Back to Basics Choosing Trays and Packings for Distillation Tower-related problems can be diffi cult, time-consuming, and expensive to diagnose and fi x. Here’s how to avoid diffi culties and improve operating effi ciency. Mark Pilling Sulzer Chemtech USA Bruce S. Holden The Dow Chemical Co. istillation towers are essential to the chemical product purity and the column’s economics. process industries (CPI), so it is imperative that they System characteristics that affect the design and con- Dare properly designed and operated. Tower internals struction of the tower internals, including constraints such are arguably the most important piece of process equipment, as maximum temperatures, fouling tendencies, and ongoing since they cannot easily be accessed after startup. If the chemical reactions, must be carefully evaluated. In addi- tower internals malfunction, the distillation tower will fol- tion, the corrosivity of the process fl uids and their sensitiv- low suit and the entire chemical process will suffer. ity to contamination dictate the selection of materials of This article explains how process simulations of the construction for the internals. distillation tower provide the necessary data for engineers Once the designer understands these considerations as to select proper tower internals. These internals can be trays well as the hydraulic requirements of the separation, the or packings, each of which has a set of characteristics that tower internals can be selected and designed. makes one more appropriate for a particular separation application than the other. Trays vs. packings Tower internals can be trays, random packing, or Understand the process structured packing. Generally speaking, trays are used in Selection of distillation tower internals requires an applications with liquid rates of 30 m3/m2-h and above, understanding of the purpose of the separation, the required and/or those where solids are present or fouling is a con- range of vapor and liquid fl ows, and the physical properties cern. Structured packings are typically used in lower-liquid- of the vapor and liquid throughout the tower. Much of this rate applications (i.e., less than 50 m3/m2-h), especially information can be obtained from a process simulation of where minimizing column pressure drop is important. For the distillation tower. These data, together with the vapor- similar applications, packings can be expected to have a liquid equilibrium and physical property models, determine pressure drop that is a fraction of the pressure drop across the optimum number of stages and refl ux ratio, as well as trays. Random packings are often used in higher-liquid-rate 44 www.aiche.org/cep September 2009 CEP applications where lower pressure drop is desired. Tray characteristics These liquid-rate guidelines are not absolute. When Conventional crossfl ow trays (Figure 3) consist of a trays operate with weir loadings less than 20 m3/m-h, deck with an inlet region for liquid feed and a downcomer structured packings should be evaluated as an alternative. at the outlet. The deck is perforated for vapor fl ow, with When structured packings operate at liquid rates above the openings occupying about 5–15% of the deck area. The 50 m3/m2-h, then trays or random packings may be better tray spacing between decks is most commonly 610 mm, solutions. However, there is often signifi cant overlap of the liquid fl owrate ranges of various types of packings. It is always recommended to evaluate all practical solutions and then select the best design. The liquid loading in a distillation column is a func- tion of the column pressure, because the vapor and liquid molar fl owrates are nearly equal. At low pressures, the difference in vapor and liquid densities is much larger than at higher pressures. For example, a column processing hydrocarbons at atmospheric pressure may have a liquid- to-vapor-density ratio of well over 100, whereas a high- pressure application will have a liquid-to-vapor-density ratio of less than 10. From a volumetric standpoint, this means that higher-pressure distillation applications will have a higher proportion of liquid than will lower-pressure S Figure 1. The spray operating regime occurs mostly at lower pressures or vacuum applications. and has liquid droplets dispersed in vapor. In many cases, the choice of trays or packing can be very complex, so the engineer must consider the impact of many factors in making the best choice for an application. These factors are discussed below. Tray operation fundamentals Distillation trays generally provide holdup for a portion of liquid through which vapor fl ows to accomplish the vapor-liquid mass transfer required for separation. With a conventional crossfl ow tray, the liquid travels