Importance of venting a processor

This page will soon be completed by Mark following an intensive and extensive wiki lesson.

Only if I was paying attention Julian.

Heh well done so far Mark - Tony :)

Thanks Tony.

introduction

All processors shown in the pages must be vented to allow air to be displaced/replaced when oil/bio is added to or removed from the vessel.

It is important that the vent does not have a valve on it as it must stay open at all times.

The way the vent system works is the vapour is pulled out of the reactor by the venturi, through the condenser and back to the venturi. So the vapour circulated around the system and is not under any pressure.













The vent on a GL is normally on the vapour line (highlighted in red) after the condenser, this way any methanol fumes that are released during the reaction,or in the de-meth stage, will get condensed off and collected in the Methanol collection vessel.

Only non flexable pipe should be used in the vent system.

Consequences

Negative pressure

If the vent becomes blocked it can produce a build up of positive or negative pressure.

This can have sever effects on the reactor itself.

Negative pressure can and will cause the reactor to implode as seen in these pictures.

• This is a steel, cone bottomed drum
• 

  Reactor still with insulation on.

• 

  With the nsulation removed you can see just how damaged it is.

• 

  This is the inside vewed from above.

These photos were supplied by Baseaddict. The reason his reactor impoded was he had used flexable hose for his vent, this got a small restriction in it and the negative pressure created when the bio was pumped out collaped the vent pipe sealing the vent. This is why we advocate using non flexable pipe for the vents.

Positive pressure

The most likely way to produce positive pressure in a GL is by pumping oil into it with a closed vent, although in most cases it is unlikely the pump will produce enough pressure to cause a problem.

However if a reactor full of cold oil was heated with a closed vent this could build up a surprising amount of pressure.

It is possible the the reactor or pipework could rupture, but an explosion is highly unlikely in this scenario.