Title

Mass Transfer
& Separation Processes
Approximate Tray and Packed Columns
Design
Chemical Engineering Department
Faculty of Engineering
Cairo University

Prepared by
Dr. Ahmed Fayez Nassar
A. F. Nassar 1

Contents of the Chapter

Tray Columns
Types of Plates
Design of Trays / Operation Checks
Plate Selection
Packed Columns
Packed Column Parts
Packing Types / Materials / Properties
Hydrodynamics of Packed Columns & Operation Checks
Comparison between Packed and Tray Columns
Spray Columns
A. F. Nassar 2
 Columns

Columns

Tray Packed Spray

Coulson, vol. 6 – Ch. 11

A. F. Nassar 3

Tray (Plate) Columns

Plates

Cross Flow Shower Type

Perforated
Valve
Sieve Bubble Cap with no Turbo Grid
(floating)
down-comer

A. F. Nassar 4
 Cross Flow Plate

In a cross-flow plate the liquid flows

across the plate and the vapor up
through the plate. The flowing liquid
is transferred from plate to plate
through vertical channels called
"downcomers". A pool of liquid is
retained on the plate by an outlet
weir.

A. F. Nassar 5

Sieve (Perforated) Plate

This is the simplest type of cross-flow plate. The vapor

passes up through perforations in the plate; and the
liquid is retained on the plate by the vapor flow.
There is no positive vapor liquid seal, and at low flow-
rates liquid will "weep" through the holes, reducing the
plate efficiency. The perforations are usually small
holes, but larger holes and slots are used.

A. F. Nassar 6
 Bubble Cap Tray

The vapor passes up through short pipes, called

risers, covered by a cap with a serrated edge, or
slots. The bubble-cap plate is the traditional, oldest,
type of cross-flow plate with many different
designs. It would now be specified for most
applications.
The most significant feature of the bubble-cap plate
is that the use of risers ensures that a level of liquid
is maintained on the tray at all vapor flow-rates.

A. F. Nassar 7

Float Valve Tray

Valve plates are patented designs. They are

essentially sieve plates with large-diameter holes
covered by movable flaps, which lift as the vapor
flow increases.
As the area for vapor flow varies with the flow-
rate, valve plates can operate efficiently at lower
flow-rates than sieve plates: the valves closing at
low vapor rates

A. F. Nassar 8
 Shower Type Plate

Cheaper than cross-flow plates, but with lower

flexibility (operating range) and efficiency.
The turbogrid works at higher flow-rates than gas
the perforated plates.

liquid

Perforated with
Turbogrid
no down-comer

A. F. Nassar 9

Tray Parts

A. F. Nassar 10
 Design of Plates

The basic requirements of a plate contacting stage are that it should:

• Provide good vapor-liquid contact
• Provide sufficient liquid hold-up for good mass transfer (high efficiency)
• Have sufficient area and spacing to keep the entrainment and pressure drop
within acceptable limits
• Have sufficient downcomer area for the liquid to flow freely from plate to plate

A. F. Nassar 11

Design of Plates
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 trial plate spacing.
4. Estimate the column diameter, based on flooding considerations.
5. Decide the liquid flow arrangement.
6. Make a trial plate layout: downcomer area, active area, hole area, hole size, weir height.
7. Check the weeping rate, if unsatisfactory return to step 6.
8. Check the plate pressure drop, if too high return to step 6.
9. Check downcomer back-up, if too high return to step 6 or 3.
10. Decide plate layout details: calming zones, unperforated areas. Check hole pitch, if
unsatisfactory return to step 6 .
11. Recalculate the percentage flooding based on chosen column diameter.
12. Check entrainment, if too high return to step 4.
13. Optimize design: repeat steps 3 to 12 to find smallest diameter and plate spacing
acceptable (lowest cost).
14. Finalize design: draw up the plate specification and sketch the layout.
A. F. Nassar 12
 Design of Plates

a) Tray Spacing
Usually it is between 30 and 90 cm, most used between 50 and 60 cm.
Tray spacing should be smaller for low flow rates and vice versa.
b) Hole active area
Standard hole active area ratio is greater than 10%.
For other ratios apply the following corrections for K1:
hole: active area multiply K1 by
10% or greater 1
8% 0.9
6% 0.8

A. F. Nassar 13

Design of Plates

c) Diameter
Souders-Brown equation
l  v
v f  K1
v
v f : flooding vapor velocity (m/s) based
on the net column cross - sectional
area (without t he down comer)
K1 : constant from graph (with restrictio ns)
 l ,  v : density of liquid and vapor on the plate

