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Downcomer Dynamics in Distillation Trays

This document discusses how perforated distillation trays work by preventing liquid from leaking through the tray deck and into the tray below. It describes the key components of a tray, including the overflow weir, downcomer, and tray deck. Perforated trays have perforations that allow vapor to flow through the tray deck to prevent liquid bypass, maintaining separation efficiency. The document notes that tray efficiency can range from 10-90% and it is important for process engineers to aim for efficiencies as close to 90% as possible.

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Thinh Vipro
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27 views2 pages

Downcomer Dynamics in Distillation Trays

This document discusses how perforated distillation trays work by preventing liquid from leaking through the tray deck and into the tray below. It describes the key components of a tray, including the overflow weir, downcomer, and tray deck. Perforated trays have perforations that allow vapor to flow through the tray deck to prevent liquid bypass, maintaining separation efficiency. The document notes that tray efficiency can range from 10-90% and it is important for process engineers to aim for efficiencies as close to 90% as possible.

Uploaded by

Thinh Vipro
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Chapter 3: How Trays Work: Flooding Downcomer

Backup
By Norman P. Lieberman
From Working Guide to Process Equipment, Third Edition
Overview
Distillation towers are the heart of a process plant, and the working component of a distillation column is the tray. A
tray consists of the following components, as shown in Fig. 3.1:
Overflow, or outlet weir
Downcomer
Tray deck

Figure 3.1: Perforated trays.
There are two types of tray decks: perforated trays and bubble-cap trays. In this chapter, we describe only perforated
trays, examples of which are
Valves or flutter caps
V grid, or extruded-valve caps
Sieve decks
Jet trays
Possibly 90 percent of the trays seen in the plant are of these types. Perforated tray decks all have one feature in
common; they depend on the flow of vapor through the tray deck perforations, to prevent liquid from leaking through
the tray deck. As we will see later, if liquid bypasses the outlet weir, and leaks through the tray deck onto the tray
below, tray separation efficiency will suffer.
3.1 Tray Efficiency
Distillation trays in a fractionator operate between 10 and 90 percent efficiency. It is the process person s job to make
them operate as close to 90 percent efficiency as possible. Calculating tray efficiency is sometimes simple. Compare the
vapor temperature leaving a tray to the liquid temperature leaving the trays. For example, the efficiency of the tray
shown in Fig. 3.2 is 100 percent. The efficiency of the tray in Fig. 3.3 is 0 percent.

Figure 3.2: Hundred percent tray efficiency.

Figure 3.3: Zero percent tray efficiency.
How about the 10 trays shown in Fig. 3.4?

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