What is the distillation column?

They are towers that design to separate two or more types of liquid by the difference in the
boiling point between them.
Batch columns:
in this type, the feed is charged to the column as a patch and then the distillation is carried out,
and when the desired task is achieved, the product exit from it and the next batch is charged.
Continuous column
This type a continuous process feed stream and there is no interruption occur unless there a
problem in the tower or the process unit surround the unit

Types of distillation columns

It classified according to
 Nature of the feed
o Binary column: its feed contains only two components
o Multi component: its feed contains more than two components
 The number of product streams
o Multi product column: it contains two or more product streams

Main component of distillation columns

A typical distillation contains several major components
 Vertical shell where the separation of liquid components is carried out
 Column internal such as trays. Plates, and or packing
 A reboiler to provide the necessary vaporization for the distillation process
 A condenser to cool and condense the vapor leaving the top the column
 A reflux drum to hold the condensed vapor from the top of the column so the liquid can
be recycled back to the column

Column internal
Tray column
Where trays of various designs are used to hold up the liquid to provid better contact between
vapor and liquid for better separation
Bubble cap tray
A bubble cap tray has riser or chimney fitted over each hole, and a cap that covers the riser. The
cap is mounted so that there is a space between riser and cap to allow the passage of vapor.
Vapor rises through the chimney and is directed downward by the cap, finally discharging
through slots in the cap, and finally bubbling through the liquid on the tray.
 Figure 1(Bubble Cap)

Figure 2(Bubble Cap)

Sieves trays
 Vapor rising through the holes keeps the liquid on the tray and bubbles up through it.
 The overflow weir keeps a constant depth of liquid on the tray.
 The holes are of relatively small diameter usually ranging from 1/8 to ½ inch. For clean
services, use of a hole diameter of 3/16 inch is common
 Holes are made by punching or drilling a tray sheet in order to reduce the labor cost.
(arranged in equilateral triangular pitch)
 Free area = 6-10 % (Free area= hole area/tower C/S)

Figure 3(Sieve Tray)

 Figure 4(Sieve Tray)

A sieve tray is:

 Inexpensive,
 Easy to clean, and
 Maintains good liquid and vapor contact as long as it is operated at its design load.
 Because the sieve tray has fixed openings and does not have covers over the holes, It
does not perform well if tower loads are constantly changing.
Valve trays
 In valve trays, perforations are covered by liftable caps. Vapor flows lifts the caps, thus
self-creating a flow area for the passage of vapor. The lifting cap directs the vapor to flow
horizontally into the liquid, thus providing better mixing than is possible in sieve trays.
 When there is no vapor flow, the caps sit over the hole and close it. Under low pressure
the cap starts to rise. As the flow of vapors increases, the cap rises until it is stopped by
the guide tabs
 The valve tray is similar to the babble cap tray. Both are more adaptable to variations in
tower loads than a sieve tray. The valve trays and bubble cap trays are designed to
perform well with variable tower loads.

Figure 5(Valve Tray)

 Selection of Tray Type
The principal factors to consider when comparing the performance of bubble-cap, sieve and
valve trays are:
 Cost
Bubble-cap trays are appreciably more expensive than sieve or valve trays.
The relative cost will depend on the material of construction used;
For mild steel the ratios,
Bubble-cap: Valve : Sieve, are approximately
3.0 : 1.5 : 1.0

 Capacity,
 Operating range
This is the most significant factor. By operating range is meant the range of vapor
and liquid rates over which the plate will operate satisfactorily (the stable
operating range).
Some flexibility will always be required in an operating plant to:
o Allow for changes in production rate
o Cover start-up and shut-down conditions.
Bubble-Cap trays have a positive liquid seal and can therefore operate efficiently
at very low vapors rates.
Sieve Trays rely on the flow of vapors through the holes to hold the liquid on the
tray and cannot operate at very low vapors rates, but, with good design, sieve
trays can be designed to give a satisfactory operating range;
Typically, from 50 to 120 % of design capacity.
Valve trays are intended to give greater flexibility than sieve trays at a lower cost
than bubble-caps.
 Maintenance and
For dirty services, bubble-caps are not suitable as they are most susceptible to
plugging. Sieve trays are the easiest to clean.
 Pressure drop
The pressure drop over the trays can be an important design consideration,
particularly for vacuum columns. The trays pressure drop will depend on the
detailed design of the tray but. In general, sieve plates give the lowest pressure
drop, followed by valves, with bubble-caps giving the highest
Classification of trays based on the number of liquid paths
 Single pass
 Two passes
 Three passes
 Four passes

Figure 6(Liquid Path)

Packed column
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.
Packed beds may also contain catalyst particles or adsorbents such as zeolite pellets, granular
activated carbon, etc.
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, but packed beds have also been used to store heat in chemical plants.
In this case, hot gases are allowed to escape through a vessel that is packed with a refractory
material until the packing is hot. Air or other cool gas is then fed back to the plant through the
hot bed, thereby pre-heating the air or gas feed.

