Foaming: refers to the degree of expansion of liquid when aerated.

Foam Stability: refers to the rate of collapse of foam after aeration is

stopped.
Some foaming is desirable: high interfacial area for contacting.
Excessive foaming: may cause entrainment and flooding. Also
impurities can concentrate at the interface and act as mass transfer
barriers.
Excessive stability: require high residence times in downcomers (they
should be design with enough capacity).
Flooding: produce a sharp increase in pressure drop and a sharp
decline in efficiency.
Two types:
Excessive entrainment: the aerated mass reached the tray above.

e
Le

where is the fractional entrainment, L is total liquid flowrate in

lbmol/h, and e is entrained liquid in lbmol/h.
E

mv

1 E

1
mv

where E is the local wet efficiency, E

efficiency.
a

mv

is the Murphree vapor

Liquid backup: downcomers flooding due to the effect of choking

the tray with foam.
Weeping: excessive flow of liquid through the perforations of the
sieve tray.
Area Terms:
A number of area designations are used in the design of sieve trays.

At : tower internal cross-sectional area.

Ad : is the cross-sectional area at the top of the downcomer(s). For a

segmental downcomer, it is the area of the segment formed by the overflow

weir and the tower wall.
An : is the area for vapor flow above the tray. In the single crossflow tray,
An At Ad . If a splash baffle is located above the weir, An At 2 Ad .
Aa : is the area where aeration occurs. It is not limited entirely to the

perforated zone, since turbulence effects carry aeration several inches past
the perforations. It is taken as the total area between inlet and outlet weirs,
and when straight segmental downcomers are used with single crossflow,
Aa At 2 Ad .
Ah is the area open to vapor flow.

Material of Construction
Most metals and commercial alloys can be perforated conveniently in the
multiple punch press employed by tray fabricators. Type 410 SS is widely
used and does not increase the tray cost significantly because of the small
metal thickness needed. Downcomers, weirs, support beams, etc. can be
specified of CS if suitable for the material handled.
Tray Layout Guidelines
Hole diameter of 1/8 to in. are commonly employed in sieve tray service
(larger holes are better if severe fouling is expected).
In usual practice, tray thickness of 12 or 14 (0.078 in) U.S. Standard gauge
is employed, except for CS, where 10-gauge (0.141 in) thickness is used.

Design Steps
(from Design of Equilibrium Stage Processes, Chapter 15, B. D. Smith, McGraw Hill, 1963)

1. Calculate Flow Parameter:

Flv

L MWl
V MWv

v w

l W

v
l

where Flv is the flow parameter that is the ratio of liquid/vapor kinetic
energy effects. L is the liquid flowrate in lbmol/h, V is the vapor flowrate
in lbmol/h, MW is the corresponding molecular weight, and is density.
2. Choose tray and spacing.
3. Calculate tower diameter.
From Fig. 15-3, C sb for flooding.
Correct for surface tension.
Calculate U
, assume a % flooding and calculate U
n , flood

% flood

U n ,design
U n , flooding

n , design

using:

100

Calculate the internal cross-sectional area using the design vapor

velocity and the vapor flowrate and round it off.
4. Calculate all relevant areas: At , Ad , An , Aa , Ah .
5. Recalculate flow conditions:
U n ,design

Qv ft 3 / sec

An ( ft 2 )

and calculate the new approach to flooding.

6. Calculate entrainment. Use Fig 15-4 and the % flood calculated in step 5.
It is recommended that 0.1 0.2 .

7. Calculate pressure drop.

Ah

Calculate A and
a
from Fig. 15-6.

tray thickness
hole diameter

, and read the discharge coefficient

Qv

Calculate a hole velocity, U h ( ft / sec) A .

h
Calculate the Dry-tray pressure drop:
Uh

hh in. liquid 0.186 v

l C vo

The height of liquid above the weir is calculated using the Francis
equation for straight weirs.
q

how in. liquid 0.48

lw

where q is the liquid flowrate in gpm and l w is the length of the weir
in inches.
Calculate the Wet-tray pressure drop:
hl hw how

where hw is the height of the weir in inches and

factor from Fig. 15-7.

is the aeration

Finally, calculate the total tray pressure drop:

ht hh hl

8. Calculate weep point.

At steady state, liquid will not drain through the perforations as long as
surface-tension effects and vapor-pressure drop through the perforations
are present to prevent it. It may be postulated that:
hh h hl

The pressure drop for bubble formation is obtained from:

h (in. liquid )

0.04 (dyne / cm)

l (lb / ft 3 ) d h (in)

9. Check liquid-handling capacity.

Calculate downcomer velocity
vd ( ft / sec)

q
450 Ad ( ft 2 )

Calculate residence time for a half full downcomer

t (sec)

tray spacing ( ft )
3 sec
2 vd

Check the downcomer backup

hdc ht hw how hda

q
hda (in) 0.03
100 Ada

Ada ( ft 2 )

clearance(in) l w (in)
144

where hda is the downcomer apron pressure drop, the distance is the
distance between the tray and the bottom of the downcomer apron.
is the hydraulic gradient which is usually negligible in sieve trays.
hdc (in)

tray spacing (in)

2

Sieve Tray Design Problem

The problem is to design a sieve tray for a benzene-toluene fractionator to
produce 40,000 lb/h of benzene while operating at atmospheric pressure and
a reflux ratio of (reflux to net overhead) of 5:1. In the example problem only
the top tray is analyzed. In an actual design other critical trays should be
analyzed. The approach and method, however, are the same.
The available data on the top tray are as follows:
Material: essentially benzene
MW: 78.1
Operating Pressure, psia: 14.7
Operating Temperature, F: 176
Liquid density, lb/ft3: 43.3
Vapor density, lb/ft3: 0.168
Liquid surface tension, dynes/cm: 21.0
Maximum liquid load: 200,000 lb/h or 577 gpm
Maximum vapor load: 240,000 lb/f or 397 ft3/sec