manner that, in the first valve position the hood ( 59 ) rim extending downward lies on an edge that encloses the opening in the lower tray as falling limit ( 63 ) and thus closes the opening ( 23 ) in the lower tray ( 9 ), wherein the openings ( 69 ) in the sleeve ( 21 ), in the region of the lock, are arranged in such a manner that the openings ( 69 ) in the sleeve ( 21 ) and the openings ( 71 ) in the hood ( 59 ) do not overlap in the first valve position.

6. A method for carrying out a mass-transfer process in a column ( 1 ) comprising at least two separating trays ( 5 ), wherein each separating ( 5 ) comprises an upper tray ( 7 ) and a lower tray ( 9 ), and between the trays ( 7 , 9 ) a lock ( 13 ) is formed, and the valves ( 11 ) of claim 1 are provided which are designed in such a manner that a gas can flow through the separating tray ( 5 ), on interruption of the gas flow liquid flows from the upper tray ( 7 ) into the lock ( 13 ), and when gas supply is restarted, the liquid drains out of the lock ( 13 ), the method comprising:
(a) allowing flow of a gas to exit through valves ( 11 ) in the separating tray ( 5 ) through a liquid standing on the upper tray ( 7 ), wherein the amount of gas is high enough that no liquid flows back through the valve ( 11 ),
(b) interrupting the gas supply in such a manner that the liquid runs through the valves ( 11 ) into the lock ( 13 ), and
(c) restarting the gas supply, wherein valves ( 11 ) in the lower tray ( 9 ) open, in such a manner that the liquid drains out of the lock ( 13 ),
wherein the lock ( 13 ) is dimensioned in such a manner that the lock ( 13 ), after the liquid has drained from the upper tray ( 7 ) into the lock ( 13 ), is at most 70% filled with liquid.

7. The method according to claim 6 , wherein the height of the liquid standing on the upper tray ( 7 ) is at least 2 cm and at most 30% of the distance between two separating trays ( 5 ).

8. The method according to claim 6 , wherein, when the valve ( 11 ) is open, the ratio of the open cross-sectional area on the upper tray ( 7 ) to the cross-sectional area of the column ( 1 ) is in the range from 0.02 to 0.2.

9. The method according to claim 6 , wherein, when the valve ( 11 ) is open, the ratio of the open cross-sectional area of the upper tray ( 7 ) to the open cross-sectional area of the lower tray ( 9 ) corresponds at least to the ratio of the open cross-sectional area to the cross-sectional area of the column divided by 0.8, and is a maximum of 0.25.

10. The method according to claim 6 , wherein, in the lower tray ( 9 ), in addition, pressure equalization valves ( 17 ) are received.

11. The method according to claim 6 , wherein the mass-transfer process is a distillation, a rectification, an absorption or a stripping.

12. The method according to claim 6 , wherein, when the gas supply is interrupted, the gas is stored temporarily in an external buffer container or a buffer container integrated into the evaporator.

Assignees

• Basf Se

Inventors

• Giese Reiner
• Haedicke Stefan
• Schmidt Egon
• Paschold Juergen
• Grossmann Christoph
• Scharf Florian
• Shilkin Alexey

Classifications

• B01D3/30

  Fractionating columns with movable parts or in which centrifugal movement is caused · CPC title

• B01D3/163 Primary

  Plates with valves · CPC title

• B01D3/20

  Bubble caps; Risers for vapour; Discharge pipes for liquid · CPC title