Separator & Accumulator 2

[mufasa1]

Gentlemen,

I already posted this thread at the Boiler and Pressure Vessels forum. I just saw that there is also a geothermal forum. For that reason excuse me for posting it twice.

I am working as a project engineer at a Geothermal Power Plant Project. On the geothermal wellhead there will be a separator to separate steam and water. After exiting the separator the brine (water)moves in to the accumulator for temporary storage.

I have reached good references on the separator design but I do not how to size the accumulator tank. The water will leave the accumulator tank and go to the electric generating unit either by pump or gravity. What should be the point on selecting the size of such tank?

Will appreciate your guidance on this matter

Regards,

 

[KevinNZ]

Hi Mufasa

The accumalator size depends on water phase flow rate and what will be done with the water.

If you are feeding a binary plant it will need to large and elevated. If you are just discharing the water then it can be much smaller.

cheers
Kevin

 

[mufasa1]

Hi Kevin,

Thank you very much one more time one more time.
This is going to feed a binary plant, it needs to be large but how large is the question. Is there a general rule for this?

Mufasa

 

[ilan7]

Mufasa
The pure engineering rule is to have the tank size for 3 min. Means, take the flow (in gpm) multiply by 3 and you got the wetted tank volum in gallons. The total volum of the tank is at least 40% larger as usually the level keept at 40 - 60%. More about Geothermal and Binary unit find at

http://www.ormat.com

ilan