it was decided to look at a simulation of the column on CHEMCAD. “A pipe fouling issue had plagued the feed to a particular distillation. “With a single CHEMCAD model using CC-THERM fouling factor calculations, utility costs were reduced 10% ($12,000/mo).”
By removing the stripper bottleneck, the combined annual steam and electrical savings are $320,000/year.” Increasing capacity is the most important part of this project. “With CHEMCAD, it is unbelievable that I can accomplish in a day what used to take two or three weeks. Tony Nocera, Great Lakes Chemicals (now Chemtura) This led to a capital cost savings of $250,000 for a single project.” Because of the simulation model, it employs two columns in a distillation train that uses three in an older facility. “The one completed new plant is operating successfully. Zvi Merchav, Principal, Merchav Engineering we increased the capacity (of Udex, Sulfolane, & NMP processes) by 30-50% with a total investment of $1-1.5M.”