How Pipe Flow Analysis Enhances Chemical Processing

Do you really understand what's happening throughout your chemical processing system? In all applications, but especially with chemical processing, it's important to understand how your system is behaving and to ensure the requirements for the system, including temperature, environmental influences, pressure, flow, etc. are met.

AFT addresses pipe flow analysis for chemical processing applications with two sophisticated modeling software solutions: AFT Fathom for steady-state and "slow-moving transients", and AFT Impulse for "fast-moving transients", also known as waterhammer/surge analysis.

You know that you've got fluid moving, but AFT Fathom or AFT Impulse can help engineers visualize what's happening in situations such as opening and closing valves, when check valves open and close, during emergency shutdowns, and many other scenarios.

Proper pipe flow analysis can provide a full understanding of what's going on throughout your system to help you increase reliability and efficiency.

How AFT software is commonly utilized in chemical processing:

1. Design and Sizing of Piping Networks:

a. Flow Rate and Pressure Drop Calculations: Determine the required pipe sizes to achieve desired flow rates while maintaining acceptable pressure drops.

b. Material Selection: Choose appropriate materials for pipes based on the chemical properties of the fluids being transported.

c. Thermal Analysis: Analyze heat transfer in pipes to ensure temperature control of the fluids.

2. Simulation and Modeling:

a. Steady-State and Transient Simulations: Model both steady-state and dynamic behaviors of fluid flow to predict system performance under various operating conditions.

b. Easily evaluate a great multitude of operating scenarios where various pumps are operating in different ways, control valves at different set points, etc.

3. Optimization and Troubleshooting:

a. System Optimization: Optimize pipe networks for energy efficiency, cost, and performance.

b. Debottlenecking: Identify and resolve bottlenecks of high pressure drop in the system to enhance flow and reduce pressure losses. In one case, AFT customer LyondellBasell used AFT Fathom to perform a hydraulic study to evaluate a 28% chemical process production increase. With success! The AFT Fathom model enabled the engineer to find cost-effective and simple modifications to increase production, saving on project costs and completing work ahead of schedule.

4. Compliance and Safety:

a. Regulatory Compliance: Ensure the design meets industry standards and regulatory requirements such as American Petroleum Institute (API) and Hydraulic Institute (HI) - Pump Preferred Operating Range (POR) API 610 and ANSI/HI 9.6.3-2017, and many others.

b. Safety Analysis: Perform hazard and operability studies (HAZOP) and risk assessments to ensure the safe operation of the pipeline system. AFT's customer Hatch used AFT Impulse to work with the HAZOP committee to re-validate the design and operation of a production facility in the North Sea.

Proactive or Reactive? 

When utilizing pipe flow analysis in most chemical processing applications, there are two important considerations: proactive and reactive. While some engineering teams reactively use AFT to troubleshoot issues, many others proactively use the software to determine if a pumping system will run efficiently and reliably.

In a Chemical processing facility, many different variables could impact the operation of the piping system at any given time. If you're having a problem with a current system that's already been designed and in place, you need a clear understanding of exactly what's happening and what's causing the problem. For new system designs, modeling the system from the start with a proven software solution from an industry leader, means confidence that you are mitigating the risks of failure down the line.

1. Troubleshooting. Uptime and productivity are the biggest impacts for the bottom line. If you are having operational issues with your system or if you're making changes to system components or redesigning flow paths, how are you ensuring optimal and reliable operation? Are you adding pipe or are you adding a new process within a plant that's physically already built? What are the requirements of the system with regard to temperatures, pressures, flows, etc?

2. An Aid to Your Process Simulation Tools. Process simulation tools do very heavy lifting for all the unit operations in a chemical plant and each flow stream requires a flow rate, pressure, temperature, and composition as input to the unit ops. But how are you sure that you are getting the right flows, pressures, and temperatures that you need? Using pipe flow analysis software is a great supplement to your process simulation tools so that you can ensure you are getting the right values in the piping that are being specified in your feed streams.

By leveraging pipe flow software like AFT Fathom and AFT Impulse, chemical processing engineers can enhance the efficiency, safety, and reliability of fluid transport systems in their operations.