If a sieve units has two or more beds adsorbing in parallel and one bed is experiencing higher pressure drop, how can early breakthrough be prevented?

If a sieve units has two or more beds adsorbing in parallel and one bed is experiencing higher pressure drop, how can early breakthrough be prevented?

When beds are adsorbing in parallel and there is more flow restriction in one vessel than the others, the flow will automatically balance between the beds to achieve an equivalent pressure drop. If it is minor, then it is ordinarily not an issue. If the flow imbalance is large enough, early breakthrough on the vessel with the high flow rate (lowest pressure drop restriction) can occur. In order to better balance the flow rate between the vessels, feeds must be adjusted. This is normally done by adjusting (partially closing) valves, either manual shutoff valves or the valve travel of automatic valves. It can be a trial and error process to achieve balance so it should occur as a series of small adjustments until the operation noticeably improves. In cases where this is not possible, adjustment of the cycles and/or conditions may be possible to prevent breakthrough. When all else fails, the inlet feed rate must be reduced until breakthrough no longer occurs.

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