What is meant by vapor and liquid loading? What is its significance?

Mass Transfer
Answers

24/04/201
1

A Frank Rukovena Jr, Rukovena Consulting: FRI-Retired,

: Rukovenaengr@gmail.com
Building upon Ralphs answer, as he says, loading refers to the vapor and
liquid traffic passing through a packed bed or tray. When considering the
effect of them on the capacity of either of these devices it is necessary to
consider their ration to one another as well as their independent flow rates.
As a general statement for counter-current devices the higher the liquid
load the lower the allowable vapor loads and vice versa.
For trays, it is possible to blow all of the liquid off of the tray deck if the
liquid rate is low and the vapor velocity high. This is known as tray
blowing. At higher liquid rates with high velocity vapor, the liquid plus
froth will build up on the tray until its level will fill the tray space and
reach the tray above. This is typically called flooding. Also at high pressure
drop across tray it is possible to back the liquid level in the downcomer and
flood the tray above. This is called downcomer backup flooding. At high
enough liquid rates and a small enough downcomer inlet open area not all
of the liquid leaving a tray will not have downcomer open area to get into
the top of the downcomer, this is called downcomer choking. This will also
flood the tray which it is suppose to be leaving. In all of these types of
flooding the separation efficiency will decline and the pressure drop vary
widely.
For packing operating in counter current mode similar phenomena happen.
At high enough vapor velocities (loading) the liquid flowing down the
packing will backup and not be able to leave the packed bed. This is also
known as flooding. For low pressure drop packing this can happen with
pressure drops per foot of packing in the range of 0.75 in to 1 in of fluid
per foot of packing. The liquid holdup in a packing is mostly independent
of vapor rated until the loading region is reached at this point the liquid
hold up in the packing will start to increase until the packing is filled with
liquid and is in flood. When the flood point is reached the column
separation efficiency will decline and the pressured drop start to fluctuate
widely.
For packing and trays, flooding does not always start first at the top of the
column but it starts in the section of the column that has the highest vapor
and liquid traffic or some combination thereof and the most restrictive
equipment design. You may want to consult with Perrys Chemical
Engineering Handbook or books by Henry Kister Distillation Design
and Distillation Operation.
Other Considerations:
For trays how the liquid is feed on to a tray does effect the operation of that
tray and maybe even the tray below it if it is done very poorly. Vapor
entering a tray tower if done incorrectly can upset the tray above but it a
tray tower is not as sensitive to this is as a packed tower because the higher
pressured drop of the tray compared to a packed tower. Also for a tray

tower make sure that the liquid leaving the downcomer is not interfered
with by the entering vapor. For large towers with multiple flow paths,
vapor and liquid misdistribution per pass can occur and reduce the towers
performance.
For packed towers, the specific attention needs to be paid to the design of
the liquid distributors. A poorly designed liquid distributor will lower the
efficiency of the packed bed below it. Because of the low pressured of
packing one must pay more attention to the vapor velocities entering the
tower and in some cases a vapor distributor may be required to make the
vapor enter the packed bed evenly and/or to prevent liquid being carried
back up the tower by the entering vapor.
03/01/201
0

A Ralph Ragsdale, Ragsdale Refining Courses, ragsdales@juno.com

: It means the actual flow quantities up and down through the equipment.
The "loadings" are then compared with the maximum allowable quantities
as determined by the physical size of the equipment as well as the
operating P and T and properties of the flowing fluids. For example,
through a section of fractionating trays, that comparison would be
expressed as "percent of flood". Typical design is 80 to 85 percent of flood
for a fractionator.

