Utilities Systems: Selection, Sizing and Design

Introduction

If one were to take a dispassionate and of course, a rather deglamourized

view of the basic functions of a chemical engineer, it would be obvious that
they boil down to two sets:
 to either bringing intimately together certain chemicals under pre -
specified
environmental conditions of temperature, pressure for a certain period of time
 Given a mixture of chemicals, to separate them from each other into
their relatively purer form with the least am ount of equipment and
expenditure of energy.

For defining these two function sets, with the first one covering the
synthesis of chemical molecules while the second covering purification of
synthesized molecules, most of the core chemical engineering skill s we learn
such as chemical kinetics (both what environmental conditions and for how
long), thermodynamics (what environmental conditions) with heat / mass
transfer and fluid flow thrown in for good measure (mixing and energy / material
transfer, for example) are called upon.
While the weighty questions of what process environmental conditions and for
how long etc. are undoubtedly important, having once decided these
parameters, it then becomes equally important to decide on how theses
environmental conditions are to be created in actual practice.
Th us for e xample, one may want to carry ou t ozo niz ation of an
un sa turated compound at -30 ° - -40 ° C whereas, the steam cracking of
naphtha might require temperatures as high as 850 ° – 900 ° C and while a
host of other reactions take place under conditions which are in between
these two widely spaced extremes. A ch e mi cal e n gin e e r i s cal le d u p o n n o t
m e r e l y t o in d ic at e wh at p r o ce ss e n v i r o n m e n t a l c o n d i t i o n s a r e
r e q u i r e d b u t a l s o t o s p e c i f y h o w t h e s e environments are to be created.
It is easy enough to guess that the creation of the process environmental
conditions would involve transferring energy either in or out of a system or
equipment. Thus for an exothermic reaction, the challenge would be to take
the heat of reaction out just as soon as it is released thus maintaining the

Compiled By Prof. Prasad Parulekar

temperature at the desired level, wh ile in the case of an end othe rmic
r ea ct ion , the de sign obje ct ive would be providing the requisite quantity of
heat rapidly enough so the reaction reaches the desired degree of completion
within a reasonable time.
The creation of the desired process environmental conditions for carrying out
the chemical transformations and physical separations is what Utility
Engineering is all about. In addition to the basic function of providing means of
energy transport, the smooth running of the plant also requires other sub-
systems such as cool, clean, dry compressed air to operate the pneumatically
operated controls, the motive energy :

electrical energy, Nitrogen for blanketing inflammable liquids, clean, treated

soft or de-mineralized water, specialized systems such as sterile air etc.
Given that the "Plant Utility" has now been made an elective subject as opposed
to a mandatory one makes the discussion of the utility sys tems, their
selection and sizing all the more important since many of the students taking
up this subject are thoroughly unaware of how the process conditions they
need to bring about the intended chemical transformations are to be actually
achieved in practice.

Scope of Plant Utilities

While the range of auxiliary subsystems needed to successfully run a plant

have been touched upon in passing, it is appropriate to broadly list these at
the very beginning :
1. Heating Utilities
Required, for example to make a reaction to occur at commercially viable
rate, or to make a material melt / volatilize. Whilst steam is the tbiquitous utility
in chemical plants, there are a fair amount of other heating utilities available
depending upon the temperature range of interest and these are discussed in
detailed further on.
2. Cooling Utility
This would be required when for example maintaining the temperature of a
reactor in which an exothermic reaction is taking place at a predetermined
desirable level or for ensuring condensation of a vapour in a condenser or
for inducing crystallization from a supersaturated solution. Here again, while a re-
circulating cooling tower type of system is present practically in every

Compiled By Prof. Prasad Parulekar

 chemical plant, a number of other cooling utility subsystems are available
depending upon the temperature range desired.

3. Compressed Air
This could be of several different types depending upon end use : for
cleaning, flushing, for running diaphragm pumps, instrument air, in air curtains
etc. depending upon the end use, the air pressure would be different, as also
the degree of treatment (filtration, drying, sterilization etc.)
4. Nitrogen
This is not a commonly used utility but is always present in plants using
inflammable liquids / gases. Normally produced through PSA rou te, the end
uses would normally involve flushing, inerting and evacuation amongst others.
In certain rare instances, this may also be used for inerted pneumatic
transport, inert heating (e.g., drying of an oxidizable / inflammable material in a
spray dryer)
5. Vacuum:Vacuum is another almost ubiquitous utility encountered in
chemical plants especially those in which vacuum distillations etc. are
routinely carried out. Vacuum is used for several purposes including
reducing pressure in an enclosed vessel for reducing the boiling point of
substances (as in a vacuum distillation apparatus), evacuation before
inerting, transfer of liquid from one equipment to another etc.
6. Electricity:For motive power, fan / lighting / air-conditioning, instrument cabling
7. Water: For use as water for process, washing & cleaning, special purpose
(boiler feed, softened, de-mineralized, sterilized etc).
We will now look at some of the utilities in greater details to determine
criteria and heuristics which govern their selection.

