Equipment Design - £" year Chapter Seven Assist. Prof: Ihsan H. Dakhil pressura of vapour its ‘valve Bubble-cup Simple valve, “XN 7.8 Selection of Plate Type The principal factors to consider when comparing the ance of bubble-cap, sieve and valve plates are: Cost : Bubble-cap plates are more expensive than or valve plates. The relative cost will depend on the material of sng for mild steel the ratios, bubble-cap : valve : sieve, are approximately 3 if Capacity : There is little difference in the capa€it’rating of the three types (the diameter of the column required for a fow-rate); the ranking is sieve valve, bubble-cap. 3 Operating range : This is the m nificant factor. By operating range is meant the range of vapor and liquid’ rates over which the plate will operate satisfactorily, The ranking is Buobfe-cap, valve and sieve plates. Efficiency : The efficiency. Qf the three types of plate will be virtually the same ‘when operating over, Resien flow range. Pressure drop : It — design consideration, particularly for vacuum columns. The ranking, arranged from lowest, is sieve plates, valves and bubble- cus. Summ jeve plates are the cheapest _and_are satisfactory for_most applications. Bubble-caps should only be used where very low vapor rates. Bio eee gleel ai scab sali Alegll [laa pea [inochi dace 1, Fiwe SaalEquipment Design - £" year Chapter Seven Assist. Prof: Ihsan H. Dakhil 7.9 Plate-design procedure 1, Calculate the maximum and minimum vapor and liquid flow-rates, for the turn down ratio required. 2. Collect, or estimate, the system physical properties. 3. Select a plate spacing. 4, Estimate the column diameter, based on flooding considerations, 5. Decide the liquid flow arrangement. 6. Make a trial plate layout: down-comer area, active area, hole area, note weir height. 7. Check the weeping rate, if unsatisfactory return to step 6 8. Check the plate pressure drop, if too high retum to step 6. 9. Check down-comer back-up, if too high return to step 6 10. Decide plate layout details: calming zones, unperforated)afeas. Check hole pitch, if unsatisfactory return to step 6. * 11. Recalculate the percentage flooding based on ¢ ‘olumn diameter 12. Check entrainment, if too high retum to step 13. Optimize design: repeat steps 3 to 12 y smallest diameter and plate spacing acceptable (lowest cost). 14, Finalize design: draw up the plat cation and sketch the layout. 7.10 Plate areas K ‘The following areas termSuare used in the plate design procedure: A, = total column cos al area, Aa osetia Yjown-comer, A,,= net area available Yor vapor-liquid disengagement, normally equal to A. Ay.for single pass plate, Aa= activgar ibbling, area, equal to A. — 24, for single-pass plates, 4), = hole fren, the total area of all the active holes, Ay Oise area (including blanked areas), (4, — unperforated edge), age clearance area under the down-comer apron. 7.11 Diameter The flooding condition fixes the upper limit of vapor velocity, A high vapor velocity is needed for high plate efficiencies. A velocity of 80 to 85 % of the flooding velocity should be used. The flooding velocity can be estimated from the correlation Sel ae gheed acta sd sella (ae pana [arash ASA deneEquipment Design - £" year Chapter Seven Assist. Prof: Ihsan H. Dakhil Lw [Po i a FE aM oe where —_14= flooding vapor velocity, m/s, based on the net column cross- sectional area 4, Ky = a constant obtained from Figure (7.1), Fy = The liquid-vapor flow factor, L,, = liquid mass flow-rate, kg/s, N _ V,, = vapor mass flow-rate, kg/s. = rr Restiaion Hole siz less than 65 zs ‘Weir ess than 185 ofthe plate sce, Nonefoaing stems Hate ative mea ato greater da 0.10 for oer ais ppl teflon eateions hole: ave are sity by a0 vo os 09 05, os 5 Liq aufoce tension 0.02 Nin fr athe surface teins mip the value of Py o/h Plate spacing, | rt ~ I oor Or 10 30 iy —— v Y Y Figure (7-1) Flooding velocity, sieve plates To calculate the column diameter an estimate of the net_area 4, is required. As a first trial take the down-comer area as 12% of the total, and assume that the hole active area is 10%, 4, =0.1 Ay. Bio eee gleel ai scab aa\fhileolt (lane nat rash S21 ale Mn Piwe aeEquipment Design - £" year Chapter Seven Assist. Prof: Ihsan H. Dakhil 7.12 Entrainment Entrainment, "some liquid droplets will be entrained and carried up the column by the vapor flow and this will reduce the actual efficiency", can be estimated from the correlation given by Figure (7.2), which gives the fractional entrainment (kg/kg gross liquid flow) as a function of the liquid-vapor factor Fir, with the percentage approach to flooding as a parameter. The percentage flooding is given by: ial velocity (based on net percentage flooding = lr Sctual velocity (based on net area) NN us “A As a rough guide the upper limit of y can be taken as 0.1 we wy —— Fractional entainment, yy —e- o Y a eT a so? fy—> Figure (7.2) Entrainment correlation for sieve plates. Bio eee gleel ai scab aa\fhileolt (lane nat rash S21 ale Pate az Faw