Wood modification plant where, through a chemical process, standard wood is made drastically more sustainable.
In this process, nitrogen must be heated. This is achieved by a gas heater, where the gas is heated by condensing steam.
In this plant, standard wood is made so durable that its properties match the highest qualities of hardwood. The wood is treated with acetic acid and anhydrides. This requires, among other things, the heating of a large volume of nitrogen. To ensure the plant operates correctly, the pressure drop must be kept to a minimum. Therefore, ROBOX engineered an X-shell where the nitrogen flow enters the shell transversely and immediately exits on the opposite side. The heater is over 13 meters long and features no fewer than 8 DN500 nozzles on each side. A compact bundle in which steam condenses is located in the center of the shell, ensuring the nitrogen is heated. Due to this construction, the pressure drop is less than 20 mbar. ROBOX was involved in the design of this plant at an early stage and was thus able to contribute to its optimization. Other heat exchangers were also designed and built for the same plant, including feed heaters, recycle flow condensers, steam condensers, and condensate coolers.
The external heater is a Shell & Tube heat exchanger. A cross-flow shell with U-bundle and removable cover. TEMA type BXU 800 / 11800. Entirely in stainless steel according to PED cat.IV/Mod.G and ASME VIII Div.1