[en] Published in summary form only

[en] Distillation columns are widely used in many chemical process industries, especially in oil and gas processing. Accidents in the distillation columns have resulted in enormous loss of human lives and assets. Inadequate design of distillation columns is one of the vital reason for the failure, which can be enhanced through inherent safety concept. Therefore, this paper introduces a new indexing method for designing inherently safer distillation columns right from the preliminary design stage. Distillation Column Inherent Safety Index (DCISI) is based on three sub-indices; chemical index, process index and distillation index. These sub-indices are estimated through individual scores by considering various parameters in each category. For the unacceptable score, modification of process conditions is used to enhance safety level of the design. DCISI is estimated for all combination of conditions and lowest DCISI value indicates the inherently safer design of the distillation column. (paper)

No abstract available

[en] Published in summary form only

[en] This work addresses the non-linear behaviour of distillation columns when there is an inappropriate selection of control variable in a system. An industrial effluent discharged from semi-conductor and pharmaceutical industries has been taken as a case study. A small disturbance in feed flow rate and feed composition has resulted in a ramp-like response of a recycle stream which has occurred due to the material imbalance in the system. This non-linearity in the process has been resolved by the selection of appropriate control variable. (paper)

[en] Research and Development Division of Engineers India Ltd., in association with Isotope Division of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre has developed gamma scanning technique for troubleshooting in industrial distillation columns. The technique has been successfully applied for troubleshooting of a number of distillation columns including a refinery vacuum column of 8.4 m diameter. (author). 1 ref., 1 fig

[en] A sodium distiller allows the evaluation of the sodium purity, contained in plants and circuits of Fast Reactors. The sodium distillers of the IEN Reactor's Department was developed initially as a prototype, for the testing of the distillation process and in a second step, as a equipment dedicated to attendance the operation of these circuits. This last one was build in stainless steel, with external heat, rotating crucible of nickel for four samples, purge system for pipe cleaning and a sight glass that permits the observation of the distillation during all the operation. The major advantage of this equipment is the short time to do a distillation operation, which permits its routine utilization. As a consequence of the development of the distillers and its auxiliary systems an important amount of new information was gathered concerning components and systems behaviour under high temperature, vacuum and sodium. (author)

[en] The technique and facilities for gamma-ray scanning have been developed by the Plant Assessment Technology (PAT) Group at the Malaysian Institute for Nuclear Technology Research (MINT). The technology has been successfully used for on-line troubleshooting and investigation of various types of distillation columns in petroleum refineries, gas processing installations and chemical plants in the country and the region. This paper outlines the basic principle of the technology and describes the inspection procedures, and in addition, a few case studies are presented. (Author)

[en] This paper presents the results of closed-loop simulation for the decentralized control of uncertain distillation column. The RGA (Relative Gain Array) RGA analysis was used as the basis for selecting the configuration of the decentralized control system. PI controller obtained was then tuned with optimization methods. The simulation results show that the RGA analysis requires accurate range for uncertain systems. In addition, closed-loop simulation results confirm the RGA analysis. (paper)

[en] When distilling liquids containing dangerous, particularly radioactive harmful substances in the laboratory or the technical college, these harmful substances can be separated in a distillation cooler, which has a filter bed containing a suitable means of absorption in the lower part of the inside of the vessel above a drainage duct, which can be shut off. (orig.)