Crude argon column for air separation unit

The amount of liquid nitrogen removed from the lower column of the air separation unit will affect the purity of the liquid nitrogen in the lower column and the oxygen enriched liquid air at the bottom of the column. When the liquid nitrogen removal amount of the lower column increases, the reflux liquid participating in the heat and mass exchange of the lower column will be reduced, the temperature rise of the rising steam on the column plate will be correspondingly reduced, the condensation of the rising steam will not be sufficient, the oxygen component will be condensed less, the purity of nitrogen at the column top will be reduced, and the purity of liquid nitrogen will be naturally reduced. At the same time, the temperature rise of the downflow liquid will increase, the liquid evaporation will be more sufficient, more nitrogen components will be evaporated to the top of the column, and the purity of the liquid air at the bottom of the column will be improved accordingly.

Shell and tube air separation heat exchanger is the most representative wall heat exchanger. It has a long history of application and is still dominant in all heat exchangers. Shell and tube heat exchanger is mainly composed of shell, tube bundle, tube sheet and head. Most of the shell is round, and there are parallel tube bundles inside. Both ends of the tube bundle are fixed on the tube plate. In shell and tube heat exchanger, there are two kinds of fluids for heat exchange. One kind of fluid flows in the tube, and its stroke is called tube side. The other flows outside the tube and its stroke is called shell side. The wall of tube bundle is the heat transfer surface. In order to improve the heat transfer coefficient of the fluid outside the tube, a certain number of transverse baffles are usually installed in the shell. The baffle can not only prevent the short circuit of the fluid and increase the velocity of the fluid, but also force the fluid to flow through the tube bundle man