Packed Column Gas Disperser for High-Pressure Distillation Efficiency
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Solution Overview
Problem
Packed columns in cryogenic air separation units experience deterioration in distillation performance at high pressures due to liquid maldistribution, despite the use of intermediate liquid distributors, and current solutions like increasing the height of gas-liquid contactors or feed air result in increased costs and power consumption.
Innovation Solution
A packed column design with vertically divided gas-liquid contactors and a gas disperser between them to ensure uniform gas composition and flow rate, allowing for reduced height and feed amounts without compromising distillation efficiency.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the height of gas-liquid contactors is increased to maintain distillation performance, then distillation efficiency is improved, but apparatus cost and column size increase
Solution Approach 1:
The gas-liquid contactor is divided into multiple stages with intermediate liquid distributors positioned between them. This segmentation allows for better control of liquid distribution at each stage, preventing maldistribution effects from propagating through the entire column height, thereby maintaining distillation performance with a more compact overall structure.
Solution Approach 2:
Intermediate liquid distributors are introduced as intermediary components between gas-liquid contactor stages. These distributors act as mediators that reset liquid distribution patterns, ensuring uniform liquid flow to subsequent stages and preventing the accumulation of maldistribution effects that would otherwise require greater column height to compensate for.
2Reliability
If the amount of feed air is increased to maintain distillation performance, then separation efficiency is improved, but power consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
By segmenting the contactor into stages with intermediate distributors, the system achieves better liquid distribution control that enhances mass transfer efficiency per unit of gas flow. This allows maintaining distillation performance with reduced feed air quantity, thereby lowering compressor power consumption.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the operational parameters by introducing intermediate distributors that optimize liquid flow patterns. This parameter change improves the efficiency of gas-liquid contact, allowing the system to achieve the same distillation performance with lower gas flow rates and reduced energy consumption.
3Stability of the object's composition
If intermediate liquid distributors are placed in the packed column, then liquid maldistribution is reduced, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The column is segmented into stages with intermediate distributors placed at strategic locations. This segmentation approach targets the specific problem areas of liquid maldistribution without requiring distributors throughout the entire column, thus reducing complexity while maintaining distribution uniformity where it matters most.
Solution Approach 2:
Intermediate liquid distributors are placed locally at specific positions between gas-liquid contactor stages where maldistribution is most likely to occur. This localized approach provides the necessary distribution control without the complexity of a fully distributed distributor system throughout the entire column.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The design effectively suppresses performance deterioration by maintaining uniform gas and liquid distribution, reducing the need for increased column height and feed amounts, thereby lowering operational costs and energy consumption.
Implementation Method 1
a gas disperser is provided at at least one position between a lower one of the gas-liquid contactors and an upper one of the gas-liquid contactors, the gas disperser uniformly dispersing composition of the ascending gas rising from the lower gas-liquid contactor toward the upper gas-liquid contactor
Implementation Method 2
The heat of compression generated by the compression of the air is removed by an aftercooler 107, so that the compressed air is cooled to 40° C.
Implementation Method 3
lowered in pressure to 300 kPaG by a liquid-air pressure reducing valve 117, so that the temperature drops to −180° C. due to the Joule-Thomson effect
Implementation Method 4
This low-temperature liquid air is introduced into the condenser 115 and exchanges heat with the above-mentioned nitrogen gas. Consequently, the nitrogen gas is liquefied and the whole low-temperature liquid air is vaporized into low-temperature air.
Implementation Method 5
The low-temperature air in the intermediate temperature state is introduced into an expansion turbine 121, in which the low-temperature air is expanded to 30 kPaG and its temperature is lowered to −170° C. by adiabatic expansion.
Data Source
AI summary
Provided is a packed column capable of achieving sufficiently high distillation performance even with the height of its gas-liquid contactors reduced. The packed column is a packed column which includes a gas-liquid contactor 17, 18 inside a tubular body 16 and a liquid distributor 19 in the upper most portion and causes descending liquid and ascending gas to contact each other in the gas-liquid contactor. The operation pressure is in the range of 200 to 1500 kPaG. The relative volatility is in the range of 1.9 to 3.1. The gas-liquid contactor is vertically divided into at least two parts. A gas disperser 20 is provided at at least one position between a lower one of the gas-liquid contactors and an upper one of the gas-liquid contactors, the gas disperser uniformly dispersing the composition of the ascending gas rising from the lower gas-liquid contactor toward the upper gas-liquid contactor.