Prospectus

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DSP-3 Deentrainment Capacity of Random and Structured Packings at High Vacuum and High Pressure Expected Benefit to Members: This study will give the designer information on the deentrainment performance of random and structured packings at high and low pressure, enabling more confident design of scrubbers, knockout drums, and other deentrainment services at these extreme conditions. Present Situation and Proposed Research: This is a new area of investigation for FRI. Most public domain and vendor studies of deentrainment performance have been limited to air/water at ambient conditions. However, many applications require design at either high or low pressure with hydrocarbons as the working fluid with substantially different physical properties. A set of high and low pressure deentrainment data will be collected with both a 2 inch or larger random packing and a 45 ft 2 /ft 3 surface area structured packing or smaller. For low pressure data the o/p xylene system at 100 mm Hg is proposed. For a high pressure test the iC4/nC4 system at 300 psia will be used. Atomizing spray nozzles will be used to introduce the liquid at defined droplet sizes into the packings. The effect of varying inlet droplet size distribution and liquid loading will be investigated as well as the effect of vapor rate on collection efficiency and capacity. The liquid not collected will be determined both by a downstream high efficiency vane/mesh pad collector and fiber collector. Optical or impaction methods may also be used to measure the breakthrough drop sizes and amount of liquid. The liquