Question

what is meant by Bypass in a chemical process?

Answer 1

Bypass Streams

In a chemical process a stream that skips one or more stages and joins another stream of a stage further down the process is called a Bypass Stream.

Why are there Bypass Streams in a chemical plant?

-To dilute a process stream especially when a stream needs to be filtrated and the concentration of the slurry (suspended solids) is too high (the filter will clog up)

-To control a process variable. If a reaction releases a large amount of heat it makes the reactor hard and expensive to control thus the concentration of the fed stream can the lowered by diluting the stream with a bypass stream that acts as capacitance for the heat transfer. Thus lowering the temperature of the stream.