TRAY DESIGN FOR

DISTILLATION COLUMN

Sanjeev kumar
0551611406
B.Tech. VIIth sem
 TRAY DESIGN FOR

DISTILLATION COLUMN
Cross-flow plates are the most common type of plate contactor used in
distillation and absorption columns.
Three principal types of cross-flow tray are used, classified according to the
method used to contact the vapour and liquid.
1. Sieve plate (perforated plate)
This is the simplest type of cross-flow plate. The vapour passes up through
perforations in the plate; and the liquid is retained on the plate by the vapour flow.
There is no positive vapour liquid seal, and at low flow-rates liquid will “weep”
through the holes, reducing the plate efficiency. The perforations are usually small
holes, but larger holes and slots are useD.
2. Bubble-cap plates
In which the vapour passes up through short pipes, called risers, covered by
a cap with aserrated edge, or slots. The bubble-cap plate is the traditional,
oldest, type of cross-flow plate, and many different designs have been
developed. Standard cap designs would now be specified for most
applications.
The most significant feature of the bubble-cap plate is that the use of risers
ensures that a level of liquid is maintained on the tray at all vapour flow-
rates.
3. Valve plates (floating cap plates)
 Valve plates are proprietary designs. They are essentially sieve plates with
large-diameter
 holes covered by movable flaps, which lift as the vapour flow increases.
 As the area for vapour flow varies with the flow-rate, valve plates can
operate efficiently
 at lower flow-rates than sieve plates: the valves closing at low vapour rates.
 Bubble Cap
 Vapor rises up through “risers” or “up-takes” into bubble cap, out through
slots as bubbles into surrounding liquid on tray. Bubbling action effects
contact. Liquid flows over caps, outlet weir and down comer to tray below,
 CAPACITY: moderately , high, maintains efficiency.
 Efficiency: most data are for this type, as high as other tray designs.
 Entrainment: about three times that of perforated type plate or sieve tray.
Jet-action accompanies bubbling.
 Flexibility: most flexible of tray designs for high and low vapor and liquid
rates. Allows positive drain of liquid from tray. Liquid heads maintained
by weirs.
 Application: all services except extremely coking, polymer formation or
other high fouling conditions. Use for extremely low flow conditions
where tray must remain wet and maintain a vapor seal.
 Tray Spacing :18-in. average, 24 to 36in. for vacuum conditions.
 Bubble Cap Tray Design
Tray Design
Tower application or service: Product Finishing
Tower Inside Diameter: 6 ft, 0 in.
Tray Type: Cross Flow
Tray Spacing, 24 in.; Type outlet weir: End
No. downcomers /tray 1; Located: End
Cap Data:
(1) Cap I.D., ID, 3% in., Spacing: 5% in. A 60" centers
(2) Total height, 3% in.
(3) No./tray, Nc, 129
(4) Slots: No., N,, 50
(5) Height, H,, 1%in .
(6) Width, w,, % in.
(7) Skirt Height, s, 54 in.
(8) Shroud Ring height, hSr, % in.
(9) Height of inside surface of cap above tray, 3.94 in.
(10) Riser I.D., 2.68 in.
(1 1) Riser height above tray floor, 3 in.
Areas:
(12) Riser inside cross-sectional, a,, 5.43 in.2 per riser
(13) Total riser inside cross-sect. area/tray, A,, 4.95 ft2
(14) Riser outside cross-sectional area aro, 5.94 in2 perriser. Riser is
2⅓O.D.; п*2.75ⁿ/4 = 5.94.(n=2).
(15) Cap inside cross-sectional area a,, 11.79 in2 per
(16) Total cap inside cross-sectional area, 4, 10.53 ft'
(17) Annular area per cap, aa, in2, (1 1.79 - 3.94) = 5.85
(18) Total annular area per tray, &, 5.24 ft2
(19) Reversal area per cap, ar', in.2 = n(2.69) (3.94 - 3.0)
(20) Total reversal area, per tray, Afr, ft2 (129/144)
(21) Slot area per cap, a,, (50) ( X ) (1.5) = 9.39 in.2
(22) Total slot area per tray, &, 8.40 €t2
Tray Detail:
(23) Length of outlet overflow weir, l,, 4.0 ft
(24) Height of weir (weir setting) above tray floor, h,,
(25) Inlet weir (downcomer side) length (if used), 4.0 ft
 (26) Inlet weir height above tray floor, 3 in.
 (27) Height of top of cap slots above tray floor, 2 in.
 (28) Static slot submergence or static slot seal (2.5-2.0),
 (29) Height of bottom of downcomer above tray floor,
 (30) Downcomer flow areas: (a) Between downcomer
 (31) (b) Between bottom downcomer and tray floor,
 (32) (c) Between downcomer and inlet weir, 0.740 ft2
 (33) Riser slot seal, (3.0 - 2), 1.0 in.
 Tray Operations summary and Pressure Drop
Top bottom
 A. Tray number 20 1
 B. Operating pressure, mm. Hg 75 100
 C. Operating temperature, "F 60 100
 D. Vapor flow, lbs/hr 6,565 6,565
 E. Vapor volume, ft3/sec @
 operating conditions, V 132.2 105
 F. Vapor density, lbs/ft3 operating
conditions 0.0138 0.01735
 G. Liquid flow, gallons/minute, L, 3.74 3.74
 H. Liquid flow, Ibs/hr., L‘ 1,515 1,515
 I. Liquid flow, ft3/sec @ operating
Conditions 0.00834 0.00776
 J. Liquid density, lbs/ft3 @ operating
conditions 50.5 54.2
 K. Superficial vapor velocity, based
on Tower I.D., ft/sec, 132.2/28.28 4.67 3.7
 L. Vapor velocity based on cap area
between inlet and outlet weirs,
ft/sec 132/[28.28 - 2(2.12) 1 5.49 4.37
 Top bottom

