AIR

TYPES OF AIR
❏ Compressed Air
❏ Compressed air is required for different purposes in chemical industries, many industries utilize the
automatic controllers to control the process.
❏ Particularly, the big and complex plant must be controlled by automatic controllers. These,controllers
are pneumatically operated.
❏ These are used in refineries, petrochemicals, alcohol manufacturing, etc.
❏ The air supplied for instrumentation for automatic recording and controlling is in the range of 3 to 4
kg/cm2 and usually obtained by compressor. (distributed at 6 bar pressure)
❏ This air is dried in silica gel dryer so there will not be any moisture condensation and blocking of
instrumentation systems.
❏ The compressed air is also used in chemical process such as the oxidation of acetaldehyde to acetic
acid in liquid-phase catalytic reactor, oxidation of nitrogen oxide to nitrogen dioxide in nitric acid plant.
❏ To avoid any side reaction in organic chemicals, the air is dried and purified using water, sulphuric acid
to remove any impurities.
❏ Blower Air
❏ When air in the chemical process industry is required at the pressure of 0.5 to 1.5 kg/cm2, a
type of blower is employed.
❏ Example: the oxidation of nitrogen oxide to nitrogen dioxide for generation of nitric acid in the
oxalic acid plant at 1 kg/cm2 is done by using air by means of blower.
❏ In manufacturing of acetaldehyde from ethanol using silver as a catalyst air is used which is
blown in the reactor using a blower.
❏ To exhaust the fumes of HCl gas, the use is made of exhaust blower which blows the air at the
pressure of 2 kg/cm2.

❏ Fan Air
❏ When air is required at very low pressure such as air for solid fuel boiler, then to transmit very
high volume of air, fan is used.
❏ Example: induced or forced draft fan is used for cooling towers.
 USES OF AIR IN INDUSTRIES

❏ To drive compressed air engines used in coal mines.

