Packed Towers

Packed Towers
Characteristics of Packed Columns
• Packing is used when separation is relatively easy and
diameter is not very large
• Low pressure drop / smaller diameter
• Random packing scale-up for HETP is difficult; structured
packing scale-up is predictable
• HETP prediction less well developed than for trays
• Low to moderate cost for random packing; high cost for
structured packing
• Not suitable for fouling service
• Feed point flexibility is difficult
Packed Towers
• Often used in gas absorption
• Cylindrical tower
– Gas inlet and distributing space at bottom
– Liquid inlet and distributor at top
– Gas and liquid outlets at top and bottom, respectively
– Supported mass of inert solid shapes – tower packing
– Packing supported by a corrugated screen
– Inlet liquid is distributed over top of packing by
distributor, and ideally, uniformly wets surface of
packing
Packed Column Specification
• Type of packing
– Random packing
– Structured packing
– Trade-off pressure drop vs. HETP vs. cost
• Column diameter
• Height of packing
• Feeds and offtakes
Types of Packing
The principal requirements of a packing are that it should :
• Provide large surface area : a high interfacial area between the
gas and liquid
• Have an open structure : low resistance to gas flow
• Promote uniform liquid distribution on the packing surface
• Promote uniform vapour gas flow across the column cross
section
Packing are divided into two broad classes:
1) Packing with regular geometry
2) Random packing
• Grids have an open structure and are used for high gas rates,
where low pressure drop is essential.
• Random packings and structured packing elements are
commonly used in process industries.
•More surface area for mass transfer
•Higher flow capacity
Packing Materails •Lower pressure drop

(a)
(b) Random
StructuredPacking
Packing
Materials
Materials
•Expensive

•Far less pressure drop

•Higher efficiency and capacity

Typical materials used in a packed column

Typical Material for Packed Columns - Random
Raschig rings

A classical packing, made of pottery or

metal .

Advantages simple and low cost

Disadvantage low transfer area and high

flow resistance

The new derived rings are θ ring, cross ring and spiral ring, etc.
They all have larger specific area than the Raschig ring.
Pall rings

With holes on the wall of the ring to

reduce the flow resistance and the hole
material are curved in the ring to
increase the specific area.

Compared with Raschig ring, the Poll

ring has lower flow resistance and
higher separate efficiency.

Good performance makes its wide usage.

Made of pottery, metal or plastic.
Stair rings

similar to Poll ring, but has a larger end

edge.

This structure makes better stack

properties.
The capacity is increased 10% and the
flow resistance is reduced about 25%.
Berl and Intalox saddles

The shape of Berl packing is horse saddle

like to form curve gas flow paths.

Advantages high voidage and low flow

resistance, good gas distribution.
Disadvantage sometimes the next packings pile up together to
reduce effective transfer area.

The Intalox packing has two different sides

which avoids the disadvantage of Berl
packings. Now, Intanox is the most widely
used pottery packing.
metal Intalox packings

with large capacity, low resistance and high

efficiency, especially in deduced pressure
distillation processes.

wire gauze packings The properties of common

packings are listed in the table
belongs to net type packings. on p157

Advantages high voidage and special

area, good moist property, low
resistance.
Disadvantage high cost and difficult
to make.
widely used in laboratory.
Stacked packings

Generally made of corrugated metal nets or porous plates.

The shape depends on the shape and size of the tower.

Advantages large voidage, low resistance and high efficiency,

easily to scale up without change on behavior.
Disadvantages high cost ， easily to be blocked.
Widely used in systems of clean and high separation
Structured Packing
Internal parts in packed tower

Packing support plate

with functions
(1) Enough mechanical strength to support weight of packing
and liquid holdup.
(2) Enough free area to let the gas and liquid flow through. Its
open area should be larger than the free area of packing
bed. Generally, the open ratio is larger than70% .

The common used supporting plates are grid plate, gas-rising

pipe plate and multibeam plate .
Packing support plate
grid plate simple and cheap ； the disadvantage is that some
free area can be blocked by packings to reduce the open area.
Packing support plate
gas-rising pipe plate the liquid flows down through the small
holes on the plate and the gas flows up through the side gaps on
the gas-rising pipes.
Packing support plate

multibeam packing support plate

The plate is corrugated with large open area; the gas flow
through holes at peaks and liquid at valleys, respectively.
Bed limiter and hold down plate
(Packing Restrainer)
located on the top of packings to prevent the packing to fluidize.
liquid distributor

To distribute liquid even on whole tower area, very important,.

Shower nozzle with holes on half ball plate, the diameter is

about 1/3~1/5 of the tower diameter, used in towers <0.6m.
Main disadvantages are hole blocked and mist generation .
Liquid distributor

Porous pipe can be ring or trapezoid.

Advantage simple and cheap; large free tower area ( > 70%) to
give low gas pressure.
Disadvantage hole blocked.
Liquid distributor

trapezoid porous pipe

secondary sluts
Liquid distributor

tray multi-pipe distributor liquid flows down through holes on

the plate, but gas flows up through gas-rising pipes to keep a
certain liquid level on the plate.

Advantage good distribution and flexibility.

Disadvantage complex structure, high cost and pressure drop.

