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Design and Rating of Packed Distillation PDF
Design and Rating of Packed Distillation PDF
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CONTENTS SECTION
0 INTRODUCTION/PURPOSE 3
1 SCOPE 3
2 FIELD OF APPLICATION 4
3 DEFINITIONS 4
4 DESIGN PHILOSOPHY 4
5 PERFORMANCE GUARANTEES 5
7 DESIGN CALCULATIONS 7
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9.1 Packing 14
9.2 Support Grid 15
9.3 Liquid Collector 16
9.4 Liquid Distributor or Redistributor 17
9.5 Packing Hold-down Grid 21
9.6 Reflux or Feed Pipe 21
9.7 Reboil Return Pipe 23
9.8 Liquid Draw-offs 23
9.9 Vapor Draw-offs 23
10 BIBLIOGRAPHY 25
APPENDICES
A DEFINITIONS 26
A.1 INTRODUCTION 26
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6 MULTI-SPRAY DISTRIBUTORS 17
12 VAPOR SPARGER 24
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GBHE does not manufacture packings or the associated column internals - they
are purchased from specialist manufacturers. The detailed design of the
packings and internals is undertaken by the manufacturers. In most cases,
competitive bids are sought from various manufacturers.
(b) ensure that what is offered by the bidding manufacturers will meet these
requirements; and
On existing plant there is often the need to assess the performance of packed
columns for several reasons:
(d) to assess the reasons for any shortfall in performance, compared with
design or earlier operation;
Packings are made in metal, ceramic and plastic; the vast majority of distillation
applications use metal packings. Ceramic packings tend to give problems of
breakage in service. They are used in corrosive services. Few plastics can
tolerate the temperatures encountered in distillation.
Three families of packings exist: random, structured and grid packings. Random
packings are the traditional ones and various non-proprietary types are available;
newer high performance random packings have been developed, but all are
proprietary. Structured packings are the newest ones and most of these are
proprietary. Grid packings are not generally used for distillation, because of poor
efficiency, but can be useful in fouling services.
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1 SCOPE
This Guide deals with the design and rating of packed distillation columns. It
covers neither guidance on the selection of trays and packings nor some aspects
of their performance characteristics; advice on both of these is given in GBHE-
PEG-MAS-610 - Selection of Internals for Distillation Columns.
4 Design Philosophy
5 Performance Guarantees
6 Description of Packed Column Internals
7 Design Calculations
8 Liquid Distribution and Redistribution
9 Practical Aspects of Packed Column Design
2 FIELD OF APPLICATION
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With the exception of proper nouns, terms with initial capital letters which appear
in this document and are not defined above, are defined in the Glossary of
Engineering Terms.
4 DESIGN PHILOSOPHY
GBHE does not manufacture packings or the associated internals for distillation
columns - they are purchased from specialist manufacturers. Generally speaking,
the packing manufacturers have more experience in packed column design than
GBHE process engineers. It is therefore preferable for the manufacturer to take
responsibility for the design. The role of a GBHE Process Engineer then
becomes one of:
If modifications are required, the aim should be to agree changes with the
manufacturer which do not diminish his design contingencies, while removing the
risk of poor performance. This is generally achievable since we will usually be
seeking extra contingency in the design.
Until recently, manufacturers' expertise has been mainly in the hydraulic design
(flooding, weeping, pressure drop, etc.), but this is now changing. Most
manufacturers will enter into discussions and share their experience on efficiency
as it relates to our application.
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(d) A rough column sizing is usually all that is needed for initial flowsheeting
studies;
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Guarantees do not cover consequential losses. If a failure occurs and the plant is
shut down, the consequential loss will far exceed any sum in the manufacturer's
guarantee - in cash terms a guarantee is of little value. Furthermore, the
guarantee will generally contain clauses defining requirements of access for
testing, dismantling and examination in the event of failure. The guarantee may
be unenforceable if we do not meet these requirements.
Most designs of packed column internals are essentially similar and their main
features are described in this Section. In describing internals, customary
terminology is introduced. A list of definitions is given in Appendix A. Most of the
definitions are those used by Fractionation Research Inc and are understood by
the majority of packing manufacturers.
