A

REPORT ON
CENTRIFUGE
LONG-RUN
IMPROVEMENT
PROJECT

Prepared By: - Siddhartha Tripathi (Manager)

Sushovan Pathak (Senior Engineer)
Bokam Prudhvi Prasad (ET)
Ram Babu Meena (ET)
CONTENTS Page no

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 Brief knowledge of centrifuge………………. 2

 Description……………………………………. 3-4

 Possible Reasons for chute choking………. 5-09

 Limitations in smooth operations…………... 10

 Possible remedies/solutions………………… 11-14

 Conclusion……………………………………. 15

BRIEF KNOWLEDGE ABOUT CENTRIFUGE

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 It is a unit operation which separates hexane and polymer by centrifugal force (many times higher
of gravity) followed by density differences.
 It is a solid bowl centrifuge. A solid bowl centrifuge is a type of centrifuge that uses the principle of
sedimentation.
 It comprises mainly of a bowl, a screw conveyor & planetary gears.

Fig. Bowl Fig. Screw Conveyor

 Bowl is rotating with the help of motor & it rotates the planetary gearbox.
 The screw is attached with the planetary gear .Planetary gear system working as shown in below
media-

 Both bowl and screw moves in same direction with a differential speed.

 The differential speed between Bowl and screw causes the wet cake to move from one end and
hexane from another.
 ML comes out from the cylindrical section of bowl through weir holes and wet cake comes out from
the conical part of bowl.
 The cylindrical part maintains a hexane pool by the weir height and conical part maintains the
beach for wet cake.
 Lube oil and sealing hexane & nitrogen are the auxiliaries for the machine parts.

DESCRIPTION

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 Manufacturer :BIRD
 Solid bowl centrifuge
 Capacity : 14.67 Tonnes/Hr
 Feed: Polymer+ hexane
 Belt no’s: 10(V belt drive).
 Weir height: 3.6inches(adjustable)
 One chute for hexane and LP and one chute for wet cake.
 Hot water insulation and steam tracing.
 Lube oil cooling for gearbox and rotating machinery.
 Hexane and Nitrogen for sealing.
 Motor : 224.00 kw
 Speed of bowl: 1345.00 rev/min
 Speed of screw: 1328.00 rev/min
 Speed of motor:1486.00rev/min
 Gear Ratio : 82:1

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 Fig: typical bowl type centrifuge

• Calculation of screw speed

The diameter of drive pulley= 19cm=D1
The diameter of driven pulley=21cm=D2
Revolution of 1 πD1 of drive pulley = 21/19 *πD1 of driven pulley
So, formula for calculating RPM of centrifuge speed
(Motor speed* πD1)= (bowl speed*21/19* πD1)
So, Bowl speed=motor speed*19/21
= 1486*19/21
=1345 rpm
The differential speed is given by
Diff. Speed = Bowl rpm / gear ratio (82:1)
In our case,
Diff. Speed = 1345 (bowl rpm) / 82 = 16.4(≈16)
Screw speed= 1345-16 = 1329 rpm

N.B: Calculated as per the data received from Mechanical dept.

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 Possible Reasons for chute choking
• Increased feed rate decreases ML clarity
Qf α 1/Rl -- increase in feed rate decreases liquid residence time.
Liquid residence (settling) time of slurry in the bowl may directly affect the degree of centrate / ML clarity,
which can be obtained. Decreasing the feed rate will increase the liquid residence time to permit more
efficiently removal of suspended solids.
If plant is running at high load then over a given period, more slurry enters the bowl, more solids displace
liquid and which provide lesser time for lighter solids to settle down/separate out from the liquid. This
increases the chances of polymer slippage/carryover to ML side through weirs and which results in
choking.

• DC Ratio
Increased DC ratio (w.r.t. specified recipe) causes more LP to circulate inside the reactor. This results in
high concentration of LP constantly building inside Reactors. It gradually increases the LP concentration of
centrifuge feed and in long run LP deposition on centrifuge starts and gets chocked over a period. As the
solid concentration in feed increases, the separation efficiency decreases.
In series grades DC1=70% (according to Mitsui it should be 50%)

• Reactor conditions
Temperature, pressure, blend ratio to be maintained as per grade recipe. At higher temperature, there is
possibility of localized heating, which leads to lump formation in reactor and in exothermic reaction, if the
temperature is being kept higher than specified range, then first it is non-favorable to reaction and it may
lead to higher amount of LP generation too. Moreover, at same H2/C2 ratio higher blend ratio increases
the more LP formation that may get deposited in ML line and leads to chocking.