Liquid distributor

Overflow sluts liquid flows through V overflow weirs, usually

used in large towers (D > 1.0 m )

Advantage anti-block and corrosion, reliable, large capacity and

flexibility.
Disadvantage the distribution quality is affected by the level of
the weirs.
Liquid redistributor

The liquid will lean after flowing downward to pass packings.

Therefore, liquid redistributor are set at certain height of the
tower.
The distance is about 3-10 times of the tower diameter
according to the types of the packings.
The redistributors can be plate, slut or frustum.

plate
frustum
Gas distributor

For towers < 3000 ， the porous pipe can be used. It distribute
gas well with low pressure drop, simple and cheap.

For towers > 3000, multi-pipe or gas rising pipes can be used
to give good gas distribution.
Liquid collector

To collect and mix the liquid from all plate and the
redistributor to get uniform distribution on all tower area.

inclined plate collector tray collector

Demister

Angle Vane-type Demisters

with low pressure drop (50~100Pa) ， capable of removing
drops larger than 50m.

horizontal flow vertical flow

Demister

wire gauze demister high cost and high resistance (about

250Pa). Capable for removing drops about 5m .
Demister

TJCW Demister
Simple structure, low cost and high
efficiency. For drops > 5m,  > 99.8%;
for drops > 8~40m , 100%

TJCW 型除雾器除雾机理

TJCW demisters 5400 TJCW demister

wall-flow prevent ring

For preventing the gas or liquid flows shortcut through the gap
between the tower wall and the packings.
For small diameter towers, the ring may be bound with the
stacked packing and also functions as the binding ring.

For large towers, the ring may be several detached plates.

wall-flow prevent ring for

detached wall-flow prevent ring
Ø300 corrugated plate packing
Contact between Liquid and Gas
• Ideally, once distributed over top of
packing, liquid flows in thin films over all
the packing surface down the tower
• Channeling – much of the packing surface
is dry or covered by a stagnant film of
liquid
• Channeling causes poor performance and
is less severe in dumped packing
• Include redistributors every 5-10 m in
tower
Fluid flow behavior in packings
Efficiency of packed tower depends on mainly the fluid flow and
mass transfer behaviors.
The pressure drop, flood velocity, liquid load and fluid
distribution are important factors in tower design and operation.

Pressure drop
L2 L1 L=0
plot of u vs. P
flood point

lg p
It is similar to the fluid C’ C
hold point
flow through a dry fixed B’
bed. The difference is that B hold zone

l oa L
h

l oa L
d
because this bed voidage is

hig

l ow
d
relatively large, the A’ A
velocity is high and
generally, turbulent. lg u
pressure drop

At low liquid load, the

relationship between p L2 L1 L=0
and gas velocity u is a flood u

lg p
straight line on log-log C’ C
hold u
coordinate graph with a B’

d
L hold
slope of 1.8~2.0.

oa
B

d
oa
Ll
zone

Ll
h
hig

low
Under higher liquid load, A’ A
the p~u line is not straight
anymore. lg u

Explanation falling liquid occupies part of the gas flow path

and increase the gas velocity. Thus, the pressure drop
will increase with liquid load.
Diameter of Packed Towers

1/ 2
 4G 
DT   
 ( fU f ) G 
Pressure Drop and Limiting Flow
Rates
 P per unit packing depth comes from fluid
friction
• Plot on log coordinates versus gas flow rate, G y,
in mass of gas per hour per unit of CSA
Gy = u0y
Where u0 = superficial velocity
y = gas density

 P is greater in wet packing because liquid in

tower reduces space available for gas flow
• Loading point – gas velocity at which liquid
holdup increases
Pressure Drop and Limiting Flow
Rates
• Flooding – liquid becomes the continuous
phase and liquid rapidly accumulates in
column
• Choose velocity far enough from uflood to
ensure safe operation but so low as to
require a much larger column
– ugas = ½ uflood
• Lowering u increases diameter without
much change in height
Calculating P
Pflood = 0.115Fp0.7

Where Pflood = pressure drop at flooding, in. H2O/ft of packing

Fp = packing factor, dimensionless
Plate column Packed column
Can handle wide range of Flooding can occur due to
liquid rates without flooding fluctuation in liquid rates
For large diameter column For small diameter column

Liquid hold up is high Liquid hold up is low

Pressure drop more Pressure drop is low

Total weight of dry plate Total weight of packed tower

tower is less than packed is high than plate tower
tower
Expensive Less expensive
comparison of two types of towers

Plate tower Packed tower

pressure large for small size packings; small for
large
drop large-size & stacked packings
virtual low for small-size packings; high for
high
velocity large-size & stacked packings
Low for traditional packings; high for
efficiency high and stable
new packings
liquid holdup relatively high relatively low
liquid/gas
in a large range required a minimum value
ratio
maintenance easy difficult
material usually metal metal or other materials
price low in large diameter high for new packings
Both types can be used in distillation and absorption.
Selection of tower type

Not long ago, for towers large than diameter of 0.6~0.7m, plate
types are common used, but in recent years, large towers with
new packings are also competitive.
main considerations of this selection

(1) Capacity, i. e., the product per area in unit time.

(2) Separation efficiency required height of one plate for plate
tower; HETP for packed tower.
(3) Operation flexibility the load range to keep the tower normal
operation.
(4) Pressure drop for unit height.
(5) Structure and price