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Distillation columns are always cylindrical vessels. Figure 1 shows the general
arrangement of a packed column, with two packed beds and feed between them.
Liquid is fed to the top of a bed through a liquid distributor. A bed limiter is placed
on top of the packing to restrict packing movement in the event of large surges in
vapor flow. The packing rests on a support grid.
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Below the bottom bed there is often some form of vapor distributor. It is much
easier to achieve good vapor distribution than good liquid distribution. The reboil
return pipe shown in Figure 1 is a design commonly used; it has a bottom
aperture at the column centre line which directs the vapor and associated liquid
downwards. Liquid falls to the sump and vapor turns round and flows up to the
packing. This type of design also prevents vapor/liquid mixture from the reboiler
impinging on the column wall opposite the inlet nozzle - otherwise erosion may
cause vessel weakening in this area.
7 DESIGN CALCULATIONS
Three categories of design can be identified which fall roughly in line with the
stages of estimate in a project for a new plant:
For the assessment of existing packed columns or for plant modifications (except
where a new column is required) all calculations will be in the detailed category.
This Section is concerned with random and structured packings (grid packings
are not generally used in distillation service). They are considered as two
separate families since their performance differs significantly and cannot be
represented by one method. Generally speaking, the design methods we have
are not sufficiently reliable for final design except for duties where we have prior
experience, either on the full scale or in a pilot unit. This is true both of hydraulic
and efficiency correlations. For proprietary packings we generally have to rely
on manufacturers data which varies from simple charts in sales brochures to
computer programs which contain the manufacturers own correlations, with some
know-how not disclosed.
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One of the first considerations is the size of packing which should be used. For
random packings, For random packings general practice is to use 38 or 50 mm
rings for all but small columns (< 500 mm diameter). By analogy, for sheet
structured packings, the common sizes are in the range of 200 to 350 m2/m3
specific surface area. Gauze structured packings tend to be in the region of 500
m2/m3.
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Size, mm 15 25 38 51 89
H 11 11 13 15 26
When the detailed design stage has been reached it is strongly recommended to
gather the design data on the appropriate data sheet proformas. This should be
done as a separate step in the design process, to avoid confusion and errors
arising from ad hoc reference.
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(c) exploring design options for uprating an existing column or changing its
duty;
Care is needed in using plant data for either the design of a new column or the
assessment of an existing column for a new duty. For example, plant data may
show, for a given system with a given column design (including packing,
distributors, etc.), that flooding occurs at 105% of the predicted flood point.
Beware:
(a) How accurate were the plant data? It should be possible to obtain plant
data which show a mass balance accurate to within 5% and a heat
balance within 10%, but this is not often achieved in practice.
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(c) A different system may not perform so well on the same equipment
design - it may flood at a lower predicted % flood if the correlation
does not properly account for the effects of system physical
properties.
For the first three, a generalized pressure drop correlation published by the
Norton Company (Ref [3]) is used - see Appendix B. It is the latest in a long
series of pressure drop correlations based on the original work of Sherwood (Ref
[4]). Many variants have been developed and published in the open literature and
in manufacturers' sales literature.
The flood point is taken to be coincident with a frictional pressure gradient of 1.5
in.H2O/ft (12.3 mbar/m) of packing. In some cases, packings will operate at
higher pressure gradient, but mass transfer is almost certain to be poor.
The load point is defined as the combination of vapor and liquid loads at which
the mass transfer efficiency is a maximum and above which it declines sharply.
The load point may be taken to be 90% of the flood point. Design for 90% of the
load point is generally recommended for well behaved systems.
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Packing efficiency (HETP) is predicted using an FRI correlation (Ref [1], Vol 2,
Section 8.4) which was fitted to data on low relative volatility hydrocarbon
systems from 250 mbar to 15 bar, and methanol/water at atmospheric pressure.
Its performance with other types of system, especially with relative volatilities
greater than 5, is not proven.
(b) the prediction of capacity for high pressure systems (> 15 bar).
If neither we nor the manufacturer have prior experience with a similar system we
should not proceed without carrying out tests to measure efficiency, at least at
total reflux. Most manufacturers have access to small scale test units in which
such tests can be performed, but these may not be able to operate under all the
conditions we require. This is a potentially difficult area where expert advice
should be sought.