Lw v FLV : liquid vapor flow factor

FLV 
Vw l Lw , Vw : liquid and vapor mass flow rate (kg/s)
A. F. Nassar 14
 Design of Plates

c) Diameter
Qv
An 
(0.70 to 0.90)v f
Qv : volumetric flow - rate of vapor (gas)
An : net cross sectional area of column  Ac  Ad
Ac  R 2
Ad : cross sectional area of down - comer ( 12% of AC )
Calculate the diameters at top, bottom, above feed and below feed trays. If the
diameters are close, take the largest value as the column diameter. If the
diameters are different, take 2 different values for the top and bottom sections.
The velocity should normally be between 70 to 90% of that which would cause
flooding. For design, a value of 80 to 85% of the flooding velocity should be used.

A. F. Nassar 15

Design of Plates

d) Liquid-flow arrangement
The choice of plate type (reverse, single pass
or multiple pass) will depend on the liquid
flow-rate and column diameter. An initial
selection can be made using this figure.

A. F. Nassar 16
 Design of Plates

Vapor Bad Distribution

When column diameter is large, gas
is not distributed well over the plate
causing bad contact that leads to bad
separation.
Solution is to divide the tray into two
part which is called “Split flow” or
“Double Pass”

A. F. Nassar 17

Design of Plates

A. F. Nassar 18
 Design of Plates

Small Liquid flow (height on plate)

In case of small liquid height on plate, any change
in that height may lead to push the liquid back
and gas jets through the holes. It is also called
“Coning”.
In this case increase the weir height or use
“reverse flow”

A. F. Nassar 19

Design of Plates

e) Weir height (hw)

Weir height should be less than 15% of the plate spacing.
The higher the weir, the higher is the efficiency, but the larger is the
pressure drop.
For vacuum towers use short weirs (6-12 mm).
For medium and high pressure column, pressure drop is not of any
significance (use weir height of 40 – 90 mm).

f) Hole size and pitch (dh and lP)

The hole sizes used vary from 2.5 to 12 mm; 5 mm is the preferred size.
Larger holes are occasionally used for fouling and viscous systems.
The hole pitch (lP) should not be less than 2.0 hole diameters, and the
normal range will be 2.5 to 4.0 diameters. Square and triangular patterns
are used; triangular is preferred.

A. F. Nassar 20
 Design of Plates

g) Weeping
The lower limit of the operating range occurs when
liquid starts to leak through the plate holes. This is
known as the weep point. The vapor velocity at the
weep point is the minimum value for stable operation.
The hole area must be chosen so that at the lowest
operating rate the vapor flow velocity is still well
above the weep point. The minimum design vapor
velocity is given by:

vh min (m/s ) 
K 2  0.925.4  d h (mm)
v
K 2 : a constant depends on the depth of clear
liquid on the plate which is equal to hw plus
the depth of the crest of liquid over the weir how
A. F. Nassar 21

Design of Plates

g) Weeping
23
 L 
how (mm )  750 w 
  l lw 
lw : weir length, m

A. F. Nassar 22
 Design of Plates

g) Weeping
lw  0.77 DC
for 12% Downcomer Area

Vw  v
vh ( m / s ) 
Ah
For weeping, not to happen:

vh  vh min

A. F. Nassar 23

Design of Plates

h) Pressure drop
It is the sum of 3 terms:
• Dry pressure drop, due to vapor flow through the holes (an orifice loss), hd
• Head of clear liquid on the plate (hw + how)
• Residual loss, hr, which accounts for the energy to form the vapor bubbles
and the fact that on an operating plate the liquid head will not be clear
liquid but a head of "aerated" liquid froth, and the froth density and height
will be different from that of the clear liquid
2
v  
hd  51 h  v , in mm
ht  hd  hw  how   hr
 Co   l
if the hydraulic gradient
12.5 1000 is significant, add h 2 
hr   12.5 mm
l
A. F. Nassar 24
 h) Pressure drop
• Co = function of plate thickness,
hole diameter, and the hole to
perforated area ratio
• Ah = hole area, the total area of all
the active holes
• Ap = perforated area (including
blanked areas)

For triangular pitch:

2
Ah d 
 0.9  h 
AP  lP 

A. F. Nassar 25

Design of Plates

i) Down-comer back-up
The down-comer area and plate spacing
must be such that the level of the liquid
and froth in the down-comer is well below
the top of the outlet weir on the plate
above. If the level rises above the outlet
weir the column will flood.

