raiero%8 What's entrainment, vickling, weeping, flooding, and loading? ~ Quore Flooding: Excessive liquid buildup inside the column leads to column flooding condition. The nature of flooding depends on the column operating pressure and the liquid to vapor flow ratio. It may be downcomer backup, spray entrainment or f roth entrainment type floodings. Higher tray pressure drop due to excessive vapor flow rates holds up the liquid in the downcomer, increases the liquid level on the plate and leads to downcomer flooding situation. The column flooding conditions sets the upper limit of vapor velocity for steady operation. weeping: ‘Weeping occurs at low vapor/gas flow rates. The upward vapor flow through the plate perforations prevents the liquid from leaking through the tray perforation. At low vapor flow rates, liquid start to leak/rain through the perforation (called weeping). When none of the liquid reaches the downcomer at extreme weeping condition at very low vapor flow rate, it is called dumping. The weeping tendency increases with increasing fractional hole area and liquid flow rates. Liquid entrainment: Entrainment is the phenomena in which liquid droplets are carried by vapor/gas to the tray above. Therefore, the less volatile liquid components from bottom tray are mixed with liquid having relatively more volatile materials on the overhead tray. Loading : point of a column is when the gas velocity is high enough to restrict the flow of liquid. After this point, the pressure drops at a much faster rate till another point, known as the flooding point, when all the liquid is carried away by the gas. It marks the start of entrainment regime in columns. Foaming : ina distillation column is the expansion of liquid that provides high interfacial liquid-vapor contact. Although one of the least common causes of distillation column malfunctions, foaming can increase until the fluid in one tray mixes with the liquid on the above tray in a process called entrainment. Foaming Foaming refers to the expansion of liquid due to passage of vapour or gas. Although it provides high interfacial liquid-vapour contact, excessive foaming often leads to liquid buildup on trays. In some cases, foaming may be so bad that the foam mixes with liquid on the tray above. Whether foaming will occur depends primarily on physical properties of the liquid mixtures, but is sometimes due to tray designs and condition. Whatever the cause, separation efficiency is always reduced. Entrainment Entrainment refers to the liquid carried by vapour up to the tray above and is again caused by high vapour flow rates. It is detrimental because tray efficiency is reduced: lower volatile material is carried toa plate holding liquid of higher volatility. It could also contaminate high purity distillate. Excessive entrainment can lead to flooding. Weeping/Dumping ‘This phenomenon is caused by low vapour flow. The pressure exerted by the vapour is insufficient to hold up the liquid on the tray. Therefore, liquid starts to leak through perforations. Excessive weeping will lead to dumping. That is the liquid on all trays will crash (dump) through to the base of the column (via a domino effect) and the column will have to be re-started. Weeping is indicated by a sharp pressure drop in the column and reduced separation efficiency. Flooding Flooding is brought about by excessive vapour flow, causing liquid to be entrained in the vapour up the column. The increased pressure from excessive vapour also backs up the liquid in the downcomer, htpsthww. quora.comiWhat-e-entrainment-ickling-weeping-loading-ancoaing 42raiero%8 What's entrainment, vickling, weeping, flooding, and loading? ~ Quore causing an increase in liquid holdup on the plate above. Depending on the degree of flooding, the maximum capacity of the column may be severely reduced. Flooding is detected by sharp increases in column differential pressure and significant decrease in separation efficiency. Reboiler Temperature Asa reboiler slowly plugs on the tube side, the bottoms temperature goes down and this leads to low vapor flow. Online monitoring of the heat transfer coefficient in control system can identify this problem early on along with the monitoring of bottoms temperature. A self cleaning heat exchanger when used in place of a reboiler can mitigate this problem. Reduction in Vacuum Aslight drop in vacuum causes the boiling point(s) to go up, leading to low vapour flow, loss of production and and off spec produets. Wet Feed Ifa column is typically fed a dry hydrocarbon feed but the feed becomes contaminated with water then at some point, when the water/ hydrocarbon mixture enters the tower the water can vaporize so rapidly that it causes an over pressure event. This can and will damage trays. This effects column efficiency and product quality. Column Diameter ‘Most of the above factors that affect column operation is due to vapour flow conditions: either excessive or too low. Vapour flow velocity is dependent on column diameter. Weeping determines the minimum vapour flow required while flooding determines the maximum vapour flow allowed, hence column capacity. Thus, if the column diameter is not sized properly, the column will not perform well. Not only will operational problems occur, the desired separation duties may not be achieved. State of Trays and Packings Remember that the actual number of trays required for a particular separation duty is determined by the efficiency of the plate, and the packings if packings are used. Thus, any factors that cause a decrease in tray efficiency will also change the performance of the column. Tray efficiencies are affected by fouling, wear and tear and corrosion, and the rates at which these occur depends on the properties of the liquids being processed. Thus appropriate materials should be specified for tray construction. Weather Conditions Most distillation columns are open to the atmosphere. Although many of the columns are insulated, changing weather conditions can still affect column operation. Thus the reboiler must be appropriately sized to ensure that enough. htpsthww. quora.com/Whate-entrainment-ickling-weeping-loading-ancoading 22