Vessel Sizing

Purpose of Vessels

•Holdup?
•Surge?
•Separation?
•or all?
 Purpose
• Holdup
–How long should the downstream equipment be able to run if
the upstream equipment is shut down?

No Flow

Operating Equipment
 Purpose
• Surge
–How long should the upstream equipment be able to run if the
downstream equipment is shut down?

Continued/
Increased
Flow

No/Normal Flow
 Purpose
• Separation
Vapor

Mixed Vapor
and Liquid

Liquid
 Tour the Vessel
Top Tangent Line (TTL)

Nozzle

HHLL
HHLL
HLL
HLL
NLL
NLL
LLL Liquid
LLL
Levels
LLLL
LLLL

Bottom Tangent Line

2:1 Ellipsoidal Head
(BTL)
 Vessels
• Flash Drums
• Knock-Out Drums
• Surge Drums
• Reflux Drums
• Blowdown Drum (Flare Knock-out Drum)
• Steam Drum
• Slug Catcher
• Decoking Drum
• Desalter
 Vessel Service
• Highly Toxic/Lethal Service
• Special design, fabrication, inspection, etc. requirements

• Sour Water and Amine Service

• Liquid water and at least 10 ppm H2S, or
• Liquid water and at least 10 ppm of H2S and CN (or other
metallurgical poisons such as P, As, Se, Sb and Te which can cause
hydrogen attack).

• Required to undergo testing to ensure that welds do not exceed a

maximum Brinell hardness
 Vessel Service

• Wet Sour Service

• Wet-sour service is defined as a service in which the process stream
contains liquid water and the associated sour gas is at a pressure of at
least 65 psia with the hydrogen partial pressure greater than 0.05 psia

• Liquid water in which hydrogen sulfide is dissolved at a

concentration of at least 50 ppmw.

• Sour services that are normally dry, but subject to intermittent wet
conditions (i.e., steam-out, water wash, condensation during shut-in,
etc.) may also be classified as sour-wet service
 Vessel Service
• Hydrogen Service
• Owing to the small size of hydrogen molecules, there is a possibility
that the hydrogen gas will diffuse through the metal walls and
become trapped in voids, causing blisters in plate laminations,
resulting in failure.

• Process Engineer specifies the hydrogen partial pressure in the

equipment data sheet.

• This assists in material selection using Nelson Curves, where various

materials are plotted against temperature and partial pressure of
hydrogen.
 Vessel Service

• Cyclic Service
• Total number of process condition cycles during its expected life exceeds
the criteria set forth in Section VIII of the ASME code.
• Involved in batch operation
• Unfired Steam Boilers
• Vessels in which steam is generated at a pressure exceeding 50 psig and
incidental to the operation of a process system require special
consideration in fabrication and testing
 What do you need to know to begin?

• How much plot space is available?

• offshore/onshore

• Transportation Limits
• Limit on diameter/length?

• Overdesign Requirements
 What do you need to know to begin?

o Vessel Orientation: Horizontal or Vertical?

 no single calculation can decide
 often based on experience and design of similar services
 Consider relative amount of phases
 Only rigorous method: Calculate the size of the vessel both
ways, and choose the less costly
 General Guideline – Vertical v/s
Horizontal

Vertical Horizontal
• High volume fraction of  Low volume fraction of
gas gas
• Minimization of layout  Long residence time
• Greater sensitivity in requirement for liquid
controlling liquid level  Rapid variation in
• Small volume vessel flowrate
Holdup / Surge Requirements
 What do you need to calculate?
• Vessel Diameter
• Need for separation
• Need to maintain a reasonable L/D (2 < L/D < 5)

• Vessel Height/Length
• Need for holdup/surge
 Separation Design Methods

 There are two main separation methods :

– Target Particle Separation (when particle dia is known)

– Impingement Separation (wire mesh / vane elements)
 Target Particle Separation
• Determine Settling Velocity by balancing forces over
droplet

