AIChE manual updates and consolidates procedures for testing performance of distillation columns

From classic distillation operations to air stripping to other separations processes, selecting the correct column for appropriate efficient, safe, and environmentally-sound operations can be an important step. The newest updated volume in AIChE’s long-running Equipment Testing Procedures series, Trayed and Packed Columns: A Guide to Performance Evaluation, Third Edition provides chemical engineers, plant managers, and other professionals with helpful advice to assess and measure performance of a variety of distillation columns, including those that utilize bubble cap, sieve, valve trays, or packing material.

The new book combines and updates into one user-friendly volume the best available field knowledge from previous publications on both types of distillation columns. Designed not as a single set of compulsory steps, but as a compilation of techniques, it will allow the user to select the procedure that best applies to its operating parameters. The testing steps presented can be used to assess reliable performance data on mass transfer efficiency, capacity, energy consumption, and pressure drop—information essential to effective troubleshooting of performance problems, identifying capacity bottlenecks, determining operating ranges, and a number of other routine maintenance and optimization processes.

Opening with an extensive definition section, organized by topical area, the book then goes on to address:

• Selection of instrumentation and identification of elements to be measured
• Pre-test planning procedures
• Strategies for data collection and evaluation, including sampling procedures
• Pre-test, in-test, and post-test considerations (equipment, safety, process, environmental)
• Computation and interpretation of results, including individual breakdowns for trayed and packed columns in terms of hydraulic and efficiency performance
• Test troubleshooting analysis in twelve key areas

The book concludes with appendices for relevant symbols and nomenclature, plus sample caculations generated from performance tests.

With its engineer-tested procedures and thorough explanations, Trayed and Packed Columns: A Guide to Performance Evaluation, Third Edition is an essential text for anyone engaged in implementing new technology in equipment design, identifying process problems, and optimizing equipment performance.