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Lab 00 Steam
CHEE 3501: Unit Operations Fall 2016
Lab Report

Group 12
Brandon Marsh B00746807
Graham Kosick B00611059
Kovend Munirajan B00695211

Submitted: February 6th, 2017

Table of Contents
1.0 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 2
1.1 Objectives and importance of the experimental work ....................................................................... 2
1.2 Experimental Setup ............................................................................................................................. 2
2.0 Results and Discussion ............................................................................................................................ 3
2.1 Flash Vessel ......................................................................................................................................... 3
2.2 Theoretical Amount of Flash ............................................................................................................... 4
2.3 Energy Balance .................................................................................................................................... 6
2.4 Throttling Calorimeter ........................................................................................................................ 6
3.0 Reference .............................................................................................................................................. 10
4.0 Appendix A: Sample Calculations.......................................................................................................... 11
4.1 Part A:................................................................................................................................................ 11
4.2 Part B:................................................................................................................................................ 12
5.0 Appendix B: Collected Data .................................................................................................................. 14
5.1 Part A: Double Condenser and Flash Evaporation ............................................................................ 14
5.2 Part B: Throttled Steam .................................................................................................................... 14

1
1.0 Introduction
1.1 Objectives and importance of the experimental work
The objective of this lab was to learn the specific characteristics and investigate the uses of steam in unit
operations; such as a throttling calorimeter, steam trap, and flash vessel. To view these characteristics:
A: the amount of flash steam generated in the flash vessel was measured at three different flow rates
(0.4, 0.6, 0.8 GPM).
B: steam quality was determined by using the pressure and temperature drop across a throttling
calorimeter using two flow rates (0.2, 0.6 GPM). An energy/mass balance was also performed over the
2nd double pipe condenser.

1.2 Experimental Setup

Setup - cooling water was set to 0.4 GPM. The flow rate was not turned off allowing the system to
depressurize. This parameter was adjusted to adjust steam flow pressures. Standing pressure of steam
was adjusted to be > 15 psig using an adjustable valve.
A: The flow of steam was adjusted using the cooling water set to 0.4 GPM. The steam trap bypass valve
was closed and the orifice bypass valve was opened. The system was allowed to reach equilibrium (aprx.
5 mins). Pressure and temperature were measured and entered into the data collection spreadsheet.
This process was repeated for cooling water flow rates of 0.6 and 0.8 GPM.
B: The steam trap bypass leading to the flash vessel was opened and the orifice bypass valve was closed.
It was ensured that there was water in the flash vessel u-bend. Equilibrium was attained by leaving the
system work for 5 minutes. Temperature and pressure were measured.

2
2.0 Results and Discussion

Figure 1: Process Flow Diagram

2.1 Flash Vessel

Flash vessels were used to recover the energy in the high pressure steam based on flash evaporation.
Flash evaporation is the partial or total vaporization that occurs when a saturated liquid stream
undergoes a reduction in pressure by passing through a throttling valve. Condensate temperatures in
high pressure steam are usually less than the saturated temperature of the steam. When the hot and
high-pressured condensate flows into the lower-pressure areas the temperature drops to the saturated
temperature (J.E). This causes, heat release and flash steam is generated. Practically generating steam is
an expensive process therefore, flash vessel are highly recommended to recover the energy from the
high pressure condensate ("The National Board of Boiler and Pressure Vessel Inspectors"). Flash vessels
plays an important role and widely used in the industries due to its benefits.

3
For this experiment, flash vessel was used to determine the amount of energy stores in the pressurized
water. Generally, at atmospheric pressure the water boiling point in 99.6 °C. When the pressure is
increased in the steam vessel it is expected the temperature of the entering steam will be higher than
99.6 °C. In this experiment, flash vessels pressure was 163 kPa and corresponding temperature was
104.5 °C. When the high pressurized steam is exposed to atmospheric pressure, the energy stored is
determined by collecting the superheated condensate and the energy associated with this flash
evaporation is calculated using the equation Q = m*c*dT .