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A perfect distributor may be considered as one which lays down liquid uniformly
over the entire cross section of the column on the top of the packed bed. In
practice this is not achievable:
(a) the liquid is distributed from holes or slots and these must be large enough
not to block,
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With the stream concept of natural distribution, it is important that the number of
streams leaving the liquid distributor should be at least equal to the number of
streams in the natural distribution. Based upon measurements of the natural
liquid distribution of Pall rings, minimum values of pour point density for random
packings are recommended:
Ring size, mm 15 25 38 50 89
Pour points per m2 100 60 40 35 30
Distributors for sheet metal structured packings tend to have 60 to 100 pour
points per m2, while distributors for gauze structured packings may well have 200
or more.
Pour point density and peripheral irrigation (see 8.3 below) need to be
considered together; in small columns it may be that the requirement for
peripheral irrigation can be met only with a higher pour point density than given
above.
The holes may be on either a triangular or square pitch, but the pattern should be
complete across the entire tray - vapor risers and support beams should fit within
the pattern without eliminating any pour points.
It has been thought for many years that a common cause of poor performance in
packed beds (high HETP) was the development of wall flow - liquid reaching the
wall, flowing down it, bypassing the packing and not contacting the vapor
effectively. With this in mind, many commercial distributors were designed so that
a small zone along the column periphery was not irrigated.
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Ring size, mm 15 25 38 51 89
Max distance, mm 25 25 38 51 76
Given that the pour points are usually arranged on a triangular or square pitch,
the criterion for the wall zone may require a larger number of pour points than the
table in 8.2, above. This is most likely with small columns. Some manufacturers
produce designs for small columns with the pour points in concentric rings. Such
a design is not generally recommended since it is difficult to get an even
distribution and efficiency may well suffer. Seek expert advice for an assessment
of such a design.
Ideally, the liquid flow through all the pour points in a distributor should be exactly
the same. Random variations, due to minor differences in hole finish (burrs, etc.)
do not cause problems, but serious problems can arise if the distributor is not
level. A key factor in the consideration of out-of-levelness is the shape of the
orifices which control the liquid flow. Three shapes are in common use and they
have different head/flow characteristics:
(b) for a rectangular notch, flow is proportional to head to the power of 1.5;
(c) for a submerged orifice, flow is proportional to head to the power of 0.5.
The V notch is therefore the most sensitive while the orifice is the least sensitive
to out-of levelness. Out-of-levelness may be tackled by calculation and
specification, but is usually dealt with by distributor testing - see 9.4.4.
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Although FRI research in the early 1980s overturned traditional thinking about
the influence of wall flow in packed beds, the phenomenon still exists. At the top
of a packed bed, a modern distributor design is intended to put liquid evenly on to
the packing. As the liquid passes through the bed it spreads and on reaching the
wall some of it runs preferentially down the wall instead of returning to the
packing. The build-up of wall flow in this manner eventually causes
sufficient maldistribution to lower the efficiency of the packed bed.
Packed beds with modern random packings have, in some cases, operated
successfully with beds up to 13 m deep, but in other cases they have failed - for
reasons that are not obvious (or have not been made public). Experience with
beds up to 8 m deep has proved satisfactory and this is suggested as a working
maximum, subject to the condition that the number of theoretical stages in the
bed should not exceed 20.
As liquid travels down a long bed and wall flow begins to develop, it results in
variable liquid/vapor flow ratios across the column at any particular elevation.
Thus a radial composition profile develops in both the vapor and liquid flows. The
purpose of redistribution is to even out both the radial liquid flow profile and also
the radial composition profile. Thus the redistributor needs to fully mix the liquid
leaving a bed before distributing it to the bed below. Some commercial designs
make specific provision for this mixing to take place; others do not. The same is
in principle also true of the vapor, but specific provision is not made for either
mixing or redistribution. It is probable that the tortuous passages through the
risers, and the resultant turbulent eddies at their exit, provide good mixing and
the pressure drop of the bed above ensures good vapor distribution.
The FRI Fractionation Tray Design Handbook Vol 5 contains much invaluable
information on the practical aspects of packed column design.
