264 UNDERSTANDING PROCESS EQUIPMENT FOR OPERATORS AND ENGINEERS

Compressor
suction drum

Comp Refrigerant
flow
psig

psig Condenser

Oil Reactor
Vent dran

Water New
Refrigerant pump
mist
receiver

Make-up Feed
refrig.

Effluent
Oil
dran

FIG. 33.3 Additional improvements.

“Right. We can purchase some mist nozzles from Walmart (see Fig. 33.3) and set them
about three feet back from the F.D. air cooler fans. Not to get the fins on the tubes wet, but
to humidify and cool the air.”
“I don’t know. You’re gonna need a couple dozen of them nozzles. And with all that PVC
pipe and valves, and hiring guys to assemble it – you’re looking at maybe $500 easy.”
“Hey, don’t worry. I got $40,000 to work with. Dr. Horner, the V.P., has already
approved it.”

Refrigerant Carry-Over
“One of our problems, Norm, is refrigerant carry-over from our evaporator. Liquid gets
carried into the Compressor Suction Drum, which we wind up draining to the flare.
At the higher rates, you’re planning, this may become a big problem.”
“Well, since the compressor suction drum is slightly elevated above the reactor,
we could drain it back to the evaporator?”
“No. It ain’t elevated enough for that to work.”
“Okay, then we’ll install a small pump. Don’t forget I have $40,000 to work with
(This was in 1968. Pump prices have increased ten-fold since then.)”
 Chapter 33 • Refrigeration System 265

Fouling
“Another problem we got, Norm, is fouling on the outside of the tubes in the evaporator,
and inside the tubes on the air cooled condenser. I bet that that’s bad for heat transfer
efficiency on both exchangers.”
“Fouling?” I asked. “Can’t be. The refrigerant is completely clean.”
“Well Mr. Norm, it’s the compressor lube oil that leaks into the circulating LPG that
causes the fouling. Coats the tubes with oil.”
“I’ve seen this problem before. Let’s just install a couple of low point drains on the com-
pressor suction drum and on the Refrigerant Receiver (Fig. 33.3). Just blow-down both
drains once a week, or once a day, to keep the refrigerant clear of lube oil. That’s what
the filter does on your home air conditioner freon circulation at the condenser outlet line.”

Forced Refrigerant
About 4 months after the changes shown in Fig. 33.3 were implemented, the engineer at
the FCU, Noel, suggested that the pump I had installed to transfer liquid refrigerant out of
the Compressor Suction Drum could be run continuously, to convert the reactor cooling
coil from once-thru refrigerant flow, to forced circulation.
I returned to El Dorado to try Noel’s idea. Instead of evaporating 99+% of the refriger-
ant, I adjusted the circulation rate, so that only half the refrigerant was vaporized.
I calculated that heat transfer coefficient (i.e., “U”) of the reactor cooling bundle had
increased from 60 to 90 btu/h/ft2/°F. This resulted in a further 20% increase in Viscous
Polypropylene production.
I did not give Noel credit for his idea. I’m still a fan of forced circulation to reduce per-
cent vaporized in evaporators and reboilers. And, I still take credit for other people’s ideas
as long as they work.

Conclusion
Over the next 3 months, these changes I’ve described were made. Viscous Polypropylene
production increased by 40%. Les Raiford’s son, who was studying Chemical Engineering
at LSU, called to congratulate me on a successful project.
A year later, Dr. Horner, V.P. of Refining, decided to shut down the El Dorado Refinery
anyway. All the operators were discharged—blacks and whites, without discrimination.
Larry Durland, the Plant Manager at El Dorado, was promoted to the 360,000 BSD refin-
ery in Texas City, as Plant Manager. He retired in 1978.
A new Viscous Polypropylene Unit which I designed was constructed at the American
Oil Refinery in Sugar Creek, Missouri. But Texaco stopped using the additive in their
gasoline a few months later. The Sugar Creek Refinery was also abandoned shortly
thereafter.
266 UNDERSTANDING PROCESS EQUIPMENT FOR OPERATORS AND ENGINEERS

