Debottlenecking: Exploiting Opportunities to Boost Performance

Related Vendors

Glatt Ingenieurtechnik GmbH

Pörner Ingenieurgesellschaft mbH

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In these examples, Lanxess and VTU are taking a structured approach to debottlenecking, whereas in other projects success is based on improvement suggestions submitted by plant personnel. That is hardly surprising, as these are the people who are most familiar with what goes on every day.

Employees know “their” system best

In one practical example, three BASF employees who work in Sokalan production (softener additives which prevent colors from fading when clothes are washed) came up with an idea for a new filter which alleviates a bottleneck and cuts filtration time by more than half. The background is as follows. Contaminants must be filtered out before the product can be transferred from the reactor to a storage tank. It previously took 2–4 hours to decontaminate a 20 t batch. Because the capacity of the filter was not sufficient for the product volume and the system design would not accommodate a larger filter, two filters had to be installed one behind the other. The new filter, which is based on the suggestion submitted by the employees, has 70 percent more filter area. The larger filter area is sufficient to achieve the specified filtration quality level (100 µm) with a single filter. Filtration time decreases to around two hours per batch.

The suggestion program at plastics maker Vinnolit is also paying good dividends. A production employee proposed an alternate method for cleaning a distillation column.

The column, which is used to clean intermediates, became contaminated several times a year and normally had to be shut down for two days at a time so that it could be rinsed and dried before it went back into operation. This work restricted production throughout the entire plant. Following some process engineering modifications, the column is now rinsed with condensate during ongoing operation, avoiding loss of production and significantly reducing the amount of effluent.

Debottlenecking using Pinch technology

A significant amount of the energy costs generated by process equipment are incurred when material flows are heated and cooled. Pinch technology provides a systematic approach to energy consumption optimization. An implementation strategy is defined following an assessment of cost-effectiveness, energy-efficiency and investment cost.

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