The Uncertainty of Predicting Liquid Entrainment in Trayed Columns

The effects of liquid entrainment create uncertainty during the design and troubleshooting operations of trayed columns. The resulting movement of liquid droplets also reduces countercurrent mass transfer through back-mixing from tray to tray, as well as along the flow path on a tray deck. The carryover of liquid to trays above also leads to jet flood with increasing vapor rates. The prediction of entrainment still leaves an engineer on tenuous ground even though the mechanisms related to tray design and physical properties have been studied in detail. This presentation will discuss insights into the impacts and prediction of entrainment phenomena though research completed over the past 70 years.