Pressure drop behavior and mass transfer properties of a high specific area random type packing in a narrow packed column

Abstract

In this paper, the comprehensive experimental examinations are conducted to investigate the mass transfer properties of Dixon ring packing. The main aspect of this study is to investigate the characteristics of Dixon ring packing using a narrow packed column. Firstly, the mass transfer properties of the packing were investigated using distillation experiments at total reflux. Afterwards, the pervasive experiments were conducted to plot the generalized pressure drop correlation chart. Finally, the variation of height equivalent to a theoretical plate (HETP) was determined at total reflux operations for various vapour loading factors. Our findings showed that increasing the vapour loading factor up to 0.62 Pa0.5 would eventually decrease the HETP. It was also shown that the further increase in the vapour loading factor results in a sudden increase in the HETP value. According to our findings, the selection of the optimum vapor loading factor would enhance the value of HETP up to more than 57 %.

Keywords

• Dixon ring
• packing characterization
• distillation column
• packed bed
• narrow column
• GPDC chart