4 gd p (  l   v ) Implicit Equation
vt 
3  v Cd Cd = ƒ (vt)
 Target Particle Separation
Therefore determine CdRe² & determine regime

 v d p vt 4 gd 3p (  l   v )  v
Re  Cd Re 2 
v 3 v2

v t  settling velocity of dispersed phase (m/s)

d p  diameter of dispersed particle (m)
 v  density of continuous phase (kg/m³)
 l  density of dispersed phase (kg/m³)
µ v  absolute viscosity of continuous phase (Pa.s)
C d  drag coefficient
 Target Particle Separation

• Stoke's Regime (CD·Re²

576< 2.44)
Cd 
Cd Re 2

• CdRegime
Intermediate 
 fn log[
(2.44C<d CRe
2

] < 445,000)
D·Re²

• Newton's Regime  0.44 < 1.76E+10 < C ·Re²)

Cd (445,000
D
 Target Particle Separation

• Intermediate Regime

Cd

CdRe²
 Target Particle Separation
• For Vertical Vessel va  fvt
Qv
Amin 
va

va 4Amin
Dmin 

v t  settling velocity of liquid droplet (m/s)
f  design margin (between 0 and 1)
vt v a  allowable velocity of vapour phase (m/s)
Q v  volumetric flow of vapour phase (m³/s)
A min  minimum vessel area (m²)
D min  minimum vessel diameter (m)
Target Particle Separation
 Target Particle Separation
• Horizontal Vessel

va

vt

For droplet separation :

Time to drop to liquid < time to travel vessel length
Target Particle Separation
Lv

hv
HLL or HHLL

Time to drop to liquid level = hv / vt

Time to travel vessel length = Lv / va
Lv
Therefore : va  vt
hv
Horizontal - Vapour Area
D2
AL    sin  
8
D 2 D2
hv Av     sin  
4 8
Av where
 2hL 
  2 cos 1 1  
AL  d 
hL  liquid level
hL
Qv
v
Av
 Horizontal Sizing Checks

• Is v < va ? i.e. has droplet separated?

• Is liquid holdup and surge satisfactory?
• Is 2 < L/D < 5?

If not revisit Diameter and/or Length

Horizontal Sizing Checks
Horizontal Sizing Checks
 Impingement Method/K-Values

• K-Values are empirical quantities used in sizing equations.

• VESA uses K-Values in three types of calculations:
• Vapor-Liquid disengagement (vertical separators)
• Demisters
• Vapor-Liquid disengagement (horizontal separators)
 K-Values (Demister)

• Demisters coalesce smaller particles into larger particles. Larger

particles are easier to separate because they have higher vertical
velocities.
• Demister function depends on impingement of liquid particles on mesh
surface.
Reference Demister K Values
Horizontal K value Multiplier
 Inlet Box

• To reduce inlet kinetic energy and entrainment

dn

hl=2*dn+6”
 Liquid/Liquid Separation
Will the Blue Droplet be able to rise into the vessel before
being drawn down with the red liquid?
 Horizontal Liquid-Liquid

Boot Dome Neither

High ratio of light High ratio of Similar quantities

to heavy heavy to light
Horizontal Vapor-Liquid-Liquid
Boot
Baffle

Similar quantities
High ratio of light to heavy

Weir None

High ratio of heavy to light

Similar quantities
 Design versus Rating Mode

• Design Mode is for sizing new vessels.

• Rating mode is for rating an existing drum.
 Vertical Versus Horizontal Vessels

• Vertical Vessels - The minimum diameter of the vessel is

controlled by disengagement. The tangent-to-tangent height is
governed by surge, holdup and clearance requirements.
• Horizontal Vessels - Both the diameter and the T/T length of the
vessel affect disengagement, surge, holdup and clearance
requirements.
• In general, horizontal vessels are more difficult to size than
vertical vessels.
Questions and Wrap-Up