Optimising Vacuum Systems for Pharma & Chemical Plants

November 10, 2010 10:04 am

A competent designer would design a vacuum pumping system suitable for the specific application meeting the process inputs, allowing suitable compensation to process variations, as would be encountered during the actual process. The importance of taking a professional approach using specialized vendor while designing vacuum systems have been discussed in this article.

Today, a wide range of vacuum pumps are available in which the users can get confused regarding their optimum selection. Some pumps can be used as ‘stand-alone’ solutions to pumping problems while others have to be used in combination along with intermediate essentials such as inter-stage condenser, traps, filters etc. There is a need for their integration and automation which in turn demands specific instrumentation, controls, interlocking etc. All must be designed to meet the process requirements, fulfill safety considerations, and yet allow for easy operation & maintenance. The selection of a vacuum system thus requires expertise, knowledge and experience with technical trouble shooting skills to stabilize the process, maximizing process efficiency. How does one find a convenient solution? What is the way out?

Simplest way to solve the above problem is to approach a specialized vendor, capable of providing a packaged vacuum pumping solution. The essential input a professional specialist would require is inlet pumping speed/mass through-put, working pressure levels and process details. Generally this basic information is sufficient to design an efficient vacuum pumping system guaranteed for performance. An experienced vacuum system designer is well aware of the process requirements which may go through a drastic pressure/temperature change during the process since most of the batch processes have variable vacuum and temperature requirements changing with the advancement of the process. For example in Vacuum Drying application, the rate of evaporation is not constant since the ratio of solvent to solute continuously changes as the process advances. The pressure/temperature requirements are governed by Raoult’s Law of ideal mixtures. A Competent designer would design a vacuum pumping system suitable for the specific application meeting the process inputs, allowing suitable compensation to process variations, as would be encountered during the actual process from the beginning to the end of it. The designer would address all the safety, automation and instrumentation issues required to meet the process requirements. The user needs to only connect up the package vacuum system to the load and everything is ready to go!

Advantages of taking a professional approach
It is best to let a specialist designs the complete vacuum package and guarantee its performance than to graduate in-house to do the same. The major advantages on doing so are:

Optimum Sizing of System Capacity
The user is fully aware of his process requirements, but may not have the experience and inclination to calculate and select the optimum hardware required.  A system vendor, on the other hand, has plenty of experience and generally knows what works best and most economically. The system vendor can also provide the most effective product combination to meet the users’ process requirements.

Automation and Instrumentation

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