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Process Vacuum is an integral requirement in majority of Chemical, Pharmaceutical, Fertilizer, Dairy and Food Processing, Steel Plants and a lot of other continuous Process Industries.

Industrial Process Vacuum is used in a lot of applications across the industries some of which are mentioned below

  1. Drying
  2. Distillation
  3. Sterilization
  4. Degassing
  5. Crystallization etc

Selection of the right equipment for generating Vacuum across the Plant is a topic which is carefully considered and debated by Plant Managers, Design Engineers, Consultants, Process Engineers as well as Project Managers.

The key considerations being the Ultimate Vacuum required for the application, the maintenance of the equipment, Initial cost, other Utilities required as well as the Total Lifecycle Cost of the Vacuum System.

There are 4 Major Technologies which are readily used in the market for generating process vacuum namely Ejectors, Dry Vacuum Pumps, Liquid Ring Vacuum Pumps and Oil Sealed Vacuum Pumps

Each of these system/pump has its own advantages as well as disadvantages the major ones are listed below

 

Dry Type
Vacuum System

Steam Ejector
System

Oil Sealed
Vacuum Pump System

Liquid Ring/Water Ring
Vacuum Pump System

Ultimate
Pressure

High Vacuum Upto 5 X 10-3 Torr

High Vacuum Available.
As Water Temperature rises, Ultimate Pressure Falls

Ultimate Pressure upto 5 X 10-2

It is limited to use under low Vacuum (500 Torr)

Environment

Sewage and Effluent Load is
Eliminated

Increased Effluent Load
is an Issue

Waste Oil

Contaminated Water/Liquid
increasing in Effluent Load

Pump Capacity (
Processing Capacity)

Capacity for Small to high is used for specific application

High Capacity

Capacity is more or less limited.
Usually used for Smaller to medium Capacity

High Capacity is readily available with huge
investment in Power and Utilities

Utility

Less Space required. Some Dry
Type pumps require cooling Water
Nitrogen Purging, Solvent Flushing in
Small quantities

Motive Fluid is generally
Steam which is added to the cost. Wide Space
is required for Installation

Synthetic or Mineral Oils are used
to generate Vacuum. The Installation
space is quite small

Wide Space is required for Installation. Moreover
Cooling Water in sizeable quantity is required to generate Vacuum

Operation Cost

The Operation Cost is Minimal
At the same capacity almost 50%
of the total operating cost can
be saved

Huge Operation Cost
required due to excess
utility

More Electric Power is required
compared to processing capacity.
Moreover routine changes in Oil
add to the increased cost

As Capacity is getting bigger, Power and Operation
Cost increases.

Initial Cost

Higher for the equivalent
capacity

Least initial cost

Not very high Initial Cost more
compared to Liquid ring and Ejector
system

Not very high Initial Investment

Maintenance

Maintenance is simpler.
Automation in the Dry Vacuum
system is preferred which
eliminates lot of issues related
to quality of water, timely purging
solvent flushing, rising temperature etc

Difficult Maintenance because of many individual nozzles and components

Vacuum Oil is required to be changed
often. The Frequency of Maintenance is more

Maintenance is simpler but the frequency of
maintenance is more

 

 

Dry Vacuum System and Dry Vacuum Pumps are widely used in the industry due to their robust design and construction.  Moreover Dry Vacuum Pumps do not largely use any additional utilities as in most of the cases and are environmentally safe and intrinsically safe in their operation

However, the mean of generating vacuum should be carefully done considering the characteristics of each technology as mentioned above keeping in mind the entire Techno Commercial viability of the project

 

About HIS Pumps & Systems

HIS Pumps and Systems Private Limited is engaged in providing Quality Process Vacuum Solutions for your process applications. With a Prove Track record of more than 20 Years and with a numebr of safe, reliable and prudent vacuum system installations across majory industries in India, We provide vacuum systems using Dry Vacuum Pump, Oil Sealed Vacuum Pump and Liquid Ring Vacuum Pump based on your application

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