The reboiler provides the heat input to an amine stripper, which reverses the chemical reactions and drives off the acid gases. Amine reboilers may be either a kettle reboiler or an indirect fired heater.
higher the reboiler duty, the higher the overhead condenser duty, the higher the reflux ratio, and thus the lower the number of trays required. The lower the reboiler duty, the lower the reflux ratio will be and the more trays the tower must have.
Typically for a stripper with 20 trays, the reboiler duties will be as follows:
ME A system—1,000 to 1,200 Btu/gal lean solution
DBA system—900 to 1,000 Btu/gal lean solution
For design, reboiler temperatures in a stripper operating at 10 psig can be assumed to be 245°F for 20% MEA and 250°F for 35% DBA.
Hi Jack, thank you for the information.
Is there a specific criterion/break as to when we stop using kettle reboilers & move to an indirect fired reboiler configuration?
Also, is there a specific reason as to why we don’t use direct fired reboilers?
Thanks in advance,
Aditya