Method for controlling a process comprising a steam system coupled to a reactor system

• Main Authors: Robert Miles Baker, Matthew Barry Turnbull, Colin Tamsett
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 03.04.2024
• Subjects: CHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL PROCESSES, e.g. CATALYSIS OR COLLOIDCHEMISTRY; CONTROL OR REGULATING SYSTEMS IN GENERAL; CONTROLLING; FUNCTIONAL ELEMENTS OF SUCH SYSTEMS; MEASURING; MEASURING VOLUME, VOLUME FLOW, MASS FLOW OR LIQUIDLEVEL; METERING BY VOLUME; MONITORING OR TESTING ARRANGEMENTS FOR SUCH SYSTEMS ORELEMENTS; PERFORMING OPERATIONS; PHYSICAL OR CHEMICAL PROCESSES OR APPARATUS IN GENERAL; PHYSICS; REGULATING; SYSTEMS FOR CONTROLLING OR REGULATING NON-ELECTRIC VARIABLES; TESTING; THEIR RELEVANT APPARATUS; TRANSPORTING

A method for controlling a process comprising a steam system coupled to a reactor system, wherein a steam vessel feeds liquid water under pressure to the reactor system to cool the reactor system, thereby generating a steam stream, and receives the steam stream from the reactor system, said method comprising (i) obtaining a first total liquid level measurement in the steam vessel using an inferred level device, (ii) obtaining a second total liquid level measurement in the steam vessel using a direct level measurement device, (iii) calculating a difference between the two liquid level measurements using a control system, and (iv) initiating an alarm using the control system when the difference between the two measurements is ≥ 1% of the lower of the first and second value. The inferred level device can be a positive-displacement or differential-pressure device, the direct level device can be a guided-wave-radar or float device, and the control system can be a distributed control system. The calculation can be performed using a time-averaged or statistical method. In response to the alarm, the reactor system may monitor water flow, temperature, chemical composition, or may shut down. The system can be a Fischer-Tropsch reactor that includes a catalyst.