Process and Mechanical Improvements, Competitors System
A client purchased a system to recover carbon disulfide from a competitor. It was an activated carbon adsorption system with hot gas regeneration and conventional refrigerated condensation. Airflow capacity, recovery efficiency and carbon life were far below warranty levels. NUCON aided the client in making process and equipment changes that enabled the system to achieve over 95% recovery efficiency with near design flow rates and extended carbon life. Many of the changes were based on information generated in bench scale equipment in the NUCON laboratory. NUCON personnel also made mechanical modifications to the equipment on a turnkey basis.
Repair Corroded Adsorbers In-Place, IBM
The adsorber vessels in a steam-based solvent recovery system had become seriously degraded and were adversely affecting the system performance. The degradation was from corrosion damage caused when the Heresite coating in the vessels failed. NUCON designed a new bed support system and other internals to eliminate the cause of the failure. The vessels were emptied, the old coating stripped, weld repairs were made and an improved support structure installed along with other modifications. A new coating was applied and the vessels were refilled with carbon. This was accomplished on a strict schedule during a scheduled system outage.
Replace Corroded Adsorbers, Eli Lilly
NUCON designed and built two adsorber vessels to replace the original ones supplied for a solvent recovery system that had failed due to improper design. The vessels were ASME Section VIII, Division 1, and fabricated from 316 stainless steel with a titanium bed support screen. They were 10 feet in diameter and 20 feet long. The design parameters were 30 psig pressure and full vacuum. Internal features included an inlet flow diffuser, water deluge fire protection spray system and a steam sparger. The vessels were delivered on schedule.