Sealless pump design tackles HF alkylation

Magnetic drive sealless pumps featuring new applied sciences, specifically designed to be used in Hydrofluoric Acid (HF) Alkylation, have been developed in response to the challenges of dealing with HF acid.
The new HMD Kontro sealless pump ensures conformity with all environmental well being and safety standards through complete fluid containment. – Image: HMD Kontro
Hydrofluoric acid alkylation is a chemical/hydrocarbon processing software which poses explicit challenges to process operators, including the risks associated with the dealing with of a lethal, highly corrosive fluid which poses a potential hazard to plant gear, the individuals who work on web site and the broader surroundings should leaks occur.
The process
HF Alkylation combines olefins (primarily a mix of propylene and butylene) with isobutene in the presence of a hydrofluoric acid catalyst to supply alkylate. A high-octane additive, alkylate is a crucial security element that offsets the excessive vapour stress of the ethanol mandated in today’s low-sulphur unleaded petrol and gasoline provides. The continuous tightening of clean fuels’ laws has increased the demand for alkylate, which can be liable for the anti-knocking property of unleaded petrol/gasoline in modern vehicles.
Potential dangers
The HF alkylation process poses a selection of critical environmental and health and security dangers if poorly managed, with the potential for acid runaway, accelerated gear corrosion and associated HF launch. HF acid by its nature seeks out and assaults imperfections in solid metal elements that may finally scale back the life of pumps, valves and different equipment and worse still, end in product leakage. Failure-prone mechanical seals can leak dangerous process fluids. The aggressive and damaging nature of HF acid places great significance on the choice of material of forged parts, significantly when it comes to the pump casing and impeller.
Designed for resistance towards extremely corrosive fluids such as HF acids, magnetic drive sealless pumps supply total containment with built-in reliability. Magnetic drive sealless pumps featuring new applied sciences have been specifically designed to be used in hydrofluoric acid alkylation items and have been developed in response to the challenges of dealing with HF acid.
Magnetic drive sealless pumps that includes new technologies have been particularly designed for use in hydrofluoric acid alkylation models and have been developed in response to the challenges of dealing with HF acid. – Image: HMD Kontro
HMD Kontro HF pump
The result of shut collaboration between UOP Honeywell, the main licensor of HF alkylation technology and HMD Kontro, and using an progressive improvement course of, the HMD Kontro HF pump contains a excessive integrity pump casing manufactured from Alloy C22 (ASTM A194 Gr. CX2MW) which has been tested using new methods of Non-Destructive Examination (NDE).
Specialist design options
Built into the design of those subsequent era pumps are features which meet operator-specific wants for the HF alkylation course of. They include a pump casing in Alloy C22 supplies, which has been proven to supply the mandatory resistance to corrosion and likewise meets NDE requirements for HF acid. In addition, the pump’s secondary containment system is rated to 40 bar (580 psi), eliminating the potential of leakage into the environment, and reducing operational risks and the associated costs to fulfill stringent environmental and health and safety goals. Finally, there could be continuous monitoring to ensure a reliable sealless pump efficiency which incorporates leak detection instrumentation and protection towards dry pump running (power control monitor).
With Explode to leak, no seal buffer systems to assist and preserve and no supporting techniques, the latest magnetic drive sealless pump know-how provides important safety, cost and operational advantages. Lower end-user set up costs and simplified upkeep requirements, make it an effective whole-life proposition compared to typical mechanically sealed pumps.
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