Safely unplug a column sump using Nitrogen

[CarterJohn11]

Our distillation column sump line is plugged up with residue material. We have tried backflushing the line by pumping backwards into it without success.

I also have tried pressuring up the column to atmospheric (column normally runs under vacuum) to try to push the material out but still no success.

I can get a bottle of Nitrogen and hook it up to a flange to pressure up the line and push the residue material back into the column to hopefully melt out, but before I do this, I want to know what is the safest way to go about doing this and minimizing the chances of knocking trays out or blowing a pressure relief.

 

[jari001]

What is the nature of the clog? Could you warm the pipe where the clog is to try to get that material to soften up? In general, I would try to blow away from the column internals if possible.

 

[CarterJohn11]

Our distillation column sump line is plugged up with residue material. We have tried backflushing the line by pumping backwards into it without success.

I also have tried pressuring up the column to atmospheric (column normally runs under vacuum) to try to push the material out but still no success.

I can get a bottle of Nitrogen reverse phone lookup and hook it up to a flange to pressure up the line and push the residue material nba reddit back into the column to pcpartpicker hopefully melt out, but before I do this, I want to know what is the safest way to go about doing this and minimizing the chances of knocking trays out or blowing a pressure relief.