Distillation Column Time-to-Steady-State

FRI’s experimental unit in Stillwater, OK, includes two distillation columns, each 4 feet in diameter.  Three different binary test systems are employed at pressures ranging from 75 mmHg to 400 psia.  Using Yokogawa's Procedural Automation and Historian technologies, a set of experiments was performed to determine how quickly steady states can be achieved after very significant process changes.  The times were determined to be a function of operating pressure and column hold-up.