Heating Utility
As mentioned above, the need to heat material is a *perpetual
requirement in chemical plants. The way to heat material depends upon the
temperature range to wh ich the he atin g is t o be done . The acco mpanyin g
t able provide s a list of commonly used heat transfer fluids for temperature range
indicated against them.
In designing / sizing / selecting a heating utility, the following designer
chosen variables values are used :
 Phase change heat transfer modes always yield much better heat
transfer rates as compared to convection type.

Compiled By Prof. Prasad Parulekar

  AT between the material to be heated and the heating fluid between 200 -
400 subject to the maximum tolerable skin temperature to which the
material to be heated exposed.
 Improving heat transfer through high turbulence from the heating liquid
side (see hook-ups)
 Ensuring clean, hydrophilic (for condensing organic vapours –
Dowtherm Vapours) / hydrophobic (for condensing steam applications)
surfaces to ensure drop-wise condensation as opposed to film condensation

Steam Systems
Steam is the most widely used heat transport fluid being a non -toxic
substance whose only hazards are its basic limitations :
Low critical point : it has no latent heat above 372° C
• Re lat ive ly h igh vap o u r p re ssu re re qu irin g eq u ip me nt capab le
b e arin g progressively higher pressure for phase change type heat
transfer as the temperature of heat transmission rises
For the temperature range 100° - 270° C, steam is the ideal working fluid.
Further, in many instances, direct injection of steam is a viable o ption as
the systems to be heated are aqueous and thus steam condensate tolerant.
Installation of a condensate collection and recycle system enable at least a
partial utilization of the condensate sensible heat and reduce considerably
the quantity of boiler feed water which needs to be treated. In fact for
thermal power stations this is routinely done.

Pressurized Hot Water systems

This is a favourable system which allows the use of higher density (vis -a-vis
steam) and higher heat capacity but requires system pressures of 17.5 bar g
to maintain wat e r in liq u id st at e . Ame ri c an n u cle ar r e a ct o rs are b a se d
o n p r e s su riz e d superheated water systems for extracting heat from the nuclear
reaction.

Thermal Fluid systems

Thermal fluids used for heating and cooling co nsist of liquids and vapours
or a combination. These include tempered hot water (as opposed to
superheated pressurized water) for moderate heating and controlled skin
temperature, various organic liquids such as Diphenyl – Diphenyl Oxide Eutectic
(Dowtherm A), Treated o-Dichlorobenzene (Dowtherm E), Sodium – Potassium
alloy (NaK alloy), Mercury, Molten Salt Mixtures, Mineral Oils, Aryl – Aryloxy

Compiled By Prof. Prasad Parulekar

Silanes (Hydrotherm 750 – 200), Tetra Aryl Silicate (Hydrotherm 700-160), and
Chlorinated Biphenyls (Therminols).
• Dowtherm A
Dowtherm A is a eutectic mixture containing 73.5% Diphenyl Oxide
and 26.5% Diphenyl, wt / wt. At its freezing point of 12.2° C, Dowtherm
contracts slightly thereby reducing the possibility of damage to process
equipment when shut down under cold conditions.
Dowtherm A is non-toxic to humans and does not attack commonly
employed heat transport systems MOC (Steel). Dowtherm A is stable up
to about 340° C with no decomposition. Above 400° C, 2 molecules of
Diphenyl may react to yield p-Diphenyl benzene and benzene. Of
these the former dissolves in Dowtherm A while the latter escapes
as a vapour through vent. Diphenyl oxide may also undergo similar type
of decomposition.
In case of extreme overheating, Dowtherm may decompose into carbon
and hydrogen. This may occur for example under circumstances of poor
circulation / flame impingement etc. The deposited carbon increases
resistance to heat transfer aiding further thermal degradation. In such an
instance, in a matter of a few hours, the entire material may be carbonized.