hb  hw  how   ht  hdc

hb : down - comer back - up, measured
from plate surface
hdc : head loss in the down - comer
 froth  0.5  l , to prevent flooding in down - comer :
hb  0.5lt  hw 
A. F. Nassar 26
 Design of Plates

i) Down-comer back-up
2
 L 
hdc  166 wd 
  l Am 
Lwd : liquid flow rate in down - comer
Lwd  Lw , if no weeping and single pass
Am  Ad (down - comer area) or
Aap (clearance area under downcomer)
whichever is the smaller
Aap  hap lw
hap  hw  (5 to 10 mm)

A. F. Nassar 27

Design of Plates

j) Entrainment
It takes place when gas velocity is too
high that entrains liquid droplets to the
upper plate. Due to this, the upper
plate concentration changes so,
separation efficiency decreases.
The amount of liquid carried by the
uprising vapor should be less than
0.1 (kg entrained/kg liq). Excessive
entrainment may lead to flooding!
vn
%flooding 
vf
vn : actual velocity based on An
Lw v
FLV 
Vw l
A. F. Nassar 28
 Design of Plates

k) Residence time in down-comer

Sufficient residence time must be allowed in the down-comer for the
entrained vapor to disengage from the liquid stream; to prevent heavily
"aerated" liquid being carried under the down-comer.
A time of at least 3 seconds is recommended. The down-comer residence
time is given by:

Ad hb
tr 
Lwd  l

A. F. Nassar 29

Safe Operation Range

A. F. Nassar 30
 Comparison Between Cross-Flow Trays

Sieve tray Valve tray Bubble cap tray

Cost Low (1) Medium (1.5-2.5) High (3)

Efficiency Nearly the same

Operating range Low (60-120%) High (40-180%) High (40-160%)

Pressure drop Low Medium High

Capacity
Nearly the same (sieve then valve then bubble-cap)
(flow rates)
Erection &
Easy Difficult Difficult
Maintenance

Dirty Service Best Worst Medium

A. F. Nassar 31

Plates Efficiency

Efficiency depends on:

• Design of the plate
o Increasing weir height  better vap-liq contact  higher efficiency,
but take care of weeping and high pressure drop
o Decreasing the hole diameter  decrease the bubble size  increase surface
area  higher efficiency,
but take care of coning, excessive pressure drop and dirt
• Flow rates of liquid and vapor (gas)
o Try to fix both flow rates in the safe-range of operation
• Properties of the system
o High viscosity  lower diffusivity  lower mass transfer coefficient  lower eff.
In this case (if possible) operate at higher temperature (higher pressure)

• Overall Efficiency in Absorption = 20 – 50%

• Overall Efficiency in Distillation = 40 – 70%
• In literature, you can find several equations to calculate the efficiency
A. F. Nassar 32
 Columns

Columns

Tray Packed Spray

A. F. Nassar 33

Packed Column Parts

A. F. Nassar 34
 3- Packed Column
Accessories

• Demister
(mist eliminator)
• Liquid Distributer
(Liquid collector)
• Bed Limiter
• Packing Support

A. F. Nassar 35

Demister

It is a device fitted to vapor liquid separator vessels to enhance the removal of

liquid droplets entrained in a vapor stream. Demisters may be a mesh type
coalescer, vane pack or other structure intended to aggregate the mist into
droplets that are heavy enough to separate from the vapor stream.

A. F. Nassar 36
 Demister

A. F. Nassar 37

Distributor / Redistributors

• A distributor helps to optimize the

performance of towers with packed
beds. It distributes the liquid in an
even pattern over the bed.
• Redistributors (Liquid collectors )
collect the liquid leaving an upper
bed and redistributes it evenly over
the next bed below (for H > 5 m).
• If the liquid distribution is bad this
will result in dry locations which
leads to drop in efficiency
• Distributer Types:
o Tubular (pipes)
o Orifice plate
o Trough
o Spray (problems with clogging)

A. F. Nassar 38
 Bed Limiter

A bed-limiter is positioned inside the

tower, directly above a randomly
packed bed to confine any upward
movement of packing.
Maintaining a level top surface on the
bed is important, especially if the vapor
load is sufficient to fluidize the top of
the bed under certain conditions.

A. F. Nassar 39

Packing Support

• Packing supports should have

the following properties
o Strong to withstand the weight of
the packing and liquid)
o High free area (more than the
packing) so that it don’t form a
bottle-neck.
• Support Types:
o Grid-Support
o Perforated plate
o Bubble-Cap
o Corrugated- Perforated plate
o Mesh-Support

A. F. Nassar 40
 Design of Packed-Column

Procedure
1. Select the type and size of packing.
2. Determine the column height required for the specified separation
(H = HTU  NTU or H = HETP  NTP).
3. Determine the column diameter (capacity), to handle the liquid and
vapor flow rates.
4. Select and design the column internal features: packing support, liquid
distributor, redistributors..