2.2 Theoretical Amount of Flash

The theoretical amount of flash steam generated is 0.328 L for 163 kPa, 0.3 L for 152.8 kPa and 0.24 L for
144.8 kPa as shown in Table 1. The theoretical amount of flash steam generated was more than the
experimental value. The experiment had 0.028 L for 163 kPa, 0.035L for 152.8 kPa and 0.24 L for 144.8
kPa. There is a slight discrepancies in the results obtain compared to the theoretical value. It was expected
because the system used here was not 100% efficient and there was a significant loss of heat energy in
form of heat to the environment. The heat radiated out of the system was from the joints and uninsulated
areas and also from metal pipes. This is the reason why we obtained less amount of flash condensate
collected than expected is due to the energy lost in the environment. Equation 1 is used to calculate the
heat absorbed by Condenser 2.

Qcondensor = m*2*Cp*dT (1)

Substituting the result of equation 1 in equation 2 we get m as the mass of flash condensate.
M = Qcondenser / λ (2)

From the tabulated date below, we can observe that the lower pressure the lower the percentage error
for the flash condensate. We highly doubt that there must be come steam leakage in the system which
caused the experimental amount of flash condensate is way to less than the expected amount.

4
 Pressure of the Theoretical Amount of Flash Experimental Amount of Flash Percentage error
system (kPa) condensate (L) Condensate (L) (%)

163 0.328 0.028 91.4

152.8 0.3 0.035 88.29

144.8 0.24 0.044 81.45

Table 2.1: Comparison of Amount of Flash Condensate

The graph below shows that the amount of flash steam is inversely linear to the pressure of the inlet
steam stream. The decrease in the inlet steam pressure resulted in an increase in the amount of flash
steam generated. When the pressure was reduced from 163.0 kPa to 144.8 kPa the amount of
condensate increased from 0.028 L to 0.044 L experimentally.

Figure 2: The relationship between inlet steam pressure and the amount of condensate

The percentage of flash stream generated was 14.5% for 0.0000253 m3/s, 20% for 0.0000378 m3/s and
8.33% for 0.0000504 m3/s. The percentage of the flash steam produced is calculated by using formula 3
given below.
% Flash Produced = Flash Stream / Total Condensate * 100 % (3)

5
2.3 Energy Balance
Obeying first law of thermodynamics, energy cannot be created or destroyed it can be only converted to
one form to another. All energy and material that are transferred out of the system enter the
surroundings and vice versa. In this experiment, energy balance analysis is used to calculate the energy
received by the system and energy lost to the environment from the steam. This experiment was
performed on a lab made heat exchanger. It was assumed the system is insulated but there is some heat
loss to the environment. The energy gained and lost by the system is tabulated in the table below. The
average energy loss for the system is 21.6%.

Flow rate A Flow rate B Energy from Steam Energy from Condenser 1 Percentage Lost
(m3/s) (m3/s) Flowrate (kJ) (kJ) (%)

0.000025236 0.000025236 4950.3208 3919.934432 26.28580619

0.000037854 0.000037854 5681.418 4759.53801 19.36910658

0.000050472 0.000037854 6364.069 5332.528046 19.34431372

Table 2.2: Energy Balance on the system

The energy percentage loss for flow rates of 0.000025236 m3/s and was higher than the flow rate of
0.000037854 m3/s and 0.000050472 m3/s. From the table we can conclude that, there's some
relationship between the input flow rate and the energy loss to the environment. The energy loss
observed in the table is due to the heat radiated to the environment from the metal pipes. The system
and pipes were insulated well but there are a few parts which needs to be identified and insulated to
ensure the upcoming experiments’ results are as expected.

2.4 Throttling Calorimeter

Throttling Calorimeters are used to measure the dryness fraction of steam. If the steam is sufficiently
dry to enable it to reach a supersaturated state by throttling process, then a solitary throttling
calorimeter can serve the purpose. The steam from the flash vessels passed into a separating
calorimeter. Here, it encounters a configuration of plates with the objective to separate out the water
droplets present in the steam by repeated collisions with walls and greater centrifugal action on the
heavier water droplets. ("Wet Steam Vs. Dry Steam: The Importance of the Steam Dryness Fraction |
TLV - A Steam Specialist Company (International)"

6
In the second part of the experiment, throttling was performed by by-passing the steam trap going directly
through the orifice plate. The results of this throttling is portrayed in Table 3 below.

