ABSTRACT

A packed column may consist of single or multiple beds for fluid contacting in heat/mass transfer operations. For a packed column with a single bed for counter current gas-liquid contacting, the normal internals are: a liquid distributor, a packing hold-down device, the packing itself, and a packing support device. The two main categories of packings are random and structured. There are: random packings and structured packings. The main parameter used to characterize hydraulic performance of random packing is the packing factor. The packing factor is constant at low processing rates but it is a function of fluid flow rates at increased rates. Three regimes are proposed for describing the gas-liquid in-situ configuration in the packing: film flow regime, film-spray flow regime and spray flow. Taking proper care in the actual loading of random packings into the column is important to ensure the desired packing performance.