Channel Baffles on Trays

Frequently distillation tray designers are posed with the problem of handling moderate to high volumes of liquid with small amounts of vapor.  Side Strippers, Sour Water Strippers and Wastewater Strippers are typical examples of such applications where this problem frequently arises.  Tray performance is critical in these services and a shortfall in performance could have severe detrimental effects downstream.  Conventional wisdom is to provide blanking on the tray or “dead zones” where no contacting occurs.  A better practice is to provide Channel Baffles which contract the active area of the tray without reducing the flow path length of the device.  The impact of channel baffles on tray performance was measured with a water cooling technique in Aston University’s 2.44 m diameter air-water simulator.   Temperature isotherms (analogous to concentration profiles) of the developed flow patterns on a channel baffled sieve tray are compared to the same circular sieve tray.  This paper will discuss the issues shown above and describe good Channel Baffle design practices that one can employ to ensure that a good, low vapor loaded, design is achieved.