To prevent overheating, Dowtherm vapourizers are of liquid tube / fire

tube with natural convection type or liquid tube with forced circulation design.
 Dowtherm E
Dowtherm E is specially processed o-Dichlorobenzene which boils at about
177° C and freezes below -15° C. Dowtherm E is normally used in the range
177° to about 260° C. Although when working within the recommended
range of temperature, Dowtherm E does not show signs of decomposition,
there is some evidence that Aluminium te nds to catalyze the
decomposition of Dowtherm E with generation of HCI which then
attacks metallic surfaces. Aluminium is therefore to be avoided when using
Dowtherm E.

• Inorganic Salt Mixtures

Mixtures of inorganic salts, one of which consists of 40% Na NO 2 , 7% NaNO3
and 53% KNO 3 are widely used in salt baths and petroleum refining where
high temperatures are maintained and where the system is in
continuous operation.

Compiled By Prof. Prasad Parulekar

 The MP of the mixture indicated above is about 142° C which precludes any
low temperature use and requires that the circulating fluid be kept hot
and molten throughout its flow path. The salt mixture need not be
pressurized higher than to cover the system AP.
Inorganic salt mixtures are non-toxic and stable up to about 450° C in
the absence of contaminants. Between 450° C to 900° C, a slow
decomposition reaction sets in converting the nitrite into a mixture of
alkali metal oxide, nitrate and nitrogen. This reaction is evidenced by a
slow generation of nitrogen and is also accompanied by a gradual increase
in the freezing point of the salt mixture.
The nitrite is also subject to slow oxidation by atmospheric oxygen
above about 450° C with the formation of NaNO 3 . By blanketing the salt
mixture with nitrogen this reaction can be eliminated. Other reactions which
also affect the composition of the salt baths is slow absorption of C O 2
and water vapour from atmosphere to give rise to carbonates which may
settle out of the melt and formation of alkali hydroxides.
While these two transformations do not interfere with the process
application, if allowed to continue over a long tem, will give adversely
affect the utility of the system. Again, by use of nitrogen blanketing, both
these deterioration modes can be held in check.
For the system, ordinary carbon steel is an acceptable MOC up to about
450 ° C. Beyond this temperature, more resistant alloys are recommended.
Copper is found satisfactory for moderate temperatures (up to about
340– 350 C). Cast iron, however is unsuitable on account of reaction
between the molten salts and iron which leads to embrittlement and / or fissuring.
5
Mineral Oils
Conventional mineral oils are of low cost and readily available for process
use and are valuable as heating fluids in the range 0° through about 315° C.
The paraffinic type cylinder oils are used in open systems till about 230° C
while a closed system is required for higher temperatures up to about 315° C.
Beyond this temperature, the mineral oils are susceptible to thermal cracking
type reactions commonly encountered in producing gasoline from heavy stock.
Although the actual attack may not be as severe as what happens during
petroleum refining, such reactions give rise to volatiles which increase the
flash point and AIT on the one hand and heavy stock on the other w hich
flows less easily leading to carbon deposition after long periods of operation.

Compiled By Prof. Prasad Parulekar

 Mobiltherm 600 and Mobiltherm Light are aromatic mineral oils of
lower viscosity than conventional mineral oils and can operate between 0°
C and 315° C for the former and between -25° C and 210° C for the latter.
These oils will not decompose if used within the recommended temperature
range. If subjected to excessive temperature, the aromatic mineral oils also
tend to decompose through thermal cracking. However, due to the
superior solvent action of the aromatic mineral oils, sludge formation and
coke deposition does not readily occur.
The aromatic mineral oils can be used in an open system as they undergo
rapid oxidative degradation. All systems involving aromatic mineral o ils must
include a "cold oil" expansion tank with temperature not exceeding 55° C to
prevent the hot oil coming in contact with atmospheric oxygen. Copper and
copper bearing alloys are to be avoided in contact with aromatic mineral oils
as they catalyze oxidation and sludging. Iron and carbon are the preferred
materials of construction for such systems.
Other oils such as lubricating oils etc. should not be allowed to come in
contact with these oils as they tend to reduce solvent power of these oils
and may lead to harmful sludge deposition on the heating surfaces in the
system.
Silicon Compounds
Three types of silicon compounds are used as heating fluids : substituted
silanes, silicones and silicates. The most commonly used heating fluids of this
type are silicates, i.e., organic esters of silicic acid.
Hydrotherm 750 – 200 is an aryl – Aryloxy (mixed) silane used in the
temperature range of 60° C to about 380° C. It is a transparent amber
coloured liquid, with a faint phenolic odour. There appears to be no chronic
effect from exposure to vapours. Skin tests show results similar to those of
phenol. It is lethal if ingested or injected.
Hydrotherm 700 - 160 heat transfer fluid can be used in the temperature
range -45° C to 345° C, neither reheating not steam tracing is required.These
thermal fluid are con-corrosive to steel, Cu and alloys even at highertemperatures.
 Therminols
Therminols are heat transfer fluids based on chlorinated biphenyls. Whenusing these
fluids, provision must me made for an expansion vessel alongwith a desiccator trapped
air vent for escape of HCI if formed and also for tapping moisture from any aspirated air.