 M. Volume of downcomer: Area top

segment, Perry's Hdbk. 3rd Ed.
pg. 32. h/D = 9% in./72 =
0.1276, A = 0.03799(6)2 = 2.08 ft2
Lower taper, use h @ % of vert.
taper for estimate. 8/72 = 0.111,
A = 0.04763(6)2 = 1.71 ft2 Volume
= (2.08) (0.5) + (1.71) (21/12) = 4.04 ft3 4.04
 N. Liquid residence time in downcomer,
520
seconds, (4.04)/0.00834 = 485 485
 0. Throw over downcomer weir
(sideflow), inches 1.17 1.17
 P. Throw over downcomer weir
(center flow), min. = - -
Q. Tray layout, actual downcomer 9.3125 9.3125
width, in. 5.5 5.5
Taper downcomer has 6 in. vertical
dimension at 9% in. wide. Tapers to
5% in., 24 in. below tray.
 Top bottom
R. Slot velocity: minimum 3.4 /(pc)1/2
25.9
ft/sec 29
S. Slot velocity: maximum = 12.1/
(pc)'l2 = 12.1/(.0138)1/2 and 12.1/
(0.01735)1/2, ft/sec 103.1 92
T. Slot velocity: Superficial, u, =
V/As = 132.2/8.40 and 105/8.4
ft/sec 15.7 12.5

Pressure Drop, Inches Liquid on Tray:

a. Height of liquid over weir (straight weir)
Lg/ (lw)2.5= 3.74/ ( 4 ~ 1 2 )= ~0.1. 1~68
IW/D = 4/6 = 0.667
Read Fw = 1.018 from Figure 8-105
how = 0.092 (1.018) (3.74/4)2/3 0.0989 0.0989
 Top Bottom
Use W in.-V-notched weir, 2.5 in. from
tray floor to bottom of notch. This
is necessary because of low liquid flow.
b. Static submergence, h,, in. 0.5 0.5
c. Caps
Modified Dauphine and Cicalese,
[l l, 13] dry cap basis.
1. Riser pressure drop, reversal area
greater than riser area. 0.0633 0.0462
2. Reversal and annulus pressure drop
Riser height > 2.5 in. 0.045 0.0322
3. Rectangular slot dry pressure drop 0.0308 0.0231
4. Total dry cap pressure drop
h', = h, + h,, + h,' = 0.0633
+ 0.045 + 0.0308 = 0.139 0.1391 0.1015
5. Wet cap pressure drop
From Figure 8-115, C, = 0.16
h, = h,'/CI, = 0.1391/0.16 = 0.87 0.87 0.847
 Top Bottom
6.Check maximum pressure drop
through wet caps:
h, max. = 0.0633 + 0.045 +
Since h, is less than h, ma., cap is
0.K and not blowing under shroud
(1.5 + 0.25), in. 1.8 1.3
Ring .
Bolles' recommendation
7. Riser, reversal, annulus pressure drop
+/ar = 5.85/5.43 = 1.073
From Figure 8-114, K, = 0.598 0.118 0.0861
8. Slot pressure drop, Rectangular slots 0.626 0.566
d. Liquid Gradient
Mean tray width = (4 + 6)/2 = 5 ft
GPM/ft mean tray width = 3.74/5 = 0.75
Assumed mean liquid depth, hl =
2.5 + 0.0989 + 0.1
Uncorrected A'/row caps = approx.
0.02 in.
Cv, from Figure 8-113 = estimated 0.55(off chart)
 Top Bottom
No. cap rows = 11
Corrected ∆ = (0.02) (0.548) (11)
= 0.1206 inches 0.12 0.12
∆ /2, inches (essentially negligible
in this case) 0.06 0.06
1. Modified Dauphine
ht = 0.87 + 0.5 + 0.0989 + 0.06 1.528 1.502
2. Bolles
ht = h,, + h, + h,, +how + ∆ /2
ht = 0.118 + 0.626 + 0.5 + 0.0989 +0.06 1.502 1.310

