Experimental Evidence on Performance of an Advanced Gauze Structured Packing under Deep Vacuum Distillation Conditions

Abstract

Results are presented of total reflux experiments carried out at Fractionation Research Inc. with Montz-Pak A3-500M, an advanced corrugated sheet wire gauze packing, using paraxylene/orthoxylene system at 0.02 and 0.1 bara, respectively. In both cases an expectedly good performance was achieved, ranging from eight stages at low- to four stages per unit bed height at high vapor loads. Interestingly, within preloading region the packing exhibited better efficiency at 0.02 bara, however this was at the expense of somewhat increased pressure drop, and, strikingly, no gain on capacity side. Delft model proved capable of capturing observed trends, but exhibits a pronounced discrepancy with respect to measured efficiency and pressure drop at 0.02 bara, and suggests a higher flooding limit than observed.