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DC flow deficit in reactors are also a contributing factor for small lump formation as slurry concentration
increases then it may affect the homogeneity of CSTR slurry and adversely affect the quality and may lead
to line chocking.
Data of last two years is given below.

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 Centrifuge Chute chocking analysis
Chute Chute Remarks(if any)
cleaning Plant Blend R1 DC GM301 GM301 runnin  
Date Grade Load ratio T R2T DC1 2 Amps torque g time  
B63A003 (01-04-2019 TO
02-04-2019 02-04-2019)   2 Day of B63
B52A003 (02-04-2019 TO
30 21 Days of B52
  24-04-2019)                
P52A003 (24-04-2019 TO
7 Days of P52
02-05-2019 02-05-2019) 10.2 53/47 85 72 20 90 12.54 39.4
B63A003 (02-05-2019 TO
  10-05-2019 )                 7 Days of B63
14
B52A003 (10-05-2019 TO
7 Days of B52
  16-05-2019)                

ANNUAL SHUTDOWN NA  
B52A003 (08-06-2019 TO
  18-06-2019)                 10 Days of B52 
17
B63A003 (18-06-2019 TO
7 Days of B63
25-06-2019 25-06-2019) 16.7 50/50 85 84 90 90 13.71 56.5
09-07-2019( B52A003 (25-06-2019 TO
14
C2 SHORT) 20-07-2019) 16.7 52/48 85 80 60 85 13.95 62.3  
B52A003 (25-06-2019 TO
12
20-07-2019 20-07-2019) 12.2 52/48 84 72.5 20 90 12.44 43.5  
19 DAYS OF B63
B63A003(20-07-2019 TO
  07-08-2019)                  
14DAYS OF B52 AT AVERAGE 16 T/HR
 
51
B52A003 (07-08-2019 TO  
  06-09-2019 ) 16/13                
7 DAYS B52 WITH LOAD 13 T/HR
P52A003 (07-09-2019 TO  11 Days B52 WITH HIGH LOAD
09-09-2019 09-09-2019 ) 10.6 51/49 85 72 20 90 12.35 38.3  
B63A003(09-09-2019 TO
  21-09-2019) 13.5 T                 B63 for 12 days
B52A003(21-09-2019 TO  
  01-10-2019) 16T                 B52 for 10 days
P52A003( 01-10-2019 TO
  05-10-2019) 11.3 T              
P52 for 3 days
B63A003 (05-10-2019- 57
  15-10-2019) 18T              
B63 for 10 days

B52A003 (15-10-2019 TO B52 for 16 days

  01-11-2019) 16.8 T              
P52A003 (01-11-2019 TO P52 for 6 days
06-11-2019 06-11-2019) 12T 53/47 85 73 20 90 13.1 43.9
B63A003 (06-11-2019 TO
  14-11-2019)                 B63 for 8 Days 
B52A003 (14-11-2019 TO
B52 for 19 days
  03-12-2019)                
32
E52A003 (03-12-2019 TO
E52 for 2 days
  05-12-2019)                
P52A003 (05-12-2019 TO
P52 for 3 Days
07-12-2019 07-12-2019) 11.7 52.5/47.5 85 72.5 25 90 13.9 45.4
B63A003 (07-12-2019 TO
  16-12-2019)                 B63 for 10 Days 
22
30-12- B52A003 (17-12-2019 TO
B52 for 12 Days
2019# 30-12-2019) 17.8 53/47 85 80 70 90 15.6 62.1
B52A003 (30-12-2019 TO
  04-01-2020)                
P52A003 (04-01-2020 TO
  07-01-2020 )                
B63A003 (08-01-2020 TO
33 PLANT S/D DUE TO C2 SHORT
  15-01-2020)                
B52A003 (17-01-2020 TO
  29-01-2020)                
PLANT S/D (29-01-2020
01-02-2020 TO 02-02-2020) 17.5 52/48 54 80 70 90 15.59 65.8
B63A003 (03-02-2020 TO
  11-02-2020)                
B52A003 (12-02-2020 TO
31 21-23 FEB PLANT S/D DUE TO C2 STOCK
  01-03-2020)                
P52A003 (01-03-2020 TO
06-03-2020 06-03-2020) 10.7 52/48 85 72 25 90 14.45 60
B63A003 (06-03-2020 TO
  16-03-2020)                
NA 26-03-2020 TO 17-04-2020 COVID19
B52A003 (16-03-2020 TO
  25-03-2020)                

