18 metric ton per hour Toluene Recovery System, all stainless steel, dual-column distillation system was designed to separate and purify up to 18 mt/hr of toluene from a complex mixture including isomers, Bisphenol-A, and water.
The system consists of a feed tank, vaporizer, pre-flash vessel, upper column, lower column, two column reboilers, and two overhead condensers with vacuum jets.
In this design, up to 20 mt/hr of crude toluene enters the feed tank at 60oC and 1.0 bar-absolute. There is a low-pressure steam coil in the 304 stainless steel feed tank. The crude toluene is then pumped through the vaporizer rated for 2.0 MM kcal/hr where the temperature is increased to 120°C. After the crude toluene is vaporized, it enters the pre-flash vessel operated at 120°C and 1.1 bar-absolute. The bottoms from the pre-flash vessel enter the middle section of the 304 stainless steel upper toluene column. This column is 1 meter diameter by 8.3 meters tall with two packed sections and operates at 111°C and 1.02 bar-absolute in the top section and 177°C and 1.04 bar-absolute in the bottom section.
| # | Component | Qty | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | V-536 | 1 | Lower toluene column |
| 02 | N-518-A | 1 | Toluene column feed pumps |
| 03 | N-518-B | 1 | Toluene column feed pumps |
| 04 | N-522-A | 1 | Upper toluene column reboiler pumps |
| 05 | N-522-B | 1 | Upper toluene column reboiler pumps |
| 06 | N-519-A | 1 | Lower toluene column reboiler pumps |
| 07 | N-519-B | 1 | Lower toluene column reboiler pumps |