INTRODUCTION

Crystal growth fundamentals

Crystals are formed by the process called nucleation. Nucleation can start either with the solute
molecules or with some solid matter which might be an impurity in the solution. The growth normally
occurs by aggregation of molecules that are attracted to each other. The number of crystals formed,
crystal sizes and shapes generally depend on properties of the solution like, saturation (solute
concentration), operating temperature and mechanical disturbances.
In solutions which the solute is near saturation promote fast crystal growth. Supersaturated solutions
tend to give crystals which are small in size. If the nucleation is low, such solutions will result in fewer
crystals each of larger size. Nucleation is certainly promoted by turbulence and thus mechanical
disturbances typically result in smaller crystals.
In general, thermal gradient methods tend to produce high quality crystals. Such methods include slow
cooling and zonal heating. The latter employs convection by creating a thermal gradient in the crystal
growing vessel. The solution becomes more saturated in the warm part of a vessel and crystal growth
occurs when the solution is slowly transferred to a cooler region.
[1]

Rest of this report will discuss about how to design a crystallizer for crystallization of aqueous solution
of potash under the following operating conditions:
Absolute pressure - 0.8 atm
Temperature - 40
o
C
Mean diameter - 2.5 m
Length of cylindrical shell - 5 m

1. Material selection
Since an aqueous solution of potash is used as the raw materials for the crystallization process, special
attention should paid in order to avoid the corrosion. Therefore its better to use Stainless Steel as the
fabricating material.
Grade 304 (SA-240) is the most widely used stainless steel which is available in a wider range of
forms. It has excellent forming and welding characteristics. Post-weld annealing is not required when
welding thin sections. Grade 304 is available in roll formed into a variety of components for
applications in the industrial, architectural & transportation fields.
Grade 304L is the low carbon version of 304, does not require post-weld annealing and so is
extensively used in heavy gauge components (over about 6mm).
SA-240 also has a excellent corrosion resistance in a wide range of atmospheric environments and
many corrosive media. But, it may subject to pitting and crevice corrosion in warm chloride
environments, and to stress corrosion cracking above about 60C. Since the crystallizer is maintained
at 40
o
C this might not be an issue.



Design Pressure & Temperature

i. Design Pressure (

)
Absolute Pressure
The absolute pressure is measured relative to the absolute zero pressure. In other words, relative to the
pressure that would occur at absolute vacuum.
Under the given operating conditions, operating pressure inside the crystallizer is 0.8atm (absolute).
Therefore, this scenario falls under the category of;

&

Therefore

is given by,

Therefore;

( )

ii. Design Temperature (

)
Since the crystallizer should be operated at

it is required to be heated. Lets assume, that the

vessel is indirectly heated with using a heating coil.
Therefore;

Therefore;

2. Calculation of the wall thickness of the shell economical and safe to

Lets assume that all the welded joints are butt joints & therefore according to the section II, Part D of
ASME, welded joint efficiency () will be 0.7.
Theoretical wall thickness for the cylindrical portion of the vessel can be calculated by;

design
design
actual
D P
t
o

=
2
Thickness to resist plastic failure;
(

)
(

)

Where, L is the effective length of the vessel.

Therefore;

)
(

When the actual thickness is calculating, corrosion allowance should be added to the theoretical
thickness. Since SA-240 is used & it is a stainless steel corrosion allowance is not needed.
Therefore;

Critical pressure for elastic failure;

Where K & m are constants depends on

ratio.
D
o
/L
(effective)
K m
0.1 0.185 2.60
0.2 0.224 2.54
0.3 0.229 2.47
0.4 0.246 2.43
0.6 0.516 2.49
0.8 0.660 2.48
1.0 0.879 2.49
1.5 1.572 2.52
2.0 2.364 2.54
3.0 5.144 2.61
4.0 9.037 2.62
5.0 10.359 2.58

For this scenario;
L
h
1
h
2

Assuming linear interpolation is possible K & m were calculated as follows,
D
o
/L
(effective)
K m
0.4 0.246 2.43
0.4414 0.3019 2.4424
0.6 0.516 2.49
According to the FIG HA-1 of the page 712 in ASME section II part D, Youngs modulus of SS grade
304 (SA-240) is 193.1GPa.

Assuming t<<<D
o
& therefore

Since

is 20265Pa,

therefore, vessel could undergo elastic failure.

Now, let

& find the required wall thickness to resist the elastic failure.

Therefore, wall thickness of 5.6683mm will resist the vessel for elastic & plastic failure.
Available plate thickness will be 6mm.










Selection of suitable ends & their calculations
Here are some of available heads& closers.
Dished only


80% dished, 10%
knuckle


Flanged only


hemispherical


ASME flanged
and dished


Standard flanged
dished


Elliptical


Tori-conical


Tori-spherical Conical


When designing a pressure vessel head geometry should be selected based on the design pressure &
the fabrication cost. For this vessel, its possible to use a flat end. But it will need a thickness which is
considerably higher compare to tori-spherical head. Therefore, tori-spherical head is selected. Since
this is a crystallizer, bottom end is obviously a conical end.

- Tori-spherical head


Here; R - Crown radius,
r Knuckle radius
D Outer diameter
t Thickness of the head
h Flanged height

According to the ASME code;
R =

D

r

= 6% D
inner
There are 3 different equations available for calculate h
E
value.

