Cold model test and industrial applications of high geometrical area packings for separation intensification

With a particular focus on the separation intensification of distillation and adsorption columns, this paper reports the hydrodynamic and mass transfer performance of four novel packings, characterized by wave-like corrugation angles, and specific geometric areas ranging up to 2000 m2/m3. The relation between specific geometrical area, pressure drop, capacity and separation efficiency are discussed as a function of gas and liquid loads. As expected with increasing specific geometrical area the efficiency increases significantly, however, this occurs at the cost of a corresponding decrease in capacity. The expected efficiency advantage could be exploited for separations intensification in pressure drop insensitive applications, as evidenced by the presented industrial examples of applications of the packings for distillation and stripping.