❏ To clean work-shop, generators and machines.
❏ To inject the fuel in the cylinder of diesel engines.
❏ To operate drills, hammers, paint sprayers, etc.
❏ For cooling of furnaces.
❏ For cooling of reaction taking place in chemical industries.
❏ For cooling of large boilers.
TYPES OF COMPRESSORS
 RECIPROCATING COMPRESSORS
❏ Reciprocating compressors are the most widely used type for air compression.
❏ They are characterized by a flow output that remains nearly constant over a range of discharge
pressures.
❏ Also, the compressor capacity is directly proportional to the speed.
❏ Reciprocating compressors are available in many configurations, the four most widely used of which
are horizontal, vertical, horizontal balance-opposed and tandem.
❏ Vertical type reciprocating compressors are used in the capacity range of 50 – 150 cfm.
❏ Horizontal balance opposed compressors are used in the capacity range of 200 – 5000 cfm in
multi-stage design and upto 10,000 cfm in single stage designs.
❏ Reciprocating compressors are also available in variety of types:
❏ Lubricated and non-lubricated
❏ Single or multiple cylinder
❏ Water or air-cooled
❏ Single or multi stage
RECIPROCATING COMPRESSORS
2 stage reciprocating compressor
❏ In the case of lubricated machines, oil has to be separated from the discharge air.
❏ Non-lubricated compressors are especially useful for providing air for instrumentation and for processes
which require oil free discharge.
❏ However non-lubricated machines have higher specific power consumption (kW/cfm) as compared to
lubricated types.
❏ Single cylinder machines are generally air-cooled, while multi-cylinder machines are generally water cooled,
although multi-stage air-cooled types are available for machines up to 100 kW.
❏ Water-cooled systems are more energy efficient than air-cooled systems. Two stage machines are used for
high pressures and are characterized by lower discharge temperature (140 to 160°C) compared to
single-stage machines (205 to 240°C).
❏ In some cases, multi-stage machines may have a lower specific power consumption compared to single
stage machines operating over the same total pressure differential.
❏ Multi-stage machines generally have higher investment costs, particularly for applications with high
discharge pressure (above 7 bar) and low capacities (less than 25 cfm).
❏ Multi staging has other benefits, such as reduced pressure differential across cylinders, which reduces the
load and stress on compressor components such as valves and piston rings.
 ROTARY COMPRESSORS
❏ Rotary compressors have rotors in place of pistons and give a continuous, pulsation free discharge air.
❏ They are directly coupled to the prime mover and require lower starting torque as compared to reciprocating
machine.
❏ They operate at high speed and generally provide higher throughput than reciprocating compressors.
❏ Also they require smaller foundations, vibrate less, and have a lower number of parts - which means less
failure rate.
❏ Among rotary compressor, the Roots blower (also called as lobe compressor) and screw compressors are
among the most widely used.
❏ The roots blower is essentially a low-pressure blower and is limited to a discharge pressure of 1 bar in
single-stage design and up to 2.2 bar in two stage design.
❏ The most common rotary air compressor is the single stage helical or spiral lube oil flooded screw air
compressor.
❏ These compressors consist of two rotors, within a casing where the rotors compress the air internally.
❏ There are no valves.
❏ These units are basically oil cooled (with air cooled or water cooled oil coolers) where the oil seals
the internal clearances.
❏ Since the cooling takes place right inside the compressor, the working parts never experience
extreme operating temperatures.
❏ The oil has to be separated from discharge air.
❏ Because of the simple design and few wearing parts, rotary screw air compressors are easy to
maintain, to operate and install.
❏ The oil free rotary screw air compressor uses specially designed air ends to compress air without oil
in the compression chamber producing true oil free air.
❏ These compressors are available as air-cooled or water cooled types and provide the same
flexibility as oil flooded rotary compressors.
❏ There is a wide range of availability in configuration and in pressure and capacity.
❏ Dry types deliver oil-free air and are available in sizes up to 20,000 cfm and pressure upto 15 bar.
❏ Lubricated types are available in sizes ranging from 100 to 1000 cfm, with discharge pressure up to
10 bar.
ROTARY COMPRESSORS
ROTARY COMPRESSORS
 DYNAMIC COMPRESSORS
❏ Dynamic compressors are mainly centrifugal compressors and operate on similar principles to centrifugal
pump.
❏ These compressors have appreciably different characteristics as compared to reciprocating machines.
❏ A small change in compression ratio produces a marked change in compressor output and efficiency.
❏ Centrifugal machines are better suited for applications requiring very high capacities, typically above 12,000
cfm.
❏ The centrifugal air compressor depends on transfer of energy from a rotating impeller to the air.
❏ The rotor accomplishes this by changing the momentum and pressure of the air.
❏ This momentum is converted to useful pressure by slowing the air down in a stationary diffuser.
❏ The centrifugal air compressor is an oil free compressor by design.
❏ The oil-lubricated running gear is separated from the air by shaft seals and atmospheric vents.
❏ The centrifugal is a continuous duty compressor, with few moving parts, and is particularly suited to high
volume applications, especially where oil free air is required.
❏ A single-stage centrifugal machine can provide the same capacity as a multi-stage reciprocating
compressor.
❏ Machines with either axial or radial flow impellers are available.
❏ Axial flow compressors are suitable for higher compression ratios and are generally more efficient
than radial compressors.
❏ Axial compressors typically are multi-stage machines, while radial machines are usually single-stage
designs.
DYNAMIC COMPRESSORS
 COMPRESSED AIR SYSTEM COMPONENTS
❏ Compressed air systems consist of following major components: Intake air filters, inter-stage coolers, after