CORONA SHUTDOWN  
B63A003 (18-04-2020 TO 13T for
  23-04-2020) 6D               B63 for 6 days 
B52A003 (24-04-2020 TO 17T for
B52 for 9 days
  03-05-2020) 10D              
P52A003 (03-05-2020 TO 10.4T
40 P52 for 3 days
  06-05-2020) for 4D              
B63A003(06-05-2020 TO 17.4
B63 for 8 days
  14-05-2020) for 9D               7|P a g e
28-05- B52A003 (15-05-2020 TO 16.5
B52 for 14 days
2020# 28-05-2020) for 14D 53.5/46.5 85 80 65 90 15.07 60.7
B52A003 (28-05-2020 TO
  05-06-2020)                
12
P52A003 (05-06-2020 TO
09-06-2020 09-06-2020) 10.5 52/48 85 72 25 90 11.5 32.6 P52 FOR 5D
 Table:1

# : it shows unplanned cleaning of centrifuge chute

• Improper heating and loose insulation

Proper steam tracing were not wound near the flanges (where hot water jacketing is not present), which
results in temperature drop, resulting in start of chocking. In addition, delay in ML chute and line insulation
plays a vital role for choking. In addition, jacket hot water circulation temperature must be maintained >80
0
C. Insulation of centrifuge chute line should be on time after cleaning. One observation was that, one side
of the chute cannot be insulated due to lack of free space (gap between chute and upper floor support is
very narrow).

• Surface roughness in chute

Whenever planned /unplanned chute cleaning takes place, cleaning of the chute and its line is being done
by a non-sparking tool (brass rod/scraper) by poking and scraping. Periodically cleaning of chute with brass
(metal) rod, results in erosion/smoothness-reduction of chute internal surface. This can be a reason for
roughness, which initiates LP to settle/ deposited and starts accumulation. Surface roughness must be
checked periodically and it can be smoothened by chemical polishing or buffing of inner chute surface. Also
it was observed that the bellow portion has a bent which restricts smooth flow of polymer. Needed to be
changed.

• High superfine particles in feed

Upon an increase in the quantity of superfine particles, separation of the suspension became more difficult
as more liquid will be retained by the increased surface area of solid, which results in higher residual
moisture, and high moisture content of discharged cake and possibly a higher ML solid content.

Series grades powder are finer than parallel grades.

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 Limitations in Smooth Operation

 High load
Plant needs to be run at high load most instances due to our high demand and competition in market. Our
centrifuge is of capacity up to 14.67TPH but the grades run not less than 17 T/hr( if no other limitation
occurs).

 700 area limitation

At high plant load or high hexane load at 700- area, we face the limitation in processing the hexane and LP
mixture in Stripper reboiler. When the plant is running at high load, VV301/VV701 level is being seen in
increasing trend. Therefore, we have to increase the stripper feed but reboiler has a limit to process .Then
stripper level Increases, which results in decreasing the stripper feed and subsequently level increase in
both vessel has forced to increase DC1 ratio. By which LP concentration in reaction area increase and so
centrifuge feed LP concentration, leads to chute chocking.

 High Demands of series grade material

Series grades have high LP content, which gradually deposit in chute. Maximum schedule and uncertain
cleaning of chute done after series grades (refer Table), But due to high demand of series grade material,
plant to be run in series mode.

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 Possible Solutions and Remedies
 DC ratios must be adhere with recipe sheet
DC ratios must not be increased to reduce hexane load towards 700-area because it increases the LP
circulation in reactors. It observed that when the series grade is running, then for increasing the load DC
ratio of first reactor is changed/ increased. Due to this LP concentration in the reaction area increases, due
to which chances of LP deposition in lines increases, which leads to centrifuge chocking.

 Blend ratio must be adhere with recipe sheet

Generally, in series grade for higher load, when the blend ratio of ethylene changes, if it increases in the
high MFR Reactor (generally R-1) then it contributes in LP generation more, thus increases the chance of
deposition in the chute and its lines, and chances of centrifuge chute chocking too.