Cooling Water Flow Rate Building Steam Quality before Throttled Steam Type
(m3/s) Throttling Quality of Steam

0.000018927 0.999995106 1 Wet

0.000037854 0.999992523 1 Wet

Table 2.3: Results of steam quality before and after being throttled

As shown in the Table above, we performed the experiment at two different cooling water flow rates.
The results was not as expected the higher the cool water flow rate, the lower the steam quality at the
condenser. In this experiment, the steam quality was almost the same when the flowrate is in increased
to 0.000018927 m3/s to0.000037854 m3/s. We assume that, the some equipment that we were using in
the lab are faulty, which later was confirmed by the professor. Initially we assume that, the system is
fully insulate, unfortunately there more heat loss to the surrounding than expected. The steam quality
was calculated using the following equation:

X = M stream / (M stream + M liquid) (4)

MSteam = Flow rate of the steam.
MLiquid = Flow rate of the liquid.

The idea of vapor plays an important role today in the industry. The first impactful and important
application was the steam engine. Low quality steam would contain a high moisture percentage and while
high quality steam contains less moisture. High quality steam would not corrode or damage the steam
engine. Steam was used to drive pistons or turbines which create work. The quality of steam can be
quantitatively described by steam quality which based on dryness, the proportion of saturated steam in a
saturated water/steam mixture.
There are a lot factors that affects the quality of the steam such cooling water temperature, the system's'
pressure, volume and flowrate. In this experiment, the flowrate of the cooling water is the manipulated
variable. Steam quality was decreased as the cooling water flow rate is increased which allows more
energy from the steam to be removed and thus more steam condenses in the system.

7
The steam quality was almost the same for both flow rate as shown in the table above. This contradicts
with the expected results. When pressure drop occurs, the saturation temperature also drops which is
why the increase in steam quality was expected but quality was the same for both. In both trials the steam
was wet, this might be because there is a huge energy losses to the environment as the piping and the
system are not perfectly insulated.

Boiler efficiency measures how much combustion energy is converted into steam energy, while steam
quality measures how much liquid water is present in the steam produced. The wetter the steam, the
lower the specific volume, enthalpy, and entropy will be because the dryness percentage is a factor of the
100% condition. Since steam dryness has a significant effect on all these values, to enable greater heating
efficiency it is crucial to supply steam that is as close to being 100% dry as possible. A major benefit of
using steam as a heat transfer medium is the large amount of heat released when it condenses into water.
With a high latent heat of vaporization it takes very little steam to carry a large amount of energy. When
the steam quality is less than one this results in lost energy that could have come from the latent heat of
vaporization. This intuitively results in a less efficient process.

Advantages of using steam energy include the safe, nontoxic and non-flammable characteristics of steam
plus its ability to deliver heat at a constant, controlled temperature. Steam can also be delivered to users
with conventional piping and valve equipment that is inexpensive and requires less maintenance, and has
a lifespan. Compared to other heat delivery and distribution systems, steam is less expensive to operate
and is 100% recyclable.

A steam trap is an automatic valve that allows condensate, air and other non-condensable gases to be
discharged from the steam system while holding or trapping the steam in the system. The purpose of the
steam trap to remove non-condensable gases such as carbon dioxide for a system to operate properly.
The presence of excess condensate in a heat transfer equipment will reduce its efficiency, preventing it
from achieving its maximum rated output and also reduce its service life. Each steam application has its
own steam trap requirements. Selecting the right steam trap for your application could have a significant,
positive impact on your process. The main category of stem trap is mechanical, thermostatic and
thermodynamic steam traps. Each have their own advantages and disadvantages. ("Steam Trap Selection
Guide")

8
Drip applications are by far the most common application for steam traps. This application refers to
removing the condensate that forms in steam lines when steam loses its heat energy due to radiation
losses. Traps used in these applications are referred to as drip traps. Drip traps are used to remove
condensate that forms in the steam lines, otherwise the system would back up with water. Water would
accumulate if there is no ant drainage system. The common steam trap choices is drip applications are
thermodynamic for steam pressures over 30 PSIG, and float & thermostatic for pressures up to 30 PSIG.
Inverted bucket traps are also commonly used for drip trap applications due to their ability to handle large
amounts of dirt and scale often found in this type of application. Another common engineering application
of steam traps are in heat exchangers. ("Steam Trap Application")

-1.0
Conclusion missing

-0.75
Grammatical errors

9
3.0 Reference

"Steam Trap Selection Guide". Engineeringtoolbox.com. N.p., 2017. Web. 5 Feb. 2017.

