Distillation Columns: Column Internals

Trays and Plates

BUBBLE CAP TRAYS
A bubble cap tray has riser or chimney fitted over each hole, and a cap
that covers the riser. The cap is mounted so that there is a space
between riser and cap to allow the passage of vapour. Vapour rises
through the chimney and is directed downward by the cap, finally
discharging through slots in the cap, and finally bubbling through the
liquid on the tray.

SIEVE TRAYS
Sieve trays are simply metal plates with holes in them. Vapour passes
straight upward through the liquid on the plate. The arrangement,
number and size of the holes are design parameters.
VALVE TRAYS
In valve trays, perforations are covered by liftable caps. Vapour flows
lifts the caps, thus self creating a flow area for the passage of vapour.
The lifting cap directs the vapour to flow horizontally into the liquid,
thus providing better mixing than is possible in sieve trays.
This FLEXITRAYTM valve tray is a steel sheet on which liftable valves
are mounted. They are much more efficient than sieve trays. Picture of
Koch-Glitsch, LP.

Liquid and Vapour Flows in a Tray Column

The image below show the direction of vapour and liquid flow across a
tray, and across a column.
Each tray has 2 conduits, one on each side, called downcomers. Liquid
falls through the downcomers by gravity from one tray to the one
below it.
A weir on the tray ensures that there is always some liquid (holdup) on
the tray and is designed such that the the holdup is at a suitable
height, e.g. such that the bubble caps are covered by liquid.
Being lighter, vapour flows up the column and is forced to pass through
the liquid, via the openings on each tray. The area allowed for the
passage of vapour on each tray is called the active tray area.

Tray Designs
A tray essentially acts as a mini-column, each accomplishing a
fraction of the separation task. From this we can deduce that the more
trays there are, the better the degree of separation and that overall
separation efficiency will depend significantly on the design of the
tray. Trays are designed to maximise vapour-liquid contact by
considering the

 liquid distribution and

 vapour distribution

on the tray. This is because better vapour-liquid contact means better

separation at each tray, translating to better column performance.
Less trays will be required to achieve the same degree of separation.
Attendant benefits include less energy usage and lower construction
costs.

Structured packing
The term structured packing refers to a range of specially designed
materials for use in absorption and distillation columns. Structured
packings typically consist of thin corrugated metal plates or gauzes
arranged in a way that they force fluids to take complicated paths
through the column, thereby creating a large surface area for contact
between different phases.
Structured packing is formed from corrugated sheets of perforated
embossed metal or wire gauze. The result is a very open honeycomb
structure with inclined flow channels giving a relatively high surface
area but with very low resistance to gas flow.
The surface enhancements have been chosen to maximize liquid
spreading. These characteristics tend to show significant performance
benefits in low pressure and low irrigation rate applications.

Packings versus Trays

A tray column that is facing throughput problems may be de-
bottlenecked by replacing a section of trays with packings. This is
because:

 packings provide extra inter-facial area for liquid-vapour contact

 efficiency of separation is increased for the same column height

 packed columns are shorter than trayed columns

Packed columns are called continuous-contact columns while trayed

columns are called staged-contact columns because of the manner in
which vapour and liquid are contacted.

Part 1: What are Distillation Columns?

Part 2: Distillation Column: Column Internals

For a more expanded article about distillation, please visit:
http://lorien.ncl.ac.uk

Bubble-Cap Tray

As shown in the Figure below, the bubble-cap consist a slotted cap on a central riser.
The gas flows up through the riser, reverse flow under the cap, passes downward through
the annulus between riser and cap, and finally passes into the liquid through a series of
openings or "slots" in the lower side of the cap. See the Figure below.

This device has a built-in liquid seal (i.e. the riser) which prevents liquid drainage at low gas
rates. This design does not rely on the velocity of the upcoming vapour to hold the liquid on the
tray. See the Figure below.

Because of its high cost and complexity, most modern column designs favour the use of sieve
or valve trays over bubble-cap trays. Bubble-caps should only be used where very low vapour
rates have to be handled, or adequate residence time is necessary for separation and/or
chemical reaction, or in applications where a positive liquid seal is essential at all flow rates.
Tray Column & Tray Types

The function of a tray is to facilitate contact between the vapour phase and liquid phase so that
mass transfer between the 2 phases can take place.

Each tray can be considered as being made up of 3 sections: weir, bubbling area, and
downcomer as shown in the Figure below.

The bubbling area is the place where vapour-liquid contact takes place. Vapour flows through
the openings on the tray from below, and into the liquid flowing across the tray, forming
a foaming, turbulent mixture. In the simplest design, sieves are provided for vapour-liquid
contact. Alternatively, valves or bubble-caps may be used. During this foaming process, a high
interfacial area for efficient vapour-liquid mass transfer is produced.

