Pressure drop, in columns

Determine whether any operating limitations exist, such as pressure drop in columns where flooding occurs or limiting heads for pipelines for gravity flow. 

Pressure drop in column can be neglected and average temperature and pressure can be used for calculations. 

Pressure drop in columns with rotating elements... 

Pressure drops in the column will he neglected, and the K values will he read at 827 kPa (120 psia) in both column sections from the DePriester nomograph in Fig. 13-14. When constant molar overflow is assumed in each section, the rates in pound-moles per hour in the upper and lower sections are as follows ... 

The allowable pressure drop influences the choice of the particle size and helps determine the column length. Equations for estimating the pressure drop in packed beds are given in Section 6. 

For most large-scale processes, adsorbent particle size varies from 0.06 to 6 mm (0.0025 to 0.25 in), but the adsorbent packed in a fixed bed will have a fairly narrow particle size range. Pressure drop in adsorbers can be changed by changing the diameter to bed depth ratio and by changing the particle size (see Sec. 5). Adsorbent size also determines separation performance of adsorbent columns—increasing efficiency with decreasing particle size. In hquid-phase process-... 

Observed problem Increased pressure drop in the distillation column... 

The gas risers must have a sufficient flow area to avoid a high gas-phase pressure drop. In addition, these gas risers must be uniformly positioned to maintain proper gas distribution. The gas risers should be equipped w ith covers to deflect the liquid raining onto this collector plate and prevent it from entering the gas risers where the high gas velocity could cause entrainment. These gas riser covers must be kept a sufficient distance below the next packed bed to allow the gas phase to come to a uniform flow rate per square foot of column cross-sectional area before entering the next bed. 

Estimation of the pressure-drop The system is designed to work within a given pressure limit thus, one needs a relation giving the pressure-drop in the column (per unit length). Darcy s law gives the relation of AP/L versus the mobile phase velocity u. However, the Kozeny-Carman equation is best adapted for laminar flows as described ... 

Vacuum distillation varies with the system tmd particularly with the absolute pressure required at the bottom of the column normally select low pressure drop in the range of 0.1 to 0.2 in. water/ft of packing. For in vacuum service of 75 mm Hg and lower, the pressure drop obtained from the GPDC,... 

Fair reports that the data for mass transfer in spray, packed, and tray columns can be used for heat-transfer calculations for these columns. The pressure drop in these types of columns is usually quite low. 

In a packed column, liquid and vapor flow counter-currently and separation between the liquid and vapor phases takes place continuously. In contrast, in a column with trays, separation occurs in stages. In a packed column, vapor does not bubble through the liquid as in the columns with trays. For this reason, and due to the absence of the vapor-flow orifices, packed columns operate at a much lower pressure drop. In addition, because liquid and vapor contact in a packed column is less agitated than in a trayed column, packed columns are less likely to foam. 

Commercial preparations of these supports are available in narrow mesh-range fractions to obtain particles of uniform size the material should be sieved to the desired particle size range and repeatedly water floated to remove fine particles which contribute to excessive pressure drop in the final column. To a good approximation the height equivalent of a theoretical plate is proportional to the average particle diameter so that theoretically the smallest possible particles should be preferred in terms of column efficiency. Decreasing particle size will, however, rapidly increase the gas pressure necessary to achieve flow through the column and in practice the best choice is 80/100 mesh for a... 

The problems associated with coupling packed columns to a mass spectrometer are s re severe than those encountered with capillary columns. Conventional pacdced columns are operated at much higher flow rates, 20 to 60 al/ain, and although this diminishes the influence of dead volumes in the interface on sample resolution, it poses a problem due to the pressure and volume flow rate restrictions of the mass spectrometer. The interface must provide a pressure drop between column and mass spectrometer source on the order of 10 to 10, it must reduce the volumetric flow of gas into the mass spectrometer without diminishing the mass flow of sample by the same amount, and it must retain the integrity of the sample eluting from the column in terms of the separation obtained and its chemical constitution [3,25,26]. To meet the above requirements the interface must function as a molecular separator. 

Rao, V. G., and Drinkenburg, A. A. H., A model for pressure drop in two-phase gas-liquid down-flow through packed columns. AIChEJ. 31, 1010-1018 (1985). 

The height of the weir determines the volume of liquid on the plate and is an important factor in determining the plate efficiency (see Section 11.10.4). A high weir will increase the plate efficiency but at the expense of a higher plate pressure drop. For columns operating above atmospheric pressure the weir heights will normally be between 40 mm to 90 mm (1.5 to 3.5 in.) 40 to 50 mm is recommended. For vacuum operation lower weir heights are used to reduce the pressure drop 6 to 12 mm ( to in.) is recommended. 

A new generalised correlation for pressure drop in packed columns, similar to Figure 11.44, has been published by Leva (1992), (1995). The new correlations gives a better prediction for systems where the density of the irrigating fluid is appreciably greater than that of water. It can also be used to predict the pressure drop over dry packing. 

Correlation was found between domain size and attainable column efficiency. Column efficiency increases with the decrease in domain size, just like the efficiency of a particle-packed column is determined by particle size. Chromolith columns having ca. 2 pm through-pores and ca. 1pm skeletons show H= 10 (N= 10,000 for 10 cm column) at around optimum linear velocity of 1 mm/s, whereas a 15-cm column packed with 5 pm particles commonly shows 10,GOO-15,000 theoretical plates (7 = 10—15) (Ikegami et al., 2004). The pressure drop of a Chromolith column is typically half of the column packed with 5 pm particles. The performance of a Chromolith column was described to be similar to 7-15 pm particles in terms of pressure drop and to 3.5 1 pm particles in terms of column efficiency (Leinweber and Tallarek, 2003 Miyabe et al., 2003). Figure 7.4 shows the pressure drop and column efficiency of monolithic silica columns. A short column produces 500 (1cm column) to 2500 plates (5 cm) at high linear velocity of 10 mm/s. Small columns, especially capillary type, are sensitive to extra-column band... 

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