(4b) Fair Comparison of Packing Performance Data from Different Reference Systems

Engineers are responsible for insuring their company makes wise decisions when purchasing distillation column internals. This task is often complicated by a lack of "apples to apples" performance data on competing products - in which there are a common reference system, similar operating conditions, and equivalent-quality peripherals.

The authors have attempted to use available performance data and published correlations for mass-transfer and capacity for random packing to create a fair comparison basis across different reference systems. This presentation will focus on the development of a simple transformation which gives useful insight into the likely capacity of a packing in any system, given data from another system.

We have also attempted, with less success, to develop a similar transformation for mass transfer comparisons. These charts will also be included, but available time will not permit discussing them in detail during this presentation.