Compiled By Prof. Prasad Parulekar

The accompanying Table I lists the various thermal fluids types commonly encountered
in chemical industry and their useful temperature range.Table ll liststhe branded fluids,
their chemical nature and their useful temperature range of application.

Ratings of boilers is done by their evaporating capacity while the heating systems using
thermal; fluids are based on their "Heat Delivering Capacity",typically, Kcal. / hr.

Table - I
Heating Fluids Their Recommended Operating
Temperature and Pressure Ranges

Temperature Range,
o
C Pressure Range,
Fluid
bar g

Water 50-600 0-16

Steam 150-200 6-16

Dowtherm A 220-400 0-10

Dowtherm E 150-260 0-5

Mineral Oil 0-310 0

Molten Salt Baths 145-600 0

Silicon Compounds
35-370 0
(Silicones, silanes and
silicates)
Chlorinated Diphenyl
-15-315 0

NaK Alloy
35-760 0

Mercury
300-530 0-12.5

Compiled By Prof. Prasad Parulekar

 Flue Gases or Hot Air 0-1100 0-7

Table - II
Commercially Available Heating Fluids, Their Chemical
Characteristics, and their Useful Operating
Temperature Ranges

Fluid Name Chemical Nature Maximum ° C

Temperature,
Diphenyl / Diphenyl Oxide
Dowtherm A 400
Eutectic

Chevron Heat Transfer Oil Paraffinic 340

Diphyl DT Dimethyl Diphenyl Oxide 330

Di - and Tri-aryl
Dowtherm G 370
Compounds
Mixture of Isomeric
Dowtherm J 370
Alkylated Aromatics

Gilotherm Ad X 10 Alkyl Benzenes 250-280

Mixture of Dibenzyl
Marlotherm S 350
Toluenes

Mobiltherm 600 Paraffinic 315

Shell Thermic Oil C Mineral Oil 287

--------
Transcal LT 260

Syltherm 800 Siloxane Polymer 400

Santotherm /
Hydrogenated Terphenyls 345
Therminol 66

Compiled By Prof. Prasad Parulekar

Cooling Utility
As important heating is in chemical synthesis and separation, cooling systems play an
equally important role. In choosing a particular heat transfer fluid for cooling duty, the
considerations are always the freezing temperature of the fluid, chemical aggressiveness
vis--vis the common MOC's, flammability, toxicity, viscosity in the operating
temperature range and finally, the cost.
In choosing cooling utility, especially for reactors in which exothermic reactions are
carried out, it is important to avoid cold shock / dead volume around the coolant
entrance area. The temperature of cooling utility thus should be calibrated such as not
to "extinguish" a reaction. A typical AT of 10 – 15° should be chosen consistent with the
least acceptable "low" skin temperature. In certain extreme cases, much smaller design
AT are chosen in order to ensure good heat transfer without the fluid to be cooled does
not freeze due to too low a temperature of the coolant. When this happens, it leads to
solidified fluid to be cooled introducing additional thermal resistance and hindering
cooling of the fluid in bulk.
Typical cooling utilities include cooling tower water, chilled water, "brines" of various
compositions and special low melting chlorinated hydrocarbons systems for low
temperature use, direct refrigerant cooling. The cooling utility subsystems are rated by
their heat removal capacity measured in "Tons Refrigeration" or "TR", with each TR
representing approximately 3025 Kcal / hr. heat removal duty.
Cooling Tower Water
The most commonly used cooling utility is of course cooling tower water with typical
operating range of between 5 – 10° C AT range (i.e., between incoming hot water and
outgoing cold water temperatures) with the lowest temperature limited by the local
atmospheric conditions of ambient temperature and humidity.
With careful cleaning up, periodic blow-down, timely dosing of anti-algal compounds,
cooling towers give excellent service over long periods. The various types of cooling
towers and their construction / limitations are outside the scope of the present
discussion.
Chilled Water
Providing that the temperature does not fall below 4° C, chilled water is an excellent
cooling medium. The actual chilled water loop typically involves a twin water reservoir
consisting of a "cold well" and a "hot well". A separate circuit takes the "hot" water
returning from the "process" from the hot well, cools it in a heat exchanger by the
primary refrigerant (ammonia / Freon / Other refrigerant) from the heat pump circuit
before returning it to the "cold" well. A separate chilled water circuit pump would
extract the "cold" chilled water from the cold well and circulate it throughout the
process and finally return the "hot" chilled water to the hot well.

