(26c) Evolution of Distillation Equipment Technology and Future Development

Distillation is the most important unit operation in chemical process industry. Both trayed and packed columns are widely used in distillation and absorption applications. Over past 100 years, many new generation distillation trays and packings that exhibit better hydraulic and mass transfer performance had been developed. In this presentation, the evolution of the tray and packing technologies in past 10 years will be reviewed. The latest innovation and development on distillation equipment will be discussed. The areas for future research and development on tray and packing technologies and other column internals will be presented.