Structured Packing
INTRODUCTION:
In chemical processing, a packed bed is a hollow tube, pipe, or other vessel that is filled
with a packing material. The packing can be randomly filled with small objects like Raschig
rings or else it can be a specifically designed structured packing.
The purpose of a packed bed is typically to improve contact between two phases in a
chemical or similar process. Packed beds can be used in a chemical reactor, a distillation
process, or a scrubber.
The term structured packing refers to a range of specially designed materials for use in
absorption and distillation columns and chemical reactors. Structured packings typically
consist of thin corrugated metal plates or gauzes arranged in a way that they force fluids to
take complicated paths through the column, thereby creating a large surface area for contact
between different phases.
MECHANISM:
The principle of structured packing operation is based on having a large number of obstacles
intercepting entrained droplets in a vapour flow. Structured columns packing consist of metal
wire mesh with corrugated sheets which are aligned and placed vertically. The wire structure
slopes are reversed in other sheets stacked with alternating 90 degree orientation of each
layer resulting in inclined flow passages and a relatively high surface area. This arrangement
allows thin liquid films to be continuously spread across the tower as liquid flows through the

packing. Capillary action and high surface areas result in maximum exposure to high mass
transfer efficiency.
MATERIAL OF CONSTRUCTION:
The structured packing is made up of metallic wires and corrugated metallic sheets. The
material selection depends on the vapour-liquid mixture to be transferred, their corrosive
properties, acid-alkali nature, working temperature, etc. Some of the commonly used
materials are:

SS 304 SS 304L SS 316 SS 316L

Monel 400 Monel 600 Monel 800

Inconel 625 Inconel 825

APPLICATION:
A properly designed structured packing is employed for one or more of the following
reasons:

Mass transfer of temperature sensitive chemical products

Proper lateral distribution of liquids and gases

Solvent recovery

Batch and continuous distillation

Low liquid loading systems

Providing highest theoretical stages per meter of packing height

Reducing liquid hold up

Economizing operating loads of vessels

TYPES:
We manufacture the following types of structured packings in our facilities:

Wire Mesh Structured Packing

Sheet Metal Structured Packing

Liquid Vapor Separator

Introduction:
Vapor flowing at high velocity carries liquid particles with it. This phenomenon is
called entrainment. A demister pad is an entrainment eliminator. In simple words, a
demister pad is a liquid-vapour separator. A properly installed demister can achieve up
to 99.9% separation efficiency, with a nominal pressure drop.
Demisters can reduce the residence time required to separate a given liquid droplet size
thereby reducing the volume and associated cost of separator equipment. Demisters are
often used where vapor quality is important in regard to entrained liquids; particularly where
separator equipment costs are high (e.g., high pressure systems) or where space or weight
savings are advantageous.
Mechanism:
The principle of demister operation is based on having a large number of obstacles
intercepting entrained droplets in a vapor flow. This large number of obstacles must provide
minimum drop in pressure over the removal system.
The demister is employed where the liquid droplet size is below 10 microns. The pad is
made up of knitted mesh of metallic or synthetic material. The vapor is made to pass through
this mesh, causing the vapor to flow freely but the liquid droplets being entangled due to
inertia.
The droplets stick to the mesh surface for a brief period of time. As more and more droplets
collect, they coalesce into a larger droplet, gaining weight and eventually falling off due to
gravity. The vapour thus separated is almost free of liquid.
Material Of Construction:
Some of the commonly used materials are:

SS 304 SS 304L SS 316 SS 316L

Monel 400 Monel 600 Monel 800

Teflon

Hostaflon

Poly-propylene

Inconel 625 Inconel 825

Design:
The demister pad is designed depending on factors like vapour-velocity, liquid particulate
size, fluid viscosity, surface tension, temperature, pressure and pressure drop required,
nature of fluid passing through, man-hole size, ease of handling, etc.
The demister pads come in various sizes and forms depending on the shape of the vessels
they are to be fitted on. Small sized demisters are directly knitted while larger sized are cut
into segments and held together by grids and supporting rods. These accessories help in
easy handling of the pad. The segment size of the demister usually depends up on the manhole size provided on the vessel.
Application:
The formation of mist leads to process inefficiencies, downstream damages to vessels as
well as product loss. A properly designed demister pad is employed for one or more of the
following reasons:

Reducing loss of valuable chemical products.

Increasing throughput capacity.

Improving product purity.

Eliminating contamination.

Providing protection to equipment.

Eliminating air pollution.

Types:
We manufacture the following types of mist eliminators in our facilities:

Mesh-Pad Type

Vane-Pack Type

We use SS, MS, GI, Copper, Nickel, Inconel, Monel and Aluminum wires, procured from
vendors like Tata SSL, Viraj Steel, Usha Martin, Etc.