VNGINRING

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FACTS AT YOUR FINGERTIPS
Department Editor: Scott Jenkins
I
n a distillation column troy, vopor
posses upward through liquid that is
flowing acroS5 a horizontol perforated
plate. Vapor passing through the perfo-
rated plate forms a two-phase mixture
with the liquid and enables moss transfer
contocting. This mixture is typicolly quite
turbulent. Troy design must oilow the
turbulent liquid to foil oway From the
rising vapor in the space above the tray,
while also enabling the vopor bubbles
to rise out of the falling liquid in the
downcomer. The downcomer is usuolly
o verticol plote thot enables the already
contacted froth to travel down to the next
troy without remixing with the up-fiowing
vapor from the tray below.
Downcomers
Vapor flow
j
' Liquid flow
Side view of a simple tray arrangement
Generolly, designing a column troy en-
tails determining the minimum downcom-
er oreo thot still allows vapor bubbles
to rise through the liquid, selecting the
number of downcomers, determining
the octive area, and checking the flow
path length to see if o person can pass
through a tray manway. These foctors
ore the primary drivers for determining
overall tower size.
Downcomer area is determined by the
maximum recommended downcomer ve-
locity. Divide the volumetric flow of liquid
by the downcomer velocity to obtain the
downcomer top area. Typically a curve
of maximum downcomer velocity versus
the density difference between liquid and
vapor is consulted during this process.
Maximum downcomer velocity guideline
0.45
. 0.4
.=0.35
p u
" o
| w 0.3
Z i " ^ s
I f 0.2
0.15
10 20 30 40 50 60
Delta-density (PL-PV), Ib/ft^
A downcomer is generally straight
unless its areo exceeds 8% of the tower
area. In that case, the downcomer is
sloped such thot its bottom area is 60%
of its top orea.
Active area
The octive orea of a distillation tower is
where the vapor contacts the liquid to
effect mass transfer. Above the active
area, where the liquid falls away from
the rising vopor, is the volume where the
vapor can expand. Typically, the active
area is colculated to be the tower cross-
sectionol area minus the downcomer top
and downcomer bottom area.
The minimum active area (ft2) for nor-
mal valve trays can be determined from
the following relotionship, which is o
modification of a commonly used correla-
tion [ /] token at 82% of jet flood:
Active area = V-Load / [T^^ ( 0.0762 -
0.00092( pV,) ) -0.0nW,]
Where,
V-Load =CFS^{pV/[pL-pV)'
TS = Tray spacing, in.
p V = Vapor density, Ib/ft^
= Weir loading, gal /mi n per in.
= Vapor volumetric flow, ft^/s
The required octive oreo is dependant
on the vapor density and weir loading.
Note that the weir iooding need not be
known at this point. Assume a weir load-
ing value of 5 gol /mi n per in. intially.
Typical troy spacings are 24 in.
Tower area and diameter
Bosed on the above oreos, the overall
tower area and diameter con be deter-
mined by the following:
A, = A
D/op ^Dbottom
Where,
A; = Tower area, ft^
^Dtop = Downcomer area at top, ft^
Aoboimm = Downcomer orea a( bottom, ft'
AA = Active Areo, ft^
D = Tower inner dia., ft
Number of downcomers
Once the tower diameter is determined,
then the number of downcomers can be
chosen. As o starting point, an initial
design should use a single downcomer.
The resulting weir length is calculated
from a stondard chord-length calcula-
tion, which is iterative for o given
downcomer area.
Where,
By^. = Weir length of one downcomer, ft
Distillation
TVay Design
A good place to stort the iterotive
process is with a weir length 0.8 times
the tower diameter. If the resulting weir
Iooding is greoter than 12 gal /mi n per
in,, then increase the number of troy
passes to two. Recalculate the outlet weir
length for each of the side downcomers
of the column by using half the downcom-
er area. Check the weir Iooding again
(for the troy with side downcomers) . If
the weir loading continues to exceed 12
gal /mi n per in,, increase the number of
troy passes to four. It is assumed that the
two-pass tray with side downcomers has
the shortest weir length.
The simplest approoch to designing
4-pass trays is to assume equol bubbling
area and make the side downcomers one-
quarter of the total downcomer area, and
make the center (and off<enter) downcom-
ers one-holf of the total downcomer areo,
Maintaining the resulting downcomer
widths at 6 in. or more will allow o person
to reach into the dawncomer for nstollo-
tion. In oddition, make sure the resulting
troy-flow poth-length is 16 in. or greoter
to enable a person to physicolly poss
through the trays. These minimum size
criterio moy increase the column diameter
to above the previously calculated value.
Other consi derati ons
Other criteria that need to be consid-
ered are; downcomer backup, spray
fluidization, and entrainment. In oddition,
minimum load conditions need to be
determined. The criteria for determining
the low-end vapor ond liquid range are
weeping, tray stability and dry-tray pres-
sure drop.
Reference
1. Glitsch Inc. "Ballast Tray Design Manual; Bui
ietin No. 4900." 3rd Ed. Gtitsch Inc.. Dallas,
Tex, 1974,
Noie: Materiol for the June "Focts at Your Finger
tips" was supplied by Dan Summers, tray technol-
ogy manager, Sulzer Chemtech USA Inc
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