Presentation

on
Packed tower

SUBMITTED TO: Submitted by:

Er. Raj Kumar Kunwar pal
Lect. Of chemical deptt. Che ’05’
522020664
Packed Column
 Types of Packing
Ring

Saddle
Structured
Packing
 Operating conditions:
1. Countercurrent flow of liquid and gas
through packing:

• Generally liquid as water is flowing

downward direction through the column
and gas is flowing in the upward direction
through the column.

• At a fixed gas velocity, the gas-pressure

drop increases with increases liquid rate.
• This is because of the reduced free cross
section available for flow of gas.

• Than the liquid holdup increases rapidly

with gas rate.

• The free area for gas flow become

smeller, and pressure drop rises more
rapidly. This is known as loading.
• Further increase in gas velocity, the drop
pressure rises more rapidly.

• In the column the liquid become the

continuous phase, and the flooding point
has been reached.

• The liquid rapidly accumulate, and the

entire column may fill with liquid. this is
called flooding.
 Tower Operation
• Liquid in tower reduces space available for
gas flow
– Result is higher P
• Loading – gas flow rate at which liquid
hold-up starts to increase
• Flooding – gas flow rate at which liquid
rapidly accumulates and column fills with
liquid
 Contact between Liquid & Gas
• Ideally, once distributed over top of packing,
liquid flows in thin films all over packing surface
all the way down the tower
• Actually, films are thinner in some places, thicker
in others
– Liquid collects in rivulets and flows along localized
paths
• Channeling – much of packing surface is dry, or
covered by a stagnant film of liquid
– Esp. at low liquid flow rates
 Pressure Drop and Limiting Flow
Rates
• Typical data for P in
a packed tower
 P per unit of packing
depth is from fluid
friction
• Gy = u0y
– Gy = gas flow rate
– u0 = superficial gas
velocity
 y = density of gas
• When the packing is dry, the line so
obtained is straight and has a slope of
about 1.8.

• If the packing is irrigated with a constant

flow of liquid, the relationship between
pressure drop and gas flow rate initially
follows a line parallel to that for dry
packing.

• The pressure drop is greater than that in

the dry packing, because the liquid in the
tower reduces the space available for gas
flow.
 Flooding Velocities for Intalox
Saddles in Air-Water System
• The flooding
velocity
depends on
the type and
size of
packing and
the liquid
mass
velocity.
 Generalized Correlations for
Pressure Drop in Packed Columns
• A generalized and
widely used correlation
for estimating pressure
drop in packed column
is given in fig. where
Gx and Gy are in
lb/ft2.s, µx is in Cp,
and ρx and ρy are in
lb/ft3.
 Empirical Equation for Limiting
Pressure Drop

 Pflood = 0.115Fp0.7

 Pflood = Pressure drop at flooding, in H2O/ft

of packing.

• Fp = packing factor, dimensionless

 Mass transfer coefficients for
Packed tower:
• When a packed tower is operated under
usual manner the rate of solute transfer
can be computed from measured values of
the rate of gas and liquid flow.

• Because of the impossibility of measuring

solute concentration at the gas liquid
interface, the resulting rate of mass
transfer can be expressed only as overall
coefficient.
• Overall volumetric coefficients are denoted
by: Kxa, Kya, Kga, Foga, Fola, etc.

• The individual fluid mass transfer

coefficients are Kx, Ky, Fl, Fg.

To obtain individual coefficient

• the general approach has been to choose

experimental condition such that the
resistance to mass transfer in the gas
phase is negligible in comparison with that
in the liquid.
 Liquid holdup
• It is found that the total holdup ΦLt is
made up of two parts,

ΦLt = ΦLo + ΦLs

• Where ΦLs is the static and ΦLo is the

operating, or moving, holdup, each
expressed as volume liquid / packed
volume.
Co current flow of gas and liquid
• Co current flow of gas and liquid (usually
downward) through bed is used for
catalytic chemical rxn between component
of the fluid.
• The catalyst usually same active
substance supported upon granular
ceramic material.
• This type of arrangement are known as
trickle- bed reactor.
Thank you