How to improve the processing capacity of a distillation tower
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A distillation tower is divided into an upper and a lower section, both equipped with 80 layers of floating valve trays. Its designed processing capacity is 8.3 m3/h; now, technical upgrades are intended to increase the tower’s processing capacity. What are some effective measures for modifying the tower? Is it feasible to increase the packing on the tray?
Adding filler shouldn’t work; I’ve never heard of doing that. Generally, a margin is added during design, so it’s no problem to handle higher loads. But if the performance can no longer meet the requirements, imposing additional load will cause problems
{:3_54:} It’s better to give it a try. The number of plates mainly enhances the separation capacity; the load will increase, but not by much. If it increases further, the tower is prone to becoming unstable. It mainly depends on the diameter of your tower. The capacity specified by the design institute is generally 50%-60% of the tower’s maximum load. In several workshops I’ve encountered, the capacity designated in the designs is almost twice the actual operating capacity. For the mixed-type tower, I’ve only seen a section of the tower plate and a section of the packing; I’ve never seen it assembled in this way. Wouldn’t such a configuration make it easy for the tower to get flooded?
Have you seen a layout with one tray section and one packing section? How effective is it? Does it improve the separation efficiency or the processing capacity?
In actual production, the highest efficiency is also achieved when the feed rate is 8.3 m3/h； Is there no way to upgrade the capacity while ensuring effective separation?
In the stripping section it’s tray plates, while in the rectifying section it’s packing; I’ve never seen this type of cross-mounted configuration before. . . In a distillation tower, it actually comes down to your effective contact area. . . Your cross-sectional area is already that large; any further changes would merely be a bonus, but they wouldn’t help in times of need
Once a tower is built, its capacity is determined. It is difficult to carry out modifications in the general sense, such as diameter expansion, adding trays, packing, and so on. What can be done is to optimize the operational aspects, such as reducing the reflux ratio to increase processing capacity. However, there is one type of modification that is relatively easy to carry out, which involves checking whether the distillation section and the stripping section have potential. If a certain section has the potential to have its feed position changed, it will accordingly increase the processing capacity of another section. The overall processing capacity of the tower is increased.
Consider replacing them with new types of trays that have a higher processing capacity; there are many successful cases from previous projects.
It doesn’t really matter what to change. For distillation towers, the design institute should design them such that the tower operates at 25% more load. Any more, and it’s hard to say~
Could you elaborate on what kind of new types of trays can achieve such results for C4 separation streams? Compared to floating valve trays, by how much can the processing capacity be increased, and what is the quality of separation?
Regarding the feed location, the original design called for a light component content of 60%, but in actual production the light component content is 9%. The three feed inlets specified in the original design were all located in the upper tower; if the feed inlets are modified to be located in the lower tower, by how much can the processing capacity be increased?