Steam Jet Ejectors in Pilot and Production Plants
STEAM JET EJECTORS ARE EMPLOYED in the chemical process industries and refineries in numerous and very often unusual ways. They provide, in most cases, the best way to produce a vacuum in these process plants because they are rugged and of simple construction—therefore, easily maintained. Their capacities can be varied from the very smallest to enormous quantities. Because of their simplicity and the manner of their construction, difficulties are unusual under the most extreme conditions. They are simple to operate. Ejectors which are properly designed for a given situation are very forgiving of errors in estimated quantities to be handled and of upsets in operation and are found to be easily changed to give the exact results required.
In pilot plant operations all of these are important functions, because in a pilot plant a great deal of information is usually unknown, and something must be selected which will operate over a very wide range.
Therefore, this article will outline the differences between ejectors for a pilot plant and those for a production plant, pointing out that pilot plant ejectors are not just small editions of production plant ejectors.
In order to become fully versed in the essential elements that make up a steam jet ejector, the principle of operation will be considered first.
