Pitfalls and Safeguards in Distillation Tower Designs

With the aid of computers and internet applications many methods and equations for designing distillation towers, including absorbers and strippers, have been automated. Engineers have   easy access to various modeling or rating software tools for tower designs. However, surveys have shown that the number of tower malfunctions is not declining, in spite of the huge progress in computational capability. Instead of focusing on specific technical aspects of the tower designs, this article will highlight some pitfalls and safeguards in tower design steps, from process definition, simulation, internals selection and sizing, to tower layout. Tower design cases in oil refining, petrochemical and gas processing services will be discussed. The intention of this article is to help process engineers in the design of distillation equipment step by step efficiently and correctly.