Distillation Column Performance Testing

AIChE’s Equipment Testing Procedures Committee writes procedures that explain how to conduct performance tests on various types of equipment and how to interpret the test results. The committee recently published such a procedure for distillation columns. “Trayed and Packed Columns: A Guide to Performance Evaluation, 3rd ed.,” provides tests intended to accumulate reliable data in one or more of the following areas of interest: mass transfer efficiency, capacity, energy consumption, and pressure drop. Possible uses of such data include: troubleshooting performance problems; identifying capacity bottlenecks; determining if column performance meets vendor guarantees (“acceptance test”); developing basic data for new designs; developing correlations; determining the operating range of a column; defining optimum operating conditions; calibrating computer simulations for use in optimizing, debottlenecking, and design studies. This article is excerpted from the recently published book.