horizon- tally across the tray and into a vertical downcomer while the vapor passes up through holes or passages in the tray and across the fl ow of liquid. Countercurrent trays (such as dual-fl ow trays) have no downcomer, and the upward S Figure 2. The froth operating regime occurs at moderate to higher fl owing vapor and downward fl owing liquid compete for pressures and has vapor bubbles dispersed in liquid. passage through the holes in the tray deck. Crossfl ow trays are much more common in commercial practice than Deck Downcomer countercurrent trays because of their (typically) higher separation effi ciency and wider operating range. However, some modern high-capacity trays employ countercurrent- fl ow designs, and are generating renewed interest in this arrangement. Trays operate predominantly in either of two fl ow regimes — spray or froth. In the spray regime (Figure 1), which is found mostly at lower pressures, the vapor is the continuous phase and the liquid is dispersed as droplets. In the froth regime (Figure 2), the liquid is the continu- Inlet Region ous phase and the vapor bubbles through the liquid. This regime is more common and occurs at moderate to higher S Figure 3. The ideal tray design balances the areas required for the vapor pressures. and liquid fl ows. CEP September 2009 www.aiche.org/cep 45 Back to Basics and can vary anywhere from 300 to 900 mm. The down- region where vapor disengages from the frothy fl uid so comer size is about 5–30% of the tower cross-sectional the liquid exiting the bottom of the downcomer to the tray area, depending on the liquid load. As with any tower below is clear. Any signifi cant amount of vapor traveling internals, the ideal design balances the areas required for out the bottom of the downcomer is to be avoided, as it will the vapor and liquid fl ows. reduce tray capacity and effi ciency due to backmixing. • decks. The purpose of the deck area is to create a mix- ing region for the vapor and liquid. Each deck has an inlet Tray operating limits area where liquid is received from the downcomer above, The operating limits of a tray are set to prevent weeping and from there the liquid is redirected out onto the active at low throughputs and fl ooding at high throughputs. area. Most decks have either sieve perforations or valves Weeping occurs when the vapor-side pressure drop through which the vapor fl ows. A vertical weir at the outlet across the tray deck is too low to support the liquid pool side maintains a liquid level on the tray deck suffi cient to on the top side, so the liquid weeps through the holes. ensure good mixing with the vapor. The outlet weir height When the predicted dry-tray pressure drop falls below is typically about 50 mm. Frothy liquid from the active area 12 mm H2O, weeping may become a problem. A good overfl ows the weir and falls into the downcomer. rule of thumb is that 20% weeping leads to a 10% loss in • downcomers. The downcomer’s primary purpose is effi ciency. to provide a conduit for the frothy liquid to fl ow to the tray Flooding occurs at the other end of the operating range. deck below. Its secondary purpose is to provide a calm The tray deck generally fl oods by a mechanism called jet fl ooding, where excessive vapor velocities carry liquid droplets to the tray above. Entrainment is more detrimen- tal to tray performance than weeping because it causes backmixing of the liquid. A good rule of thumb is that 10% entrainment causes a 10% loss in effi ciency. The downcomers may also fl ood due to backup or inlet velocity fl ooding. The froth level in the downcomer is set by the liquid head at the tray inlet (i.e., the downcomer outlet), the pressure drop across the tray, and the fric- tional losses in the downcomer. As the tray pressure drop increases and the liquid rate increases, the froth level in the downcomer will increase. When the froth level, or down- comer backup, exceeds the downcomer height, the tray above will fl ood. Downcomer backup can be mitigated or avoided by increasing the spacing between trays, lowering the outlet weir height, decreasing the tray pressure drop, or increasing the downcomer clearance. Usually, increasing the downcomer size is not effective, because the frictional losses in the downcomer itself are negligible. The other type of downcomer fl ooding is velocity fl ood- ing, which occurs when the velocity of the liquid entering the downcomer is too high for the frothy liquid to enter the downcomer (called choking), or when the velocity in the downcomer is too high for the bubbles to rise and disen- gage from the froth. Velocity fl ooding is usually a concern only in moderate- to high-pressure systems (i.e., above 5 atm). This may be mitigated by increasing the downcomer size or sloping the downcomer.