Packing basic requirements

 chemically inert to the fluids
 strong but without excessive weight
 contain adequate passages (void volume) for both streams without excessive liquid hold-
up or pressure drop
 provide good contact between the liquid and the gas.
 reasonable in cost.
Types of packing
1. Random packing
Random packings are simply dumped into the tower during installation and allowed to
fall at random.
 Raschig rings: Diameter ranges from 6 to 100 mm. Made of
chemical stoneware or porcelain (Not used for alkali &
acids), carbon (Except strongly oxidizing atmospheres),
metals or plastics (deteriorates with certain organic solvents
Figure 7(Rasching Rings)
& oxygen bearing gases at elevated temperature)
 Lessing ring: Lessing and others with internal classifications are
less frequently used. (partition along the ring of the axis).
partition increase the surface area, but advantages is rather the
small in practice.
o Cross partition ring: consists of two partition
o Spiral ring: (internal helix) enhance the rate of mass
transfer
Figure 8(Lessing Ring)
 Berl saddle
Chemical stoneware or plastic 6 to 75 mm diameter (first modern
packing)
Has large specific surface area and smaller void age than racshing
ring and also pressure drop is less because of its aerodynamic
shape
 Lntalox saddle
o chemical stoneware or plastic 6 to 75 mm diameter Figure 9(Berl Saddle)
o may be consider as first member of second-generation
random packing
o its improved version of berl saddle, which offer less from
friction to gas flow
 Tellerette
o Plastic and metals
o The smooth edges of intalox saddle are scalloped and holes Figure 10(Lntalox saddle)
inserted to make super intalox
 Pall rings
The Pall ring attempts to increase the useful aspects of packing, by
giving an increased number of edges to disrupt flow, whilst also
reducing the volume taken up by the ring packing medium itself.
Rather than using a solid-walled tube, the Pall ring resembles an
open basket structure of thin bars. These forms both a tube and also Figure 11(Tellerette)
a radial structure of cross bars. Pall rings may be injection molded
of plastics, molded of ceramics or press formed from
metal sheet. In order to prevent the breakage of ceramic
or carbon packing, the tower may first be filled with
water to reduce the velocity of falling object.

Figure 12(Pall Rings)

Wier
 The function of a weir is to maintain a desired liquid level on
the tray.
 Typical weir height is between 2 to 4 inches. Low weirs are
frequently used in low pressure column.
 Notched weir is commonly used for low liquid loads.
 The higher the liquid level, the higher the tray pressure drop.
Higher liquid level also implies more liquid hold up on the
tray, which may be undesirable if the liquid is toxic or
hazardous. Figure 13(Wier Shape)
 The weir length may vary from 60 to 80% of the tower
diameter.

Top Towe Demister

 Even under normal operating conditions, a little entrainment of liquid in the up-flowing
vapors may occur.
 In order to prevent entrainment in the vapors leaving the top tray, a pad made of wire
mesh or a pack of suitably bent and spaced thin sheets is fitted above it.
 The droplets are retained after they strike the surface of the pad. Such a device is called
‘Demister or Mist Eliminator’.

Reflux and Reboiler

The word reflux is defined as "flowing back “Applying it to distillation tower, reflux is the
liquid flowing back down the tower from each successive stage
Kind of reflux
Cold Reflux
 Cold reflux is defined as liquid that is supplied at temperature a little below that at the top
of the tower
 Each pound of this reflux removes a quantity of heat equal to the sum of its latent and
sensible heat required to raise its temperature from reflux drum temperature to the
temperature at the top of the tower
 A constant quantity of reflux is recirculated from the reflux drum into the top of the tower
 It is vaporized and condensed and then returns in like quantity to the reflux
Hot Reflux
 It is the reflux that is admitted to the tower at the same temperature as that maintained at
the top of the tower
 It is capable of removing the latent heat because no difference in temperature is involved.
Internal Reflux
 It is the liquid that overflow from one plate to another in the tower, and may be called hot
reflux because it is always substantially at its boiling point It also capable of removing
the latent heat only because no difference in temperature is involved.
Circulation Reflux
 It is also able to remove only the sensible heat which is represented by its change in
temperature as it circulates the reflux is withdrawn and is returned to the tower after
having been cooled
Reboiler
 In all distillations processes Heat been added by Means the feed Means of a reboiler

Disadvantage of tray column

Entrainment
 When a gas bubbles through the liquid pool vigorously, droplets of liquid are formed in
the vapors space by quite a few mechanisms including shearing action of the gas jet of
the liquid film as a gas bubble bursts.
 Depending upon the size of a droplet, its velocity of projection and the drag force action
on it due to the gas velocity, the droplet may descend back into the liquid on the tray or
may be carried into the tray above.
 The phenomenon of carryover of the suspended droplets into the upper tray is called ‘
entrainment’.
Flooding
 When the liquid flowrate is very high, in comparison with gas flowrate the liquid fills the
downcomer as well as an entire tray space and eventually the entire column. This
phenomenon is called ‘flooding’.
Priming
 Priming is an exaggerated condition of liquid entrainment. Due to high gas flowrate,
liquid from the bottom trays is carried away along with the gas to the top tray. This
phenomenon is called ‘priming’.
Coning
 Coning in a tray tower occurs due to low liquid flowrate when compared to gas which
results in pushing of the liquid away from the tray opening.
Weeping
 If a very small fraction of the liquid flows from a tray to lower one through perforation or
openings of the tray, the phenomenon is called ‘weeping’.
 Weeping causes some reduction of the tray efficiency. Weeping occurs at low gas
flowrate compared to liquid flowrate.
Dumping
 When the gas flow rate is very low, in comparison to liquid flow rate, liquid flows from a
tray opening without entering into downcomer. This phenomenon is called ‘dumping’.