Having a bottleneck in your chemical plant will decrease efficiency and/or throughput. This can be difficult to pinpoint. If you make changes by guessing where the bottleneck is, this can be very costly and may not even solve the issue. COSTELLO’s professional engineers are experts at helping to debottleneck plants by using ChemCad, which can save you from a major headache in the future.
How does the ChemCad process work and what does it involve? Let’s take a look at how COSTELLO can use ChemCad to help remove your process bottlenecks.
What is ChemCad?
ChemCad is a chemical process simulation software. It can be used to create a virtual model of your plant and do analysis on what is happening on the inside. The software can be used to predict what your theoretical yield and output should be based on input chemicals and processes being used.
If your theoretical yield and actual yield don’t match, then it is time to go to work with an analysis of the plant. The model can be used to determine just where your bottleneck may be.
How Does It Work?
The process starts with the construction of a virtual model of your plant. Engineers will need to know the layout of your plant. This includes information like the specific sizes and geometry of such certain components:
- Piping, tubing, columns and other mediums (this includes types and sizes so that flow rates can be determined).
- Major equipment like mixers, heat exchangers and storage tanks.
- Pumps, motors and other flow equipment.
The chemical process that is being used must also be understood in detail. ChemCad has the ability to model most conventional processes. It also can be programmed for custom processes as long as there is enough data to support the mechanics of the process.
Simulation to Find the Bottleneck
Once all of the physical processes and hardware have been input, the result is a virtual model of the plant. The model can then be analyzed to find where the bottlenecks in the processes are. For example, say your plant uses a heat exchanger; for the proper temperatures to be reached, the model predicts that you need 170 tubes in the exchanger. Unfortunately, yours only has 140. That means to reach the desired temperature, there’s a longer residence time in the heat exchanger, causing a bottleneck or slow down in the system and ultimately the production rate.
ChemCad would flag this potential issue giving you and the COSTELLO engineering team the data you need within 97 percent accuracy to begin to make changes.
Engineering Expertise You Can Leverage
Once the potential bottlenecks have been located, COSTELLO’s engineers can help you find the right solution for your plant. Resizing equipment, replacing equipment or even utilizing a process modification are all potential solutions for your plan.
ChemCad Does More
Not only is ChemCad capable of static solutions like this, but it can also be used for dynamic solutions as well. ChemCad can be used to train your employees in a real-time, with a simulation in dynamic mode.
COSTELLO Can Help Leverage ChemCad for You
Looking to make use of ChemCad for your plant? Learn more about the services COSTELLO offers!
Phone: 310-792-5870 Email: rcca@rccostello.com
Website: rccostello.com