Chapter 10. Staged and Packed Column Design

In previous chapters we saw how to determine the number of equilibrium stages and the separation in distillation columns. In the first part of this chapter we will discuss the details of staged column design such as tray geometry, determination of column efficiency, calculation of column diameter, downcomer sizing, and tray layout. We will start with a qualitative description of column internals and then proceed to a quantitative description of efficiency prediction, determination of column diameter, sieve tray design, and valve tray design. In the second part (sections 10.6 to 10.10) we will discuss packed column design including the selection of packed materials and determination of the length and diameter of the column. New engineers are expected to be able to do these calculations. The internals of distillation columns are usually designed under the supervision of experts with many years of experience.

This chapter is not a shortcut to becoming an expert. However, upon completion of this chapter you should be able to finish a preliminary design of the column internals for both staged and packed columns, and you should be able to discuss distillation designs intelligently with the experts.