And I, the author of this true story, worked at American Oil until 1980. I was not pro-
moted or rewarded for my idea of optimizing the polypropylene refrigerant composition.
But maybe I have been rewarded, just not by American Oil.
The names in this story have not been changed to protect the guilty.
 34
Reciprocating Compressors

I was working in the gas fields in Laredo, Texas, for Good Hope Energy, the second largest
producer of natural gas in the 1980s, behind Exxon. I reported to the owner of Good Hope,
Jack Stanley. Jack owned Good Hope Energy personally. There were no stockholders or
directors. Just Jack.
“Norman. Get down to our compression station in Laredo. Gas flow to Aqua Dulce is
low. Gas is selling for $6.00 per million BTU’s. It’s cold up north, and demand and prices
are peaking. Let’s cash in. Get with Juan Hernandez. He’ll pick you up at the airport.
Drive around Zapata and Webb counties. Speed up those recips to pump more gas. Get
going, Lieberman.”
“Mr. Stanley, it’s not all that simple. Reciprocating compressors have several complex
features and suffer from a wide variety of malfunctions. I’ve written a book published by
PennWell [1] on the subject. Would you like me to explain?”
“No. Tell me when you get back.”

Starting Volumetric Clearance

“Juan,” I observed as I climbed into the company truck at the airport, “it’s damn
cold today.”
“Si, Señor Norm. The cold has shut down many of our gas field reciprocating
compressors. The wet gas has frozen the fuel gas supply lines. Muy malo! The fuel lines
are full of ice.”
“Not exactly. The lines are plugged with natural gas hydrates. Which form at temper-
atures well above the freezing point of water. We’ll blow the lines clear. But my concerns
are broken valve plates and most importantly, excessive ‘Starting Volumetric Clearances’
between the piston and the cylinder head at ‘Top Dead Center’.”
“Ah. Mi amigo. What mean’s this ‘Starting Volumetric Clearance’? No comprendo.”
“Juan, let’s drive down to Hebronville Compression Station and I’ll explain how recip-
rocating compressors work. You drive and I’ll talk. To understand the critical significance
of a recip’s starting volumetric clearance, I’ll have to explain first the ‘Carnot Cycle’.”
“Si! Si! Professor Carnot. Muy importante.”

Carnot Cycle
Fig. 34.1 is the Carnot Cycle Curve for theoretical compression work. The vertical axis
is the pressure of the gas inside the cylinder. The horizontal axis is the volume of gas

Understanding Process Equipment for Operators and Engineers. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-816161-6.00034-5 269

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270 UNDERSTANDING PROCESS EQUIPMENT FOR OPERATORS AND ENGINEERS

V1
Discharge

Pressure
C
inside E o
cylinder x m
p p
a Work r
n e
s s
i s
o i
n o
n

Intake

Gas Volume inside cylinder

FIG. 34.1 The carnot cycle, “V1” represents the “Starting Volumetric Clearance.”

inside the cylinder. The area enclosed by the entire curve is called PV work or theoretical
compression work.
Fig. 34.2 is a simplified view of a reciprocating compressor. In my discussion of
how piston movements relate to the Carnot Cycle, I’ll make several simplifying
assumptions:
1. Reciprocating compressors are “Double-Acting” compressors. Gas is compressed by
the piston as it moves toward the head of the cylinder and also as the piston moves
to the crank-end (i.e., the end closest to the drive shaft). I’ll ignore the crank-end
compression for simplicity.
2. I’ll also ignore gas leakage around the piston rings and around the valves and other
mechanical inefficiencies. Recip’s are, in practice, subject to a lot of mechanical
inefficiencies, which often are very large.
3. I’ll ignore valve pulsation and frictional losses, which are often also very large.
Looking at Fig. 34.2, let’s describe the parts of the recip [2].
• Piston—Slides back and forth inside the cylinder. It’s pushed by the piston rod. To keep
gas from leaking between the piston and cylinder, there’s a piston ring. Just like on your
car engine.