A 100 Year Search for the “Ideal” Mass Transfer Device

With evidence of distillation dating back to the 1^st century AD, the evolution of the distillation process and mass transfer equipment has a long history. Around 1810, a French inventor was already using sieve trays, and glass balls were in use in the 1820s. Over the last 100 years, Koch-Glitsch has explored various innovations for enhanced trays and packings used in distillation columns. Various mass transfer devices have moved in and out of favor, for example, in the 40s and 50s, trays were the equipment of choice. The 60s and 70s saw a return to packing, with sheet metal structured packing revolutionizing low pressure distillation in the 70s only to have trays rebound in the form of high performance devices in the 1990s. This paper explores the factors that drove various changes in mass transfer equipment with the continual search for improvements in efficiency, capacity, and reliability through the development of the ideal mass transfer device.