coolers, air dryers, moisture drain traps, receivers, piping network, filters, regulators and lubricators.
❏ Intake Air Filters: Prevent dust from entering compressor; Dust causes sticking valves, scoured cylinders,
excessive wear etc.
❏ Inter-stage Coolers: Reduce the temperature of the air before it enters the next stage to reduce the work of
compression and increase efficiency. They are normally watercooled.
❏ After Coolers: The objective is to remove the moisture in the air by reducing the temperature in a
water-cooled heat exchanger.
❏ Air-dryers: The remaining traces of moisture after after-cooler are removed using air dryers, as air for
instrument and pneumatic equipment has to be relatively free of any moisture. The moisture is removed by
using adsorbents like silica gel /activated carbon, or refrigerant dryers, or heat of compression dryers.
❏ Moisture Drain Traps: Moisture drain traps are used for removal of moisture in the compressed air.
These traps resemble steam traps. Various types of traps used are manual drain cocks, timer based
/ automatic drain valves etc.
❏ Receivers: Air receivers are provided as storage and smoothening pulsating air output - reducing
pressure variations from the compressor.
COMPRESSED AIR SYSTEM
 INSTRUMENT AIR
❏ Industrial process facilities consist of a wide variety of pneumatically operated equipment which
needs to be provided with a motive force for operation.
❏ Towards this, ambient air is one of the commonly used motive fluids to operate.
❏ The instrument air system is utilized by various plant instrumentation, some of which may have a
critical role in plant operation and safety.
❏ Poor quality instrument air can increase maintenance costs, produce inconsistent product quality,
loss of product or create an unstable plant operation.
❏ Typically in an oil & gas industry, the primary step is to assess the number of elements that need
instrument air (IA) and capacities of each element (e.g., Control valve) to determine the required
instrument air system capacity.
❏ The main components of an instrument air system consist of:
❏ Inlet Air Filter
❏ An inlet air filter to decontaminate the atmospheric air of dust and debris.
❏ Air Compressor
❏ An air compressor to produce instrument air at the required pressure.
❏ Cooler
❏ A cooler to cool the hot air from the compressor discharge.
❏ Moisture Separator
❏ A moisture separator to remove any condensates from the compressed air.
❏ Air Receiver
❏ An air receiver that stores the compressed air, a set of molecular sieve air dryers that act as a
desiccant to dry the instrument air to the required dew point.
❏ Air Dryer
❏ Air dryers are operated in cycles whereby when one dryer is under operation, the other dryer
is regenerated by removing water vapour using a pressure swing adsorption (PSA) process.
❏ Instrument Air Quality Standards
❏ A commonly used industry standard to set instrument air quality standards is the ANSI/ISA –
S7.0.01-1996.
❏ Pressure Dew Point
❏ Pressure dew point is defined as the temperature at which free moisture condenses out from
the instrument air into liquid water for a specific pressure.
❏ Pressure dew point at the air dryer outlet should be at least 10 °C (18°F) below the minimum
temperature to which any part of the instrument air system is exposed and also shall not
exceed 4 °C (39°F) at the line pressure.
❏ Particle Size
❏ The instrument air supplied to consumers is expected to contain particulate matter and for
most pneumatically operated devices, a particulate size of 40µm is acceptable.
❏ In cases where, particulate size of < 40µm is required, additional air filtration modules can be
installed to achieve < 40µm sized particulate matter.
❏ Lubricant Content
❏ In cases where the installed Air compressor in the IA system is lubricated with lube oil, there is
always a risk of oil carry over along with the compressed air.
❏ This poses a threat to the pneumatic devices that receive the instrument air and affects their
operation. Hence the lubricant content should be close to 0 ppm but cannot exceed 1 ppm
w/w.
❏ Instrument Air System Location
❏ The location of the Instrument Air system is also important to prevent contaminants,
hazardous and flammable gases from being drawn into the Inlet air filters.
 HUMIDIFICATION PROCESS
❏ The process in which the moisture or water vapor or humidity is added to the air without changing its
dry bulb (DB) temperature is called as humidification process.
❏ In actual practice the pure humidification process is not possible, since the humidification is always
accompanied by cooling or heating of the air.
❏ Humidification process along with cooling or heating is used in number of air conditioning
applications.
❏ Cooling and humidification process is one of the most commonly used air conditioning application
for the cooling purposes.
❏ In this process the moisture is added to the air by passing it over the stream or spray of water which
is at temperature lower than the dry bulb temperature of the air.
❏ When the ordinary air passes over the stream of water, the particles of water present within the
stream tend to get evaporated by giving up the heat to the stream.
❏ The evaporated water is absorbed by the air so its moisture content, thus the humidity increases.
❏ At the same time, since the temperature of the absorbed moisture is less than the dry bulb
temperature of the air, there is reduction in the overall temperature of the air.
❏ Since the heat is released in the stream or spray of water, its temperature increases.
❏ One of the most popular applications of cooling and humidification is the evaporative cooler, also
called as the desert cooler.
❏ The cooling and humidification process is also used in various industries like textile, where certain
level of temperature and moisture content has to be maintained.
❏ In such cases large quantity of water is sprayed, and large blowers are used to blow the air over the
spray of water.
❏ During the cooling and humidification process the dry bulb of the air reduces, its wet bulb and the
dew point temperature increases, while its moisture content and thus the relative humidity also
increases.
❏ Also, the sensible heat of the air reduces, while the latent heat of the air increases resulting in the