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Structured packing is installed in layers, usually about 250 mm high. For small
columns (< 1 m) each layer may be supplied as one or two pieces. For larger
columns, the pieces are typically 250 mm wide and high by up to 2 m long,
shaped to fit the column. Manufacturers differ in how the packing relates to the
column wall. One approach requires a gap between packing and wall with wall
wiper strips fitted to the packing to bridge the gap. The other approach is to make
the packing a tight fit against the wall. Both approaches are intended to
avoid problems with wall flow, but the former approach is preferred.
Random packing (except in ceramics) is usually tipped into a column from the
bags in which it is supplied through a sock so that the maximum packing fall is no
greater than 2 - 3 m and the packing is not seriously damaged. For ceramic
packings, it is usual to fill the column with water first to minimize breakage.
Breakage is often a problem in the supply of ceramic packings, a significant
proportion being damaged on delivery.
The support grid for random packings usually takes the form of illustrated in
Figure 4 and known as a 'gas injection' or 'multi-beam' type. The requirement
which leads to such a design is that the apertures in the support plate should be
small enough to prevent packing pieces falling through, but the area for vapor
flow must not be severely restricted by the area taken up by the ligaments
between the apertures. The typical gas injection support plate has an area for
vapor flow equal to the cross sectional area of the column. The design is also
said to segregate the vapor and liquid flow; the vapor flows through the slots in
the risers while liquid falls through orifices at the bottom.
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As explained in 8.5 there is a practical limit to bed height. When more stages are
required, additional beds must be added. Between these beds, liquid from the
bed above has to be collected, mixed and redistributed to the bed below. Also, if
there is a liquid feed, this too must be mixed with the liquid coming from the
upper bed. The two basic types are a chimney tray and a vane collector,
examples of which are shown in Figure 5. The collector discharges into
an annular and/or a central channel, where the liquid is mixed before feeding to
the liquid redistributor. Liquid feed, if any, is fed into the collector or the channel.
A liquid sidestream may be taken from the collector or its channel, but this
usually entails special design to ensure that the liquid is de-aerated before
withdrawal.
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There are four basic types which are in common use: pipe lateral, pan, trough
and spray. Figures 6-9 show simple illustrations of the general principles. The
spray type distributor (see Figure 6) is NOT RECOMMENDED for mass transfer
duties - its usual application is in pumparounds where the main duty is direct
contact heat transfer. A redistributor differs from a distributor in that it takes liquid
from a packed bed above it and distributes it to the bed below. The design of a
redistributor is essentially the same (and often actually the same) as a distributor,
but the main difference is likely to be the provision of "hats" over the vapor risers
to prevent liquid from the bed above falling through the risers to the bed below. A
few general comments follow.
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The distributor should be located above the bed of packing (typically 150 mm) to
provide sufficient free vapor space in the column to ensure liquid disengagement
before reaching the confined vapor passages through the distributor.
The vapor passages should be evenly distributed over the column cross section.
Designs should be avoided where the vapor is required to move horizontally for
any considerable distance at high velocity so that it causes the descending liquid
to be displaced laterally.
For non-fouling, non-corrosive systems with a high quality filtration (to say, one
fifth to one tenth of the distributor hole size), a hole size of 2-3 mm may be
considered acceptable. More usually, hole sizes of 5-8 mm are considered the
minimum acceptable for clean non-corrosive systems with no feed filtration.
For fouling systems, corrosive systems, or where solids are present in the feed,
larger holes are required and in some cases notched troughs may be the
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Primarily, this is designed for use where the feed liquid is available under
pressure and where the turndown does not exceed 2.5:1. It has a high free area
for vapor flow which gives a low risk of local flooding and usually allows the
distributor to be placed close to the packing. It should be used only with clean or
filtered liquids. The maximum liquid rate is in the region of 0.01 m 2/s.
The pan distributor is adaptable to a wide range of liquid flow rates by varying the
size and number of liquid orifices in the pan. A turndown of 3:1 is achievable and
higher values may be obtained with special designs. Pans for small columns (up
to 1.2 m) often take the form illustrated in Figure 8 (a). The pan is mounted on
lugs fixed to the column wall. Gas flows up through the gas risers and the
peripheral gap around the pan. In larger columns the pan (Figure 8 (b)) has no
outer wall and is mounted on a support ring. The gas risers may be of circular,
square, or rectangular cross section. They must be sized and located so that
they do not interfere with the distribution pattern of the liquid pour points.