"Steam Trap Application". http://www.watsonmcdaniel.com/v2/. N.p., 2017. Web. 5 Feb. 2017.

"Wet Steam Vs. Dry Steam: The Importance of the Steam Dryness Fraction | TLV - A Steam Specialist
Company (International)". Tlv.com. N.p., 2017. Web. 5 Feb. 2017.

"The National Board of Boiler and Pressure Vessel Inspectors". Nationalboard.org. N.p., 2017. Web. 5
Feb. 2017.

J.E, Trocolli. "Should Know About Flash Tanks". www.shipcopumps.com. Web. 5 Feb. 2017.

10
4.0 Appendix A: Sample Calculations
4.1 Part A:

Energy from First Condenser

𝑄 = (𝑚𝑐𝑝 ∆𝑇)𝐵 + (𝑚𝑐𝑝 ∆𝑇)𝐴

𝑚3 𝑘𝑔 𝑘𝐽
𝑄 = [(0.000025236 ) (931.62 3 ) (4.22 ) (16.25 − 4.1)]
𝑠 𝑚 𝑘𝑔𝐾
𝑚3 𝑘𝑔 𝑘𝐽
+ [(0.000025236 ) (931.62 3 ) (4.22 ) (57.8°𝐶 − 4.1°𝐶)]
𝑠 𝑚 𝑘𝑔𝐾

𝑄 = 3919.93 𝑘𝐽

Energy from Steam Flowrate

𝑄 = 𝑚𝐻

(1920 𝑚𝐿 + 328 𝑚𝐿) 𝑘𝐽

𝑄= (2202.1 )
1000 𝑘𝑔

𝑄 = 4950.32 𝑘𝐽

Amount of Condensate Expected

𝑄
𝑚=
𝑐𝑝 ∆𝑇

4950.32 𝑘𝐽
𝑚=
𝑘𝐽
(4.22 )(57.8°𝐶 − 16.5°𝐶)
𝑘𝑔𝐾

𝑚 = 28.2 𝑘𝑔

11
4.2 Part B:

Building Steam Quality

*Assumed Quality of Steam After Throttling was Equal to 1*

1. (ṁ𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑚,𝑖𝑛 )(𝐻𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑚,𝑖𝑛 ) + (ṁ𝑙𝑖𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑑,𝑖𝑛 )(𝐻𝑙𝑖𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑑,𝑖𝑛 ) = (ṁ𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑚,𝑜𝑢𝑡 )(𝐻𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑚,𝑜𝑢𝑡 )

(ṁ𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑚,𝑜𝑢𝑡 ) = (ṁ𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑚,𝑖𝑛 ) + (ṁ𝑙𝑖𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑑,𝑖𝑛 )

2. (ṁ𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑚,𝑜𝑢𝑡 ) − (ṁ𝑙𝑖𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑑,𝑖𝑛 ) = (ṁ𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑚,𝑖𝑛 )

[(ṁ𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑚,𝑜𝑢𝑡 ) − (ṁ𝑙𝑖𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑑,𝑖𝑛 )](H𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑚,𝑖𝑛 ) + (ṁ𝑙𝑖𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑑,𝑖𝑛 )(𝐻𝑙𝑖𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑑,𝑖𝑛 ) =

(ṁ𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑚,𝑜𝑢𝑡 )(𝐻𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑚,𝑜𝑢𝑡 )

(H𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑚,𝑖𝑛 )(ṁ𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑚,𝑜𝑢𝑡 ) − (H𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑚,𝑖𝑛 )(ṁ𝑙𝑖𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑑,𝑖𝑛 ) + (ṁ𝑙𝑖𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑑,𝑖𝑛 )(𝐻𝑙𝑖𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑑,𝑖𝑛 ) =

(ṁ𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑚,𝑜𝑢𝑡 )(𝐻𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑚,𝑜𝑢𝑡 )

(ṁ𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑚,𝑜𝑢𝑡 )(H𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑚,𝑖𝑛 ) + (ṁ𝑙𝑖𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑑,𝑖𝑛 )(𝐻𝑙𝑖𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑑,𝑖𝑛 − H𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑚,𝑖𝑛 ) = (ṁ𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑚,𝑜𝑢𝑡 )(𝐻𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑚,𝑜𝑢𝑡 )