The function of a weir is to maintain a desired liquid level on the tray. Downcomers are used
to guide liquid flow from an upper tray to a lower tray. This is shown in the Figure below.

Trays are supported in a vessel by means of support rings or beams.

Above the liquid (before the next tray) is the vapour disengagement space, where the
vapour separates from the liquid after contact and continue its up-flow to the next tray above.
Ideally, the vapour should carry no liquid droplets (entrainment) to the tray above. The liquid
overflows the weir into the tray below, its flow path being guided by the downcomer. Click
here for more information on tray components.

We will discuss the operating principles of 3 common types of trays: sieve, valve and bubble-cap.
Other Tray Types Many other types of trays are available. These are all of proprietary designs, and it is best to consult
the manufacturer's literature. Example include the Max-Frac® High Capacity Tray, Nye® Tray, etc from Koch.

[ Back on Top ]

The principle factors to consider when comparing the performance of bubble-cap,

sieve and valve trays are:

Cost: Bubble-caps are appreciably more expensive than sieve or valve trays, and the relative
cost will depend on the material of construction used. Due to its simple design, sieve trays are
normally the cheapest.

Operating Range: This refers to the range of vapour and liquid rates over which the tray will
operate satisfactorily. The ratio of the highest to the lowest flowrates is often referred to as
the "turndown" ratio. Bubble-cap trays have a positive liquid seal and can therefore operate
efficiently at very low vapour rates. Sieve trays rely on the flow of vapours through the holes to
hold the liquid on the tray, thus cannot operate at very low vapour rates. Valve trays are
intended to give greater flexibility than sieve trays at a lower cost than bubble-caps Thus,
bubble-cap trays have the widest operating range, followed by valve tray, and sieve tray.

Pressure Drop: This factor will be important in vacuum operations. The tray pressure drop will
depend on the detailed design of the tray, but in general, sieve trays give the lowest pressure
drop, followed by valves, with bubble-caps giving the highest.

Maintenance: For dirty services, bubble-caps are not suitable as they are most susceptible to
plugging. Sieve trays are the easiest to clean.

In summary, sieve trays are the cheapest and are satisfactory for most
applications. Valve trays should be considered if the specified turndown ratio cannot be met
with sieve trays. Bubble-caps should only be used where very low vapour rates have to be
handled and a positive liquid seal is essential at all flow rates.

NOTE: Tray design sizing is not covered here. The tray manufacturers have their own sizing
handbooks that pertain to their products.
[ For more general info on tray sizing, refer to Chp. 4, "Process Plant Design", J.R. Backhurst & J.H. Harker, or Chps.
4, 5 & 6, "DistillationTray Fundamentals", M.J. Lockett ]
Bubble Cap Trays vs. Valve Trays
{0 Comments}
Posted by Jack on September 17, 2009
in Trays and Packing
At low vapor rates, valve trays will weep. Bubble cap trays cannot weep (unless they
are damaged). For this reason, it is generally assumed that bubble cap trays have
nearly an infinite turndown ratio. This is true in absorption processes (e.g., glycol
dehydration), in which it is more important to contact the vapor with liquid than the liquid
with vapor, However, this is not true of distillation processes (e.g., stabilization), in which
it is more important to contact the liquid with the vapor.

As vapor rates decrease, the tray activity also decreases. There eventually comes a
point at which some of the active devices (valves or bubble caps) become inactive.
Liquid passing these inactive devices gets very little contact with vapor. At very low
vapor rates, the vapor activity will concentrate only in certain sections of the tray (or, in
the limit, one bubble cap or one valve). At this point, it is possible that liquid may flow
across the entire active area without ever contacting a significant amount of vapor. This
will result in very low tray efficiencies for a distillation process. Nothing can be done with
a bubble cap tray to compensate for this.

However, a valve tray can be designed with heavy valves and light valves. At high vapor
rates, all the valves will be open. As the vapor rate decreases, the valves will begin to
close. With light and heavy valves on the tray, the heavy valves will close first, and
some or all of the light valves will remain open. If the light valves are properly distributed
over the active area, even though the tray activity is diminished at low vapor rates, what
activity remains will be distributed across the tray. All liquid
flowing across the tray will contact some vapor, and mass transfer will continue. Of
course, even with weighted valves, if the vapor rate is reduced enough, the tray will
weep and eventually become inoperable. However, with a properly designed valve tray
this point may be reached after the loss in efficiency of a comparable bubble cap tray.
So, in distillation applications, valve trays can have a greater vapor turndown ratio than
bubble cap trays.