) (

( ) ( ( ))

Minimum value of h
e
is 0.4233

Where; C is the stress concentration factor & given by the following table

t/D
o

h
E
/ D
o
0.00075 0.0005 0.001 0.002 0.005 0.01 0.02 0.04
0.15 5.34 5.50 5.18 4.55 2.66 2.15 1.95 1.75
0.20 2.55 2.60 2.5 2.3 1.7 1.45 1.37 1.32
0.25 1.48 1.50 1.46 1.38 1.14 1 1 1
0.30 0.98 1.00 0.97 0.92 0.77 0.77 0.77 0.77
0.40 0.59 0.59 0.59 0.59 0.59 0.59 0.59 0.59
0.50 0.55 0.55 0.55 0.55 0.55 0.55 0.55 0.55

Its reasonable to assume D
Outer
= D
Mean
since wall thickness is negligible compare to diameter of the
vessel.
Therefore;

Assuming linear interpolation is possible C value is calculated for above ratio.

t/D
o

h
E
/ D
o
0.00075 0.0005 0.001 0.002 0.005 0.01 0.02 0.04
0.15 5.34 5.50 5.18 4.55 2.66 2.15 1.95 1.75
0.1693 4.26 4.38 4.15 - - - - -
0.20 2.55 2.60 2.5 2.3 1.7 1.45 1.37 1.32

When C=4.26;

When C=4.38;

Using above four calculated values, actual C value can be calculated.

Disked section
Knuckle section
Flanged section
(cylinder)
R
C
A
O
h
B
a
R - Crown radius,
r Knuckle radius
D Outer diameter
t Thickness of the head
h Height of knuckle section

OC = R = 2.5m
BC = R - r
= ( )
AB = Din / 2 - r
= ( )
AC = (BC
2
- AB
2
)

=

Sin = AC/ BC
= 2.077/2.35 = 0.8838
= 62.1078
0

h =
=( )
=0.1326m
Dish height = OC ( AC +h)
=2.5-(2.077+0.1326)
=0.2904m

Since thickness of the wall < 25mm;
D
blank
= D
outer
+ D
outer
/42 + 2/3 r
knuckle
+ 2H
flanged

Where,

Therefore; D
blank

= 2.5 + (2.5/42) + 2/3 0.15 + 20.846 m
D
blank
= 4.3515m

- Conical bottom
t Vessel thickness of the cylindrical portion
t
r
Reinforce thickness
= 60
0

value for this bottom is

Assuming extrapolation is possible for the above set of data; corresponding value can be calculated
as 11.11
o
. Therefore the maximum value of without reinforcing is 11.11
o
. But, its not practical to
use such a small value since it will drastically increase height of the vessel. Lets assume = 60
0
.
Then t
c
is given by;

() (

)

Available plate thickness will be 1mm


Reinforce area is given by;

()

13
o
18
o
22
o
25
o
28
o
31
o
8t
8tc
tc
( ). P 6 . 0 cos 2
P
t
design
design
l theoretica

=
o o
design
D
|
.
|

\
| A
=
o
o
o
1
8
tan
2
i
D p
A
A is also given by;
[(

) (

)]

( )
Therefore;

( )

Available plate thickness will be 3mm



Fabrication procedure

Stainless steel is available in several forms & dimensions at market such as Plates, Sheets, Bars and
Forgings. Since this vessel is having moderate diameter its suitable to use stainless steel plates for the
fabrication procedure.
- Shell fabrication

Cutting the plate to obtain required diameter and height by using an Oxy-acetylene flame or
a laser beam. Then the quality of the edge can be mirror smooth, and a precision of around
0.1mm can be obtained.

Crimping this was done prior to rolling process to enhance plate rolling roundness and
efficiency. Crimping sets the correct radius on the ends of the plate and eliminates the
waste of excess material





Heating - The plate is then heated and moved to the rolling mill


Rolling- The rollers work the plate to the proper radius. Then ends of the plate meet at the
proper diameter


Welding-After the plate is formed into cylinders; many welding processes are used to
fabricate the rest of the vessel. Here we have selected that the shell should be welded by a
single grove butt welding.


Heat Treating

Testing- then magnetic particle testing was done.


- Head and End Fabrication
For both Head and bottom 10mm thick torrispherical ends has been selected
1. Select the 10 mm thickness carbon steel blank
2. It is subjected on pressing.
3. Then it is subjected to spinning using a die.



- Shell and ends are welded using single V grove butt joint



Technical drawings of the designed vessel including welding symbols












REFERENCES
http://www.math.wsu.edu/faculty/tsat/files/Potash.pdf
http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/pressure-d_587.html
http://www.niroinc.com/evaporators_crystallizers/crystallizer_applications.asp
http://www.whiting-equip.com/media/swenson_crystallization.pdf
http://www.matweb.com/search/DataSheet.aspx?MatGUID=25bd2cee70ac40fdaae0acbf5b69dafe
http://www.matweb.com/search/DataSheet.aspx?MatGUID=21eca9c274a2473a8c3587d57d924b52


http://www.walkerep.com/products/products--capabilities/processor-vessels/whey-crystallizer.aspx
http://www.google.cm/imgres?q=crystallizer&hl=fr&sa=X&biw=1366&bih=667&tbm=isch&prmd=i
mvnsfd&tbnid=j1QepKv5xl39VM:&imgrefurl=http://www.mpi-
magdeburg.mpg.de/research/projects/1032/1044&docid=yAPDitdchjtb7M&imgurl=http://www.mpi-
magdeburg.mpg.de/research/projects/1032/1044/granulation.png&w=400&h=364&ei=jQdvT-
nFE5DxrQfJodygDg&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=860&vpy=195&dur=905&hovh=214&hovw=235&tx=
125&ty=141&sig=114604428543611562465&page=3&tbnh=143&tbnw=158&start=47&ndsp=26&ve
d=1t:429,r:11,s:47