Experimental Facilities

Personnel Safety

On November 2, of 2009, one employee's hard hat fell about 50 feet onto the back of the neck of another employee. As a result of that accident, two new procedures were authored. Subsequent to that accident, there have been no additional accidents.

Experimental Unit

At the heart of the FRI experimental facility are two commercial-scale distillation columns and the equipment supporting their operation. For most programs, a single column is used, although a two-column-in-series setup is possible. With these two columns, FRI has the capability to operate with system pressures ranging from deep vacuum in the low pressure column, to 500psia in the high pressure column. Internal hardware may be either 48” or 96” (LP only) diameter. Both columns are a closed-system design used to study the efficiency and capacity of any given internal hardware configuration. Each column has gamma ray scanning capability to determine liquid holdup at various positions along the column.

Standard test systems used in FRI operations consist of isobutane/N-butane, cyclohexane/N-Heptane and paraxylene/orthoxylene.

HP and LP Column Reboilers

A reboiler and condenser specific to the pressure design support each column while both systems share the use of an accumulator, feed tank, auxiliary heat exchangers, control loops, instrumentation, circulation pumps and major piping. Spectacle blinds are used to isolate each system from the other in the common piping. Both the high and low-pressure reboilers are kettle type with U-tubes. The high-pressure reboiler is rated for a heat load of 12,000,000 BTU/hr, vaporizing propane at 500 psig. It has a design pressure of 210 psig at 400°F for the tubes and 525 psig at 400°F for the shell. The low-pressure reboiler is rated for a heat load of 15,000,000 BTU/hr, vaporizing butane at 150 psig. It has a design pressure of 200 psig at 650°F for the tubes and 175 psig at 350° for the shell.

HP and LP Column Condensers

Both the high-pressure and the low-pressure condensers are of the internal floating head type. The high-pressure condenser is a type AET, rated for a maximum heat load of 12,000,000 BTU/hr, when condensing propane at 500 psig. It has a design pressure of 150 psig at 400°F for the tubes and 525 psig at 400°F for the shell. The low-pressure condenser is a type ET-3. Like the low pressure reboiler, it is rated for a maximum heat load of 15,000,000 BTU/hr when condensing butane at 150 psig. It has a design pressure of 200 psig at 650°F for the tubes and from 175 psig to full vacuum at 350° for the shell.