f. Pressure drop for 15 trays in

1. Modified Dauphine, 15 (1.528)
= 22.9 in. liquid = 34.2 mmHg 34.2 mm
2. Bolles, 15 (1.502) = 22.4 inches
liquid = 33.4 mm Hg 33.4 mm
 Top bottom
Pressure drop for 5 trays in
stripping section
1. Modified Dauphine, 5 (1.505)
= 7.52 in. liquid = 11.1 mm
2. Bolles, 5 (1.42) = 6.56 in. liquid = 9.7mm
Total pressure drop for 20 trays
1. Modified Dauphine 45.3 mm
2. Bolles 43.1 mm
g. Height liquid in downcomer
1. Segmental, underflow plus
friction 0.000077 0.000077
2. Segmental, upflow when inlet
weir used Neg. Neg.
hd' = 0.3 Vdu2
3. Total segmental loss, hd 0.000077 0.00007'7
4. Circular downspout
5. Liquid height in downcomer
Hd = hw + how + hd + h, + A
= 2.5 + 0.0989 + 0.000077 +1.638 + 0.35 4.58 4.56
 Top Bootom
6. Free height in downcomer
F = St + hlv - Hd = 24 +2.5 - 4.58 21.69 21.71
7. Throw over weir
f = 0.8 [how (F)J112
= 0.8 [0.0989 (21.69)]'1/2 1.17 1.17
h. Vapor distribution ratio
Rv = A/h, = 0.12/0.87 0.138 0.141
i. Slot seal
Dynamic, hd, = h,, + how +
A/2 = 0.5 + 0.0989 + 0.06 0.65 0.65
Liquid Velocity in Downcomer:
Minimum cross-section area of downcomer = 0.886 ft2
Liquid rate = 0.00834 ft3/sec
Velocity = 0.00834/0.886 = 0.00942 ft/sec
This is very low and confirms that there should be
ample disengaging capacity in the downcomers. The
downcomers are too large for good design.
Slot velocity
The results of lines R, S, and T indicate that the vapor velocity through the cap
slots is lower than desirable for good bubbling.
Slot Opening
The slot opening, h,, given in line c8 is only slightly lower than the normal design of
50-60% of Hs, or 0.75 in. to 0.90 in.
Vapor Distribution Ratio
The values of line (h) are quite in line with good vapor flow through all the caps. This
is as would be expected since the hydraulic gradient is low; too low to require any
compensation.
Liquid Entrainment
vf= 132.2/[28.28 - 2(2.12)] = 5.5 ft/sec
Reading Figure 8-1 16
For 27 dynes/cm surface tension
W,/h, + h,, + h, = 0.026
We = (.026) (0.098 + 0.5 + 0.626) = 0.0317 lbs/min ft2)
Entrainment = (0.0317) [28.28 - 2(2.12)] = 0.764 lbs/min
Entrainment ratio = 0.764/ (6565/60) = .00698
This value of entrainment is negligible. For a new column
design, this would indicate that the tower was too
large, and a smaller shell should be considered.
 Conclusion
 This is not a good tray design, but it
should operate.
 However, a reduced efficiency is to be
expected due to low vapor velocities.
 Because the liquid flow is low also, %in. v-
notched weirs should be used to ensure
uniform flow and level across the tray. The
bottom of the notches should be 2.5 in.
above the tray floor.