Compiled By Prof. Prasad Parulekar

 Chilled Brine Systems
The original observation that adding salt to water decreased its freezing point
led to the concept of using a salt solution as a cooling medium for sub -zero
temperature cooling and hence the word "brines". Sodium or Calcium Chloride
as the ingredient to reduce freezing point of water has several drawbacks,
the most objectionable amongst them being the strong corroding action of
salt / CaCl2 on the commonly used MOC's for these systems.
In past, the corrosive action was kept somewhat in check by using a
strong oxidizing atmosphere by using dichromate. The toxic and potentially
carcinogenic nature of hexavalent chromium has made this approach unviable
and for most parts, common salt / CaC12 brines are seldom used.
An alternative to this was use of Calcium Nitrate brines which are good
up to - 24° C. Calcium Nitrate brines do not need the use of dichromate and the
attendant toxic hexavalent chromium pollution question is eliminated.
The most widely used brines for low temperature are aqueous solutions of
mono, di-and polyethylene glycols which depress the freezing point of water
substantially. Given below are the temperatures and the compositions of these glycol
"brines" :

Min. Explosive?
Constituents
Sr. Practical
in Aqueous. Toxic? Corrosive?
No. Temperature,
Solutions
0C
Salts
1 CaCl2 -40 No No Yes
2 NaCI -10 No No Yes
3 CaNO3 -25 No No No

Glycols
4 Propylene -10 No No Some
Ethylene
5 -15 Yes No some
(MEG)

Alcohols
6 Methanol -35 Yes Yes Some

Compiled By Prof. Prasad Parulekar

 7 Ethanol -30 No Yes some

Constituents Min.
Sr. Practical
Toxic? Explosive? Corrosive?
No. Temperature,
0C
Other Low
Temp.
"Brines"
Methylene No, but
8 -85 No No
Chloride incompat.
With Al, Zn
Trichloro-
9 -75 No No and most
ethylene
elastomers
Trichloro-
10 -100 No No No
fluoromethane
11 Acetone -100 No Yes No

Hook-Ups
Transfer of heat is a relatively inexpensive operation as long as the source of
heat is at a higher temperature than the ambient temperature. Refrigeration
involves "heat pumping" from a source at a lower than ambient temperature
to atmosphere which is at ambient temperature. The difference between the
temperature at which heat is to be extracted and for the temperature at
which it is to be rejected can be looked upon as the "thermal head" for the
heat pump that a cooling utility is. As one requires lower and lower
temperatures (e.g. for condensing out the last traces of vo latile organ ic
vap ours in a vent cond enser), the the rmal "he ad " ke eps on increasing,
thus requiring more and more energy expenditure for the pumping action.
Further, the larger the difference between the desired low tem perature
and the ambient temperature, larger is the "leak back" of heat from the
surroundings into the refrigerated space / system. This explains why the
rating of the same Freon / ammonia compressor gets progressively lower
as the target temperature of th e secondary coolant ("brine") dips. This also
explains why one TR duty at say - 30° C is considerably more expensive as
compared to one TR duty at say - 10° C.

Compiled By Prof. Prasad Parulekar

To avoid large scale use of this expensive utility, many times cooling is
done in stages staring with the cheapest cooling utility viz. cooling tower water
finally ending up with the really cold brine utility. While this increases the
equipment cost as multiple heat exchangers / condensers are required,
given that the bulk of heat pumping duty has been carried out by the
inexpensive utility, the size of the final condenser and the significantly
lower TR duty required from the expensive brine utility reduces the recurring
cost significantly. The trade-off, as always, is between the one time equipment cost
and its amortization v s. the recurring cost of the more expensive utility.

