Combination of sealed source and radiotracer technique to understand malfunctioning in a chemical plant

Pure terphthalic acid (PTA) is produced by the oxidation of paraxylene in an oxidation reactor of a PTA plant. Since the reaction is exothermic, the temperature rises above 210 °C. Vapours formed in the reactor are passed through a series of heat exchangers and the cooled liquid is fed back to the reactor, which flows to the reactor by gravity. In one of the heat exchangers, improper flow distribution in the inlet and outlet pipelines was suspected. Maldistribution of flow in the heat exchanger was also suspected. Gamma scanning of the pipelines and a radiotracer experiment were carried out in the heat exchanger to study the malfunctioning. A specially fabricated pipe scanner was used to scan both 24 in diameter and 16 in diameter pipelines. From gamma scanning of the pipelines mostly on the bends, absence of the full bore flow of the liquid was observed. Presence of vapours along with the liquid could be obstructing the liquid flow, thereby causing the malfunctioning. A radiotracer experiment was also carried out to study the flow pattern in the heat exchanger. From the experiment, mean residence time of the heat exchanger was estimated as 470 s, which theoretically should be about 102 s. It indicated that the flow is decelerated in the heat exchanger because of the presence of vapour lock in the tube side.