A. F. Nassar 41

Type of Packing

 
 HTU  G  
The principal requirements of a packing are:
• High surface area per unit volume (a)  low HTU  K og aS 
• Large void fraction (high capacity + low pressure drop) 
• Strong (don’t break during loading or operation)
• Small density (low dead weight)
• Corrosion resistance
• Easily wetted by liquid
• Low cost

A. F. Nassar 42
 Type of Packing

Packing
Types

Natural Fabricated

Stones / Unstructured
Coal / Coke Structured
Gravels (Random)

Rings Saddles Grids Wire Mesh

A. F. Nassar 43

Random Packing

Hy-Pack Rings Partition Rings

Raschig Rings Pall Rings

Lessing Rings

Berl Saddle
Intalox Saddle

A. F. Nassar 44
 Structured Packing

• The advantage of structured packing over random packing is their low HTU
(typically less than 0.5 m) and low pressure drop (around 10 mm H2O/m)
• The cost of structured packing/m3 will be significantly higher than that of
random packing, but this is offset by their higher efficiency.
• The applications have mainly been in distillation, but structured packing can
also be used in absorption

A. F. Nassar 45

Structured Packing

A. F. Nassar 46
 Packing Material of Construction

Packing
Material

Ceramic
Metallic Wood Plastic
(unglazed)

Steel
Aluminum Silica Alumina
Copper

Adv: strong, small Adv: good wetting, no Adv: good wetting, Adv: light, no
thickness with high void corrosion no corrosion corrosion
fraction Disadv: fragile, large Disadv: low void Disadv: bad
Disadv: corrosion, high thickness with low void fraction, possibility wetting
cost, bad wetting
A. F. Nassar
fraction of rottenness 47

Installing Packing

Methods of loading a packed column

• Dumping the packing in the tower after filling it with water. This is suitable
for all columns and non-fragile packing materials.
• For large towers, a crane and/or workers can manually arrange the
packing materials.

A. F. Nassar 48
 Size of Packing

• In general, the largest size of packing that is suitable for the size of column
should be used, up to 75 mm.
• Small sizes are more expensive than the larger sizes.
• Use of too large packing size in a small column can cause poor liquid
distribution.

Column Diameter Packing Size

< 0.3 m (1 ft) < 25 mm (1 in)

0.3 – 0.9 m (1 – 3 ft) 25 – 38 mm (1 – 1.5 in)

> 0.9 m (3 ft) 38 – 75 mm (2 – 3 in)

A. F. Nassar 49

A. F. Nassar 50
 Height of Packing

• For the design of packed distillation columns, it is simpler to treat the

separation as a staged process, and use the concept of the height of an
equivalent theoretical plate (HETP) to convert the number of theoretical
plates required to a height of packing. (H = HETP  NTP)
• In distillation, for good liquid distribution and enough pressure drop (17 mm
H2O/m for Pall rings – 29 mm/m for saddle – 42 mm/m for Raschig rings)

Packing Size (mm) HETP (m)

25 (or structured packing) 0.4 – 0.5

38 0.6 – 0.75

50 0.75 – 1.0

• In absorption use H = HTU  NTU

A. F. Nassar 51

Column Diameter

Normally, the column will be designed to operate at the highest economical

pressure drop, to ensure good liquid and gas distribution. For random packing,
the pressure drop will not normally exceed 80 mm H2O/m of packing height. At
this value the gas velocity will be about 80% of the flooding velocity.
• For Absorbers and strippers work at 15 to 50 mm H2O/m of packing height
• For distillation, atmospheric and moderate pressure, work at 40 to 80 mm
H2O/m of packing height
• Where the liquid is likely to foam, these values should be halved.
• For vacuum distillations the maximum allowable pressure drop will be
determined by the process requirements, but for satisfactory liquid
distribution the pressure drop should not be less than 8 mm H2O/m.
The column cross-sectional area (diameter) for the selected pressure drop can
be determined from the generalized pressure-drop correlation given in the
Figure next slide.