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There are two main types of trough distributor: the notched trough and the orifice
trough – see Figures 9 and 10.
For many years the notched trough was the most popular type for large columns
- above about 1.5 m dia. However, because of the head/flow relationship
mentioned earlier, it is very sensitive to out-of-levelness. Also, the liquid is
discharged into the restricted gas flow area between troughs and at high liquid
rates this may result in premature flooding and maldistribution.
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Orifice trough distributors are less sensitive to the problems of notched troughs
and are becoming the industry standard for large columns (above 1.5 m dia) with
high liquid loads. In the simplest designs the orifices are in the base of the
trough, but this gives only a limited turndown (< 3:1) and the orifices are prone to
blockage. Often the orifices are either in the sides of the trough or in the sides of
tubes fitted through the floor of the trough. This reduces the susceptibility to
blockage and also allows design for higher turndown by having extra distribution
holes at a higher elevation - see Figure 10. Orifices in the sides of the trough are
fitted with guide tubes to lead the liquid down to the packing and avoid
entrainment in the restricted space between troughs. Provision is sometimes
made for leveling each trough individually.
A major aspect of trough distributor design is the need for predistribution. If liquid
comes through one nozzle (e.g. reflux to the top distributor) it may be fed into a
single large trough (usually known as a parting box) which distributes the liquid
accordingly to the final distribution troughs through large orifices either in the
base or sides of the parting box. In many cases there is a second stage of
parting boxes.
The hydraulics of liquid flow in parting boxes and the final distribution troughs can
cause problems. High lateral velocities occur where the liquid is introduced, the
flow characteristics of orifices with a high transverse velocity upstream are not
well understood, and standing waves tend to develop at particular flow rates. It is
important therefore that trough type distributors should be tested before
installation and preferably at the manufacturers site.
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A distributor should be tested when one or more of the following criteria apply:
(a) Critical services where poor performance has a major impact on plant
profitability, safety, etc.. Services where the loss of fractionation will cause
a product to go off-spec.
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The tests are done with water on an open test stand where the operation of the
distributor can be observed and samples taken of liquid rate at many locations
under the distributor. As such the test does not cover all possible problems. Cold
water has different physical properties to the liquids in most distillations. The
actual process fluids may for example exhibit greater froth or foam heights than
water. Nevertheless, the tests can be used to highlight potential operating
difficulties and take preventative measures before installation.
In the event of a packed column being run flooded or subjected to sudden vapor
surges, it is likely that the packed bed will be disturbed. This is particularly true
with random packings, but structured packings also can suffer. The purpose of a
hold-down grid is to hold the packing in place.
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Reflux may be introduced direct on to the top distributor, provided care is taken
to ensure that its inlet velocity is dissipated before it comes near any of the
distribution orifices. With a pan distributor, this may take the form of a ladder type
predistributor. With a trough distributor, a ladder type predistributor may be used
instead of a parting box.
Two phase feeds can be much more difficult to deal with. It is important to avoid
slug flow of liquid into the column, since slugs tend to be travelling at much
higher velocities than normal liquid flow and can cause severe damage to the
liquid collector and/or distributor. Ideally the phases should be separated outside
the column, with each phase introduced to the column through a separate
nozzle. Some manufacturers provide a "flash box" designed to separate the
phases in the column. Similarly, a vane separator can be installed at the column
entry. When the feeds are predominantly vapor or liquid, one of the devices
shown in Figure 11 are often used, the "raceway" is good for a high vapor
fraction (i.e. mist flow) and the baffle design is suitable for a low vapor fraction
(i.e. bubbly flow).
With two phase feeds a problem which needs to be considered is the possibility
of slug flow either in the distributor or in the pipework to it. If slug flow exists at
bends or orifices, equipment will be damaged due to severe vibration.