 Heating of centrifuge and its chute

Improper insulation and loose cladding will increase the temperature drop in the chute loop, which leads
to low polymer deposition along the lines, and after some time decreases the heat transfer through it and
more deposition result in chocking. When the centrifuge chute-cleaning job takes place then after the job
completion, insulation on it to be provided ASAP.
<MCI Reply> on centrifuge chute chocking-
Inside surface temperature of chute might be the most important. Jacketed line should be kept more than
80℃, and flange connection part and CVs should be reinforced HW tracing and insulation.

 Use of RZ catalyst to optimum quantity

The use of RZ catalyst increases the particle size (particle becomes coarser) than that of PZ. Thus, the
production of finer polymer particle and LP generation reduces. LP generation reduction is beneficial for
lowering the possibility of chute choking. Nevertheless, weir height to be adjusted accordingly that
polymer slippage towards ML will not occur.
N.B.: Care should be taken because too much use of RZ catalyst leads to very less generation of LP, and
quality of LP shifts towards higher chain polymer a little-bit. Therefore, on higher plant load, the slippage of
higher chain LP and polymer carryover in ML increases, which leads to chocking of lines and trouble in
transferring of that LP in area-700. So it is good if we use RZ only in series grades like B52A003,P52A003
etc, which has higher LP generation rate (2.4% LP ) and in lower quantity in Parallel grades(0.4 % LP).

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  Increase of differential speed between bowl and screw to an optimum level.
The increase in bowl speed will enhance the dry substance content of the discharged cake to the point
where “Downhill “ force acting to the conical section(force acting on solid on beach section) becomes so
large that the solids are no longer transported upward the conical section but instead accumulate in the
machine and clog it.
Increasing the effective gear ratio means lowering the differential speed, provides more residence time to
solid and increase the cake dryness. Therefore, to decrease the solid slippage in the ML, it is necessary to
increase the differential speed (If Possible) to an optimum level with weir height keeping in mind.

 Weir height adjustment

At higher plant load, the residence time reduces in centrifuge, but the pool depth is fixed by the weir
height, which decreases the residence time for the polymer particles to settle in the bottom. These
polymer particles are carried over to the ML side, which can result in ML chute choking. Over a long run,
there may be chances of weir loose/ change. So, weir height checking should be done periodically.
According to Bird, weir heights should increase if there is high feed rate.
N.B: Too much increase in weir height leads to reduction of the beach portion in centrifuge, which
increases hexane/volatile content in the wet cake.

 Continuous centrifuge chute flushing

During continuous operation, the chute at the outlet of Centrifuge GM-301 (ML side), got choked by the
deposition of the low polymer in the ML. This results in blockage of flow of ML and hence performance of
centrifuge deteriorated. This situation forces to reduce the plant and finally shutdown of plant is
unavoidable for minimum 5-6 hrs for cleaning of the chute. For every cleaning activity of chute, a
shutdown period of at least 6 Hrs. is required and hence plant downtime and loss of productivity.
MCI (Licensor) has contacted for the centrifuge chute-chocking problem. A scheme (Annexure-1) was
proposed by MCI, which was implemented in their plant too. There they provided dedicated lines through
the centrifuge and its chute for continuous flushing. Hence, the chances of deposition on the wall
decreases due to slipperiness. The continuous flushing consisted flushing on centrifuge bowl, its chute and
line. This modification will be helpful in preventing of bowl space chocking and centrifuge chute choking.

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proposed flushing design is given below:

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Note: At all flushing point there will be the provision of pure hexane too, which can be used once in a shift to flush
the line.

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 Conclusion
From the data acquired and with discussing with senior personals, it is found that for long run of centrifuge
we may consider some points which may improve the performance.

 DC ratio and blend ratio must adhere with specified.

 Optimum use of RZ catalyst.
 Weir height and weir clearance checking periodically, weir height adjustment with load.
 Heating of centrifuge chute and its line must be checked, insulation to be provided immediately after job
completion.
 Use effective gear ratio.
 Provision of continuous centrifuge chute flushing or intermittently line flushing by pure hexane to be
provided.
 Centrifuge feed line insulation to be provided; increasing the feed temperature, will lower the feed viscosity
and assist in the separation.
 Centrifuge inner surface roughness to be inspected time to time (in ATR) and do chemical polishing or
buffing if required.
 Process must be run with specified parameters.
 Plan the centrifuge chute cleaning periodically and not wait for the breakdown.

Thank
you

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