Question

If the diameter of the random packing tower is larger than 1 m ,is this reasonable ?explain why?

Answer 1

Packings are generally used in small diameter towers. For random packing , the minimum tower diameter should be greater than or equal to 8 times the nominal packing diameter.This is to insures that the packing will adequately fill the column cross-sectional area and will provide a packed bed with a uniform bulk density.

If the diameter of random packing tower is larger than 1 metre, the tower require more number of packing materials , that increases the cost of equipment and the liquid that channels through the packing is very high, that affects the efficiency of the process.

If the column diameter is greater than 0.9 metre the size of the packing should be 2 to 3 inch. It is very difficult to maintain constant density throughout the packing with such bigger packing materials. As mentioned earlier ,it also increases channeling and bypassing of the fluid.