MechChem Africa December 2018

Field-tested techniques for distillation processes and equipment A course by Henry Kister

From 29-31 July 2019, the KwaZulu-Natal SAIChE IChemE branch will be hosting a course on practical distillation technology by world-renowned distillation expert Henry Kister, which aims to give comprehensive coverage of distillation technology, with particular emphasis on the problems that can occur and how to solve them.

H enry Kister is a recognised spe- cialist with a vast background in all phases of distillation, includ- ing operation, troubleshooting, design, start-up and research. At Fluor he designs, revamps and advises on distillation processes, equipment and controls for the chemical, petrochemical and oil industries. He is also extensively involved in field con- sulting, start-up and troubleshooting assign- ments and in developing Fluor’s in-house distillation technology. He is the author of three textbooks, Distillation Operation ; and Distillation Design ; (McGraw-Hill Inc, 1990 & 1992) and Distillation Troubleshooting (Wiley

Interscience, 2006). He has published over 100 technical papers and presented this course over 500 times. Kister’s down-to-earth course, gives com- prehensive coverage of distillation technol- ogy, withparticular emphasis on theproblems that can occur and how to solve them. It providesanexcellentopportunitytodevelopa workingknowledgeofkeytechniquesthatcan promote trouble-free operation and reduce distillation costs. Ideally suited to engineering and supervi- sory personnel who are involved inoperating, troubleshooting, de-bottlenecking, designing and starting up distillation processes, the course content includes:

• Troubleshooting a distillation column and determine what may cause poor performance. • Evaluating existing column performance and developing new designs. • Avoiding common causes of capacity bottlenecks, tray damage, downcomer sealing problems, packed tower distribu- tor malfunctions and many other operat- ing difficulties. • De-bottlenecking a column to improve capacity and/or separation efficiency. • How to control and operate a distillation column. • Validating tower simulation models. Theprogrammeoutline, whichmaybe subject to change, includes: 1 Avoiding fractionation pitfalls? The key concepts of vapour-liquid equilibrium (VLE) and simulation traps are covered. Should we believe the simulation? Issues with close-boilers and non-idealities: why do some heavy components go up while the simulation thinks they should go down? CanVLE data be trusted or not? Multi-componentdistillation,composition profiles, side-draws, accumulation and cycling problems will be dealt with and what operators need to watch out for will be highlighted. 2 Troubleshooting distillation simulations: Does your simulation reflect the real world? This part of the course deals with how poor simulation can lead to incor- rect problem diagnosis. What validation checks areneeded?Howfar shouldwe go? Delegateswill be presentedwith sensitiv- ity analyses, graphics and directly useful tips for simulation troubleshooting. 3 Tray hydraulics and limits: Content for this session includes: Visualisation of vapour-liquid dispersions on trays, flood- ing, entrainment, weeping and dumping; along with flood mechanisms such as jet (entrainment), system limits, downcomer

6 ¦ MechChem Africa • December 2018