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Most reboilers return a two phase mixture to the column. The flow regime will
generally be mist flow. If this is simply fed through the inlet branch, impingement
of the liquid on the column wall opposite will probably cause erosion and may
lead to failure. The most common design of vapor distributor is shown in Figure
12. This directs the vapor/liquid mixture downwards, the liquid falling to the
column base and the vapor turning round, losing much of its velocity and
flowing up to the bottom packed bed. Sometimes further provision for vapor
distribution is required. This can be assessed by comparing the stagnation
pressure rise in the incoming vapor (neglecting the liquid content) with the
pressure drop across the first meter of packing:
The provision for vapor distribution can then be determined according to the
value of R:
(a) if R < 2.5 no vapor distribution is required; an open nozzle will suffice if
there is no risk of erosion on the opposite column wall;
(b) if 2.5 < R < 4.5 the simple vapor distributor described above will suffice;
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For cases where R > 4.5, a chimney tray may be specified and designed on the
basis that its pressure drop should be at least 0.25 times the stagnation pressure
rise. The space between the tray and the packing support plate should be at
least 0.3 m. A conventional tray (e.g. sieve or valve) may be used, in which case
the space between the tray and the support plate will probably be greater but the
tray will achieve some mass transfer as well as vapor distribution.
Vapor draw-off from an intermediate position in the column may be taken from
between beds. Consideration must be given to the possibility of liquid being
taken at the same time. Provision may be needed for removing this liquid and
returning it to the column. The vapor draw-off nozzle should be located below a
liquid collector to minimize the risk of liquid entrainment. Preferably the draw-off
nozzle should not finish flush with the inside surface of the column shell but
should protrude into the column, so that any liquid draining down the column
does not get into the draw-off.
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[1] FRI Fractionation Tray Design Handbook, Reports Centre, C & P, Wilton
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A.1 INTRODUCTION
The following definitions are in the main those used by FRI and are understood
by most tray manufacturers; especially those who are members of FRI (see
Appendix E).
Volume fraction available for vapor and liquid flow within a packed bed.
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A.3.2 F-Factor
A.3.3 Foam
A.3.4 Flooding
That part of the pressure gradient in a packed bed which is due to the
frictional forces between the vapor flow, liquid flow, packing and wall of the
column. It is sometimes called the dynamic pressure gradient. The total
pressure gradient is the sum of the frictional and static pressure gradients.
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Loading above which the vapor rate influences the liquid rate contribution
to pressure drop.
A.3.8 Lambda
where G and L are vapor and liquid molar flow rates, and m is the slope of
the equilibrium curve. The slope may be obtained from commercially
available computer programs - the vapor and liquid compositions
on each stage are in equilibrium (by definition) and the gradient may be
estimated from the composition differences of adjacent stages:
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The combination of vapor and liquid loads above which there is a sharp
decline in mass transfer efficiency.
The radial spreading of liquid in a packed bed has been shown to follow
the laws of diffusion. The following equation describes the spreading of
liquid from a point source:
That part of the pressure gradient in a packed bed which is due to the
static head of the continuous phase, namely the vapor. The total pressure
gradient is the sum of the frictional and static pressure gradients.
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It is defined as:
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This appendix details the Norton generalized pressure drop as published in Ref
[3] and gives guidance on how to use it for distillation column sizing. This may be
used as a "hand" calculation.
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ΔP, the parameter in the graph, is the frictional pressure gradient in the packed
bed, in. H2O / ft. To this must be added the vapor phase static head to give the
total pressure gradient
The flood point is taken to be coincident with a frictional pressure gradient of 1.5
in. H2O/ft (12.3 mbar/m) of packing. In some cases, packings will operate at
higher pressure gradient, but mass transfer is almost certain to be poor.
The load point is defined as the combination of vapor and liquid loads at which
the mass transfer efficiency is a maximum and above which it declines sharply.
The load point may be taken to be 90% of the flood point. Design for 90% of the
load point is generally recommended for well behaved, systems.
Foaming systems rarely affect packed columns seriously, but a strong foaming
tendency can reduce capacity It is believed that the flood point declines towards
the load point in foaming systems and therefore design should be for less than
90% load. Only experience on the same or similar systems can give a firm
indication of a design value, but a value of 70% load should cover most cases.
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