Other considerations as regards the design AT to avoid extinguishing/ thermally

shocking the process requires special hook- up to ensure proper maintenance of the
desired temperature with concurrent adequate heat removal. Schematic
representations of a cascade of heat exchangers in series and a hook up for ensuring a
correct temperature on the process side are depicted below:

Compiled By Prof. Prasad Parulekar

Sizing of Cooling Utility
In majority of detailed engineering exercises, the sizing of utilities requires
estimating t h e t o t a l h e a t l o a d f r o m a l l s o u r c e s , r e a c t o r s , c o n d e n s e r s ,
s i d e - a r m h e a t exchangers, product coolers, heat losses / ingress to / from the
atmosphere and arrive at the total heat pumping (in or out) required. This can
then be suitably increased to take into account future developments /
additional reserve capacity required for design errors etc. before arriving at the
size of the cooling utility.
For smaller capacity cooling towers to which several heat sources are
connected, it is always a good practice to oversize the tower and provide an
independent circuit similar to a chilled water / brine system ensuring that the
full capacity of the tower is always on tap. A pump taking cooling tower water
to process and returning to the top of the tower has the inherent potential
of the total water flow being reduced with the attendant reduction in the TR
capacity of the tower. In extreme cases, the TR capacity can be further
degraded due to inadeq uate wetting of the tower p ackin g. An o th e r
a lt e r nat ive in su ch case s is to sp lit t he to t al coo lin g lo ad strategically
and layout-wise over several cooling towers, each tower catering to the cooling
need of a particular section / plant in a complex thus all owing partial shut-
down without affecting the working of other plants. While such a solution
may increase the capital outlay, many times, the flexibility and safety
provided by such an arrangement far outweigh the increased cost.
Compressed Gases : Air, Nitrogen

Compressed Instrument Air

In most plants for operating the final control devices, compressed air
("instrument air") is commonly used. Air used for actuating pneumatic
instruments must be free from particulate impurities including dust, oil
particles etc as well as moisture. In majority of case, such air is generally
compressed in non-lubricated ("oil free") type of compressors which have a
appropriately sized pressure vessel type reservoir and an attached adsorption
type air drying unit (the PSA drying units) with twin desiccant packed towers
alternating in "dry" and "regenerate" modes. Typical pressures 6 – 7 bar and
post dehydration, the dew point of air is - 40° C or lower. Here again, the
total quantum of the "instrument" air required will have to be calculated
based on the no. of pneumatically actuated devices and the manufacturer's
recommended air requirements plus adequate spare capacity to tide over
such emergencies as leakage.

Compiled By Prof. Prasad Parulekar

Other type of special purpose air utility such as air used as a c urtain, aseptic
air for packing areas of pharmaceutical industries are somewhat more
specialized and are outside the scope of the present discussion.

Compressed Nitrogen
Compressed Nitrogen is another commonly encountered utility in chemical
plants especially where flammable easily polymerizable substances are
handled. The compressed nitrogen is used for blanketing tanks / vessels,
flushing out contents of a vessel under oxygen-free atmosphere, packing of foodstuffs
/ other perishable items
u n d e r o x yg e n - f r e e a t mo sp h e re as a h e a t t ran sf e r f lu id f o r d ryin g
t h e r m al ly degradable / oxidizable products in equipment such as spray dryers,
fluid bed dryers etc.
Like instrument air, nitrogen used in plants is generated using pressure
swing adsorption technique with the oxygen from compressed, dried air being
adsorbed out on special carbon molecular sieves. These pSA units are similar in
construction to the air drying units described in instrument air above. For large scale
use, it may be preferable to have an air liquefaction and fractionation unit which would
generate a “purer” nitrogen. Indeed, steel making units invariably have both the oxygen
and nitrogen separating units for different requirements.
Sizing of nitrogen and even the method of generating it would depe nd
upon the sum total of the specific, individual needs in a plant, the %
recovery from air as specified by the PSA / Adsorbent supplier, and the purity of
nitrogen desired.

Vacuum
Vacuum is available as utility in many plants to suck spillage, transfer to liquids etc.
Vacuum connected with specific unit operations such as distillation normally is a
dedicated system as opposed to a general utility. In case that a number of units are
carrying similar operations, they may be all connected to a single vacuum system but
this is best avoided to eliminate the sudden change in vacuum in other systems and
corresponding deleterious effects due to accidental venting periodic drain-out of surge
tanks etc.

Compiled By Prof. Prasad Parulekar