(ṁ𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑚,𝑜𝑢𝑡 )(𝐻𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑚,𝑜𝑢𝑡 −H𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑚,𝑖𝑛 )

3. (ṁ𝑙𝑖𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑑,𝑖𝑛 ) = (𝐻𝑙𝑖𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑑,𝑖𝑛 −H𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑚,𝑖𝑛 )

12
 𝑘𝐽 𝑘𝐽
(2.865 𝑘𝑔) (2684.55 − 2691.1 )
𝑘𝑔 𝑘𝑔
(ṁ𝑙𝑖𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑑,𝑖𝑛 ) =
𝑘𝐽 𝑘𝐽
(461.36 − 2691.1 )
𝑘𝑔 𝑘𝑔

(ṁ𝑙𝑖𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑑,𝑖𝑛 ) = 0.0000140 𝑘𝑔

(ṁ𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑚,𝑖𝑛 ) = 2.865 𝑘𝑔 − 0.0000140 𝑘𝑔

(ṁ𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑚,𝑖𝑛 ) = 2.86498597 𝑘𝑔

(ṁ𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑚,𝑖𝑛 )
4. 𝑆𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑚 𝑄𝑢𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦 =
(ṁ𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑚,𝑖𝑛 +ṁ𝑙𝑖𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑑,𝑖𝑛 )

(2.86498597 𝑘𝑔)
𝑆𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑚 𝑄𝑢𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦 =
(2.86498597 𝑘𝑔 + 0.0000140 𝑘𝑔 )

𝑆𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑚 𝑄𝑢𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦 = 0.999

13
5.0 Appendix B: Collected Data
5.1 Part A: Double Condenser and Flash Evaporation

Cooling Water
Cooling Cooling Cooling Water Cooling Water Mass
Outlet (Non Liquid Flash Mass Flowrate
Flow Pressure Water Water flow Time Inlet Outlet (Flashed) Total Volume Flowrate of
Flashed) Condensate Condenstate of steam
flowrate A rate B Temperature Temperature B Condesate
Temperature A
psig m3/s m3/s min C C C m3 kg/s mL mL kg/s
9.138 2.5236E-05 2.5236E-05 10 4.1 57.8 16.25 3.74667E-06 0.00349047 1920 328 0.023510362
7.66 3.7854E-05 3.7854E-05 10 4 49.8 11.5 0.0000043 0.004006181 2280 300 0.035267436
6.5 5.0472E-05 3.7854E-05 10 4 44.1 10.25 4.81667E-06 0.004487544 2650 240 0.035267436

Density of Density of Amount of

Latent Heat Of Q From Q from steam
Water - Cp Water - Condensate
Vap condenser 1 flowrate
Condensor 1 Flowrate Expected
kg/m3 kJ/kg.K kg/m3 kJ/kg kJ kJ unit kJ/s kJ/s
931.62 4.22 931.62 2257 3919.934432 4950.3208 28.20414981 8.250535 1.717311
931.67 4.22 931.67 2257 4759.53801 5681.418 35.11629317 9.46903 1.536467
931.67 4.22 931.67 2257 5332.528046 6364.069 44.50685471 10.60678 1.719235

5.2 Part B: Throttled Steam

Cooling Cooling Cooling Water Cooling Water Cooling Water

Liquid Flash
Flow Pressure Water flow Water flow Time Inlet Outlet Outlet
Condensate Condensate
rate A rate B Temperature Temperature A Temperature B

unit PSIG m3/s m3/s min C C C mL mL

6.066667 1.8927E-05 4.7318E-05 10 4.1 61.2 34 1025 1840

4.7 3.7854E-05 4.7318E-05 10 4.7 49 25.4 2120 1300

Building Steam Throttled Steam

Mass Flowrate of Quality before Quality (use data
M vapour Pressure A Temperature A Pressure B Temperature B Density
steam throttling (use from 2nd
steam charts)* condenser**

kg kPa unit C unit kPa unit C unit kg/m3 unit unit unit
2.865 148.2093 110 103.048689 104.444 931.6217819 0.061714819 0.999995106 1

3.42 135.7988 107.222 104.77238 100.27778 931.2919711 0.079319534 0.999992523 1

14