One of the main things I understand Chemical Engineers are always working
towards is, efficiency. Efficiency is very important in industry, especially
large scale industry, as you do not want processes taking too long, or
wasting/using too much energy, therefore efficiency is key! This blog post is
based of the article on chemengonline.com (as per usual now, it’s a really good
resource of chemical engineering news… I mean its in the name) on superheaterproblems.
As you can imagine a superheater is called a superheater for a reason, it heats to super high temperature and operates under high pressure, so its important it works well and is efficient. The main problem for superheaters therefore is overheating and that mainly comes with poor quality manufacturing. The reasons for overheating are normally, as expected, due to things like solids getting into superheater tubes and thermal stress (there are other reasons of course, however these are the only two I can understand with my common sense). The solution to this problem from my understanding from the article is firstly, for manufacturers of these boilers to ensure they are well made in the first place. However, that’s not to say all boiler manufacturers purposely make badly designed boilers, some manufacturers simply make out-dated designs as they refuse to change, which in my opinion defies the idea of efficiency. Also another reason for the problem, and probably most importantly, is that engineers purchasing the heaters need to understand what they are buying for their process. The article stresses that, however, this is easier said than done! Luckily, there are ways to get educated about these things as an engineer, such as through courses on boilers.
The idea of efficiency is very important to me, and I’m sure it is to Chemical Engineers, after all how can we move forward in the world and industry without making processes more efficient? One thing I could compare this to is the difference between a manual and automatic car (since I am currently taking manual driving lessons). Why use a car that requires the conscious changing of gears and use of a clutch (basically an extra third pedal… keeping in mind we have only two feet) when you can use an automatic car that does most of the stuff for you? Okay, so maybe I’m just finding learning a manual difficult, but I think my point still stands! Efficiency is key to any process in life and industry is definitely no exclusion to this! Therefore, in the context of this blog post, it is important that things such as superheaters in steam generating processes are efficient and do not break down or cause unnecessary problems which can impart the whole chemical/ industrial process.
Sources used:
[1] http://www.chemengonline.com/superheater-problems-steam-generators/?pagenum=1
As you can imagine a superheater is called a superheater for a reason, it heats to super high temperature and operates under high pressure, so its important it works well and is efficient. The main problem for superheaters therefore is overheating and that mainly comes with poor quality manufacturing. The reasons for overheating are normally, as expected, due to things like solids getting into superheater tubes and thermal stress (there are other reasons of course, however these are the only two I can understand with my common sense). The solution to this problem from my understanding from the article is firstly, for manufacturers of these boilers to ensure they are well made in the first place. However, that’s not to say all boiler manufacturers purposely make badly designed boilers, some manufacturers simply make out-dated designs as they refuse to change, which in my opinion defies the idea of efficiency. Also another reason for the problem, and probably most importantly, is that engineers purchasing the heaters need to understand what they are buying for their process. The article stresses that, however, this is easier said than done! Luckily, there are ways to get educated about these things as an engineer, such as through courses on boilers.
The idea of efficiency is very important to me, and I’m sure it is to Chemical Engineers, after all how can we move forward in the world and industry without making processes more efficient? One thing I could compare this to is the difference between a manual and automatic car (since I am currently taking manual driving lessons). Why use a car that requires the conscious changing of gears and use of a clutch (basically an extra third pedal… keeping in mind we have only two feet) when you can use an automatic car that does most of the stuff for you? Okay, so maybe I’m just finding learning a manual difficult, but I think my point still stands! Efficiency is key to any process in life and industry is definitely no exclusion to this! Therefore, in the context of this blog post, it is important that things such as superheaters in steam generating processes are efficient and do not break down or cause unnecessary problems which can impart the whole chemical/ industrial process.
Sources used:
[1] http://www.chemengonline.com/superheater-problems-steam-generators/?pagenum=1