A. F. Nassar 52
 Column Diameter
0 .1
 
 
* 2
13.1 V Fp  l 
 l 
w

K4 
 v  l   v 
*
Vw : gas mass flow rate per
unit column cross
sectional area (kg/m 2s)
FP : packing factor (m -1 )
l : liquid viscosity (Pa  s)
L v
FLV  w
Vw  l
From graph get K4
From equation get Vw*,
then calculate the diameter
A. F. Nassar 53

Hydrodynamics of Packing (flooding)

For gas flow only

H va2
Pdry  f g
dp 2
Pdry : dry pressure drop
d p : equivalent diameter of packing
va : actual velocity through packing
f : friction factor
v Q
va  s 
 S
vs : superficia l velocity
 : void fraction
134 d p va  g
f   2.34 , Re 
Re g
A. F. Nassar 54
 Hydrodynamics of Packing (flooding)

For gas – liquid flow

Pwet  c  Pdry b
Pwet  f ( L, type of packing, d p )

Loading point is ill-defined, while a

flooding point is well-defined.

A. F. Nassar 55

Hydrodynamics of Packing (flooding)

• With a dry packing, pressure drop increases as gas velocity increases
according to the linear relationship.
• With liquid flowing in the column, the packing becomes wetted. Part of void
volume in the packing is filled with liquid, thereby reducing the cross-
sectional area available for gas flow.
• At the same gas velocity, the pressure drop is higher for wetted packing
compared to dry packing. But it increase with almost the same slope.
• As the gas velocity increases further, and reaches point “a”, the quantity of
liquid retained in the packed bed increases significantly. There is a change
in slope of the line at this point, which is known as the loading point, as
liquid starts to accumulate (load) in the packing.
• Increasing the gas rate above this point results in sharp increase in pressure
drop due to increased entrainment. This is accompanied by higher surface
area and better mass transfer.
• At point “b”, there is another sharp change in the slope. At this point the
liquid starts flowing out of the top of the column. It is known as the flooding
point.
A. F. Nassar 56
 Check for Wetting of Packing

If very low liquid rates have to be used, below FLV = 0.01, the packing wetting
rate should be checked to make sure it is above the minimum recommended by
the packing manufacturer.

volumetric liquid rate per unit area L S l

Wetting Rate   w
packing surface area per unit volume a

Packing Type & Size Minimum Wetting Rate

Rings  3.0 in &

2.210-5 m3/sm
Saddles (all sizes)

Rings > 3 in 3.410-5 m3/sm

510-5 – 12.510-5 m3/sm2

Structured Packing
(a = 60 – 750 m2/m3)

A. F. Nassar 57

Check for Channelling

Channeling often occurs in a packed tower. This phenomenon takes place when
the fluid moving down the column moves towards the region of greatest void
space; this occurs at the region near the wall where the packing is not tightly
packed. Thus, liquid redistributors are used (every 3 – 5 m) to redirect the fluid
flow towards the column center.

To prevent channelling, use

D
dp 
20

A. F. Nassar 58
 Tray Column Vs. Packed Column
Choice of plates or packing
To do this correctly, you need to compare the price of both columns for the same operation.
But following points help in the choice:
1. Plate columns can handle wider range of liquid and gas flow-rates than packed
columns.
2. Packed columns are not suitable for very low liquid rates.
3. Plate columns can be designed with more assurance than packed columns regarding
good liquid distribution, particularly in large columns.
4. It is easier to make cooling in a plate column; coils can be put on the plates.
5. Withdrawal of side-streams from is easier from plate columns.
6. It is easier to clean plate columns; manways can be installed on the plates. But with
small diameters, it may be cheaper to use packing and replace the packing when it is
fouled.
7. For corrosive liquids, a packed column will usually be cheaper than the equivalent
plate column.
8. The liquid hold-up is much lower in a packed column than a plate column.
9. Packed columns are more suitable for handling foaming systems.
10. The pressure drop per equilibrium stage (HETP) can be lower for packing than plates;
and packing should be considered for vacuum columns.
11. Packing should always be considered for small diameter columns (< 0.6 m), where
plates would be difficult to install, and expensive.
A. F. Nassar 59

Tray Column Vs. Packed Column

Packed Column Tray Column

Lower cost for small diameters

Cost Equal cost for large diameters
(< 60 cm)
Pressure
Smaller Higher
Drop
Easier
Cleaning Harder
(suitable for dirty fluids)

Liquid holdup Low High

Corrosion Better Worse

Cooling Harder Easier

Flexibility Lower higher

A. F. Nassar 60
 Columns

Columns

Tray Packed Spray

A. F. Nassar 61

Characteristics of Spray Columns

A. F. Nassar 62
 Characteristics of Spray Columns

Advantages Disadvantages Uses

For easy mass

Low efficiency
Low cost transfer
(high HTU)
operations

Not suitable for

Very low Air
small liquid
pressure drop humidification
loads

Not suitable for

Suitable for
liquids Washing of flue
corrosive
contaminated gases
materials
with solids
A. F. Nassar 63