Estimating fouling and hydraulic debottlenecking of a clarifier piping
system in an industrial expansion
Abstract
Debottlenecking and estimating fouling in a clarifier piping system was
analyzed and modified. The existing clarifier piping system fitting data
was gathered for the real-world operation from the field. This data was
used in Applied Flow Technology (AFT). The two piping roughness factor
cases tested were roughness of 0.0005 ft and fouling of 1 inch. The AFT
Fathom results showed that without piping modifications and specifying
fouling of 1 inch, flow cannot be established due to insufficient
driving force for liquid movement. The measured field flow data
confirmed that the reduced clarifier capacity was due to high pressure
losses in the system. It was found that the existing clarifier nozzle
was inadequately designed originally, and replacing the nozzle showed an
increase in the clarifier capacity due to reduced air entrainment. These
modifications were further adapted in the plant expansion and operations
were validated using the actual plant data.