overall increase in the enthalpy of the air.
❏ In heating and humidification process of the air, the dry bulb temperature as well as the humidity of
the air increases.
❏ The heating and humidification process is carried out by passing the air over spray of water, which is
maintained at temperature higher than the dry bulb temperature of air or by mixing air and the
steam.
❏ When the ordinary air is passed over the spray of water maintained at temperature higher than the
dry bulb temperature of the air, the moisture particles from the spray tend to get evaporated and get
absorbed in the air due to which the moisture content of the air increase.
❏ At the same time, since the temperature of the moisture is greater than the dry bulb temperature of
the air, there is overall increase in its temperature.
❏ During heating and humidification process the dry bulb, wet bulb, and dew point temperature of the
air increases along with its relative humidity.
 DEHUMIDIFICATION PROCESS
❏ The process in which the moisture or water vapor or the humidity is removed from the air keeping its
dry bulb temperature constant is called as the dehumidification process.
❏ Like the pure humidification process, in actual practice the pure dehumidification process is not
possible, since the dehumidification is always accompanied by cooling or heating of the air.
❏ Dehumidification process along with cooling or heating is used in number of air conditioning
applications.
❏ The process in which the air is cooled sensibly and at the same time the moisture is removed from it
is called as cooling and dehumidification process.
❏ When the air comes in contact with the cooling coil that is maintained at the temperature below its
dew point temperature, its dry bulb temperature starts reducing.
❏ The process of cooling continues and at some point it reaches the value of dew point temperature of
the air.
❏ At this point the water vapor within the air starts getting converted into the dew particles due to
which the dew is formed on the surface of the cooling and the moisture content of the air reduces
thereby reducing its humidity level.
❏ Thus when the air is cooled below its dew point temperature, there is cooling as well as
dehumidification of air.
❏ The cooling and dehumidification process is most widely used air conditioning application.
❏ It is used in all types of window, split, packaged and central air conditioning systems for producing
the comfort conditions inside the space to be cooled.
❏ In the general the cooling and dehumidification process is obtained by passing the air over coil
through which the cool refrigerant, chilled water or cooled gas is passed.
❏ During the cooling and dehumidification process the dry bulb, wet bulb and the dew point
temperature of air reduces.
❏ Similarly, the sensible heat and the latent heat of the air also reduce leading to overall reduction in
the enthalpy of the air.
❏ The process in which the air is heated and at the same time moisture is removed from it is called as
heating and dehumidification process.
❏ This process is obtained by passing the air over certain chemicals like alumina and molecular
sieves.
❏ These elements have inherent properties due to which they keep on releasing the heat and also
have the tendency to absorb the moisture.
❏ These are called as the hygroscopic chemicals.
❏ In actual practice the hygroscopic elements are enclosed in the large vessel and the high pressure
air is passed inside the vessel through one opening.
❏ When the air comes in contact with the chemicals the moisture from the air is absorbed and since
the chemicals emit heat, the dry bulb temperature of the air increases.
❏ The hot and dehumidified air comes out from the vessel through other opening in the vessel.
❏ The inlet and outlet openings of the vessel are controlled by the valve.
❏ The heating and humidification process is commonly used for reducing the dew point temperature of
air.
❏ There are number of automatic valves in the chemical plants that are operated by the compressed
air at high pressure.
❏ If the dew point temperature of this air is high, there are chances of formation of dew inside the
valves which can lead to their corrosion and also faulty their operation.
❏ Thus it is very important that the air passing to such automatic valves have very low dew point
temperature.
❏ The heating and dehumidification process by using hygroscopic materials is used often in the air
drying units.
❏ Silica gel is most commonly used material. Molecular seives are also used but are costly(both are
abdsorbents used in cyclic operation). For very high moisture removal in a continuous process (gas
absorbtion) glycols are also used.
❏ During the heating and dehumidification process dry bulb temperature of the air increases while its
dew point and wet bulb temperature reduces.
Generally used types of dryers
 GENERAL SAFETY REQUIREMENTS FOR
COMPRESSED AIR
❏ Schedule routine maintenance. Work with your compressed air manufacturer to schedule routine
maintenance and set up systems that alert you when maintenance is required. Utilizing a remote
monitoring system will keep you updated on how machines are performing and whether or not they
need service.
❏ Check maximum pressure ratings on compressor parts. Pipes, hoses and fittings must have the
same maximum pressure as the compressor.
❏ Keep shutoff valves within reach. In case anything goes wrong, workers should be able to
immediately cut off the air source.
❏ Conduct employee training on equipment. All workers should be trained on equipment safety to
reduce injuries and accidents on the job.
❏ Display equipment directions. Make sure compressor instructions are visible for all personnel to
reference.
❏ Wear appropriate protective gear. Safety goggles, ear protection and other appropriate protective
gear should be worn when working with compressed air.
❏ Locate equipment in visible areas. Compressors should be located in an area that’s visible and
easy to access for monitoring and maintenance needs.
 NITROGEN
❑ Gaseous nitrogen is colorless, odorless, tasteless, and has inert properties,
which make it ideal for use in various industrial processes.
❑ Uses of nitrogen in process plants include:

Nitrogen blanketing

Nitrogen purging

Nitrogen injection/ Gas lifting

Gas-assisted injection moulding

 NITROGEN
❑ Gas Blanketing:
A critical nitrogen gas application is the blanketing of storage tanks for volatile
chemical compounds. Due to its inert nature, nitrogen blanketing within
storage units will keep unstable hydrocarbons from undergoing hazardous
chemical reactions.
❑ Nitrogen Purging:
Nitrogen gas with its low reactivity can be introduced into industrial gas lines
and other volatile processes to displace oxygen and other gases more prone
to spontaneous combustion or oxidation. Nitrogen purging will keep
manufacturing processes within stable and safe limits.
 NITROGEN PRODUCTION
❑ Can be produced on site or can be purchased from industrial gas vendors.
❑ On-site production is required when the use of nitrogen is continuous ,
although in small quantity.
❑ When nitrogen requirement is very less as only during startup or shutdown
nitrogen gas cylinders are bought and kept on-site.
❑ When the requirement is large but once at a time, the liquid nitrogen is stored
in large storage tank.
 NITROGEN PRODUCTION (On-site)
❑ 3 main techniques used in the industrial preparation of nitrogen gas are:

Pressure swing adsorption

Membrane nitrogen generation

Fractional distillation (Air liquefaction process)

❑ Membrane Nitrogen Production:
Membrane nitrogen generation uses a semi-permeable membrane to achieve
the separation of a stream of air into its component gases using their varied
speeds of travel.
❑ Fractional Distillation Nitrogen Production:
The process involves the supercooling of air to its liquefaction point and then
distilling its component gases at their various boiling points.
 PRESSURE SWING ADSORBTION (PSA)
❑ Uses adsorbent material to separate a gaseous mixture into its
components. PSA is a two-stage nitrogen making process that involves
adsorption and desorption ongoing simultaneously in two generation towers.
❑ Adsorption : an adsorptive tower filled with a molecular carbon sieve material,
selectively retains oxygen while allowing nitrogen to pass into a collecting
tank. This process will continue until the adsorptive tower reaches its
maximum saturation point.
❑ Desorption : Once the saturation point for an adsorptive tower is reached, its
function is changed, and oxygen is released from it (to atmosphere) to
regenerate the sieve material to enable another cycle of adsorption.
PSA for nitrogen production
 UTILITY FLOW DIAGRAM (UFD)
❑ Provides information on the flows and characteristics of all the utilities used by
the plant.
❑ It summarizes the interrelationship of utilities like air, water (various types),
steam (various types), heat transfer media, process vents and purges, safety
relief blow-down, etc., to the basic process.
❑ UFD are prepared as a separate sheet when the details are too great to be
included on the PFD.
❑ It is useful for the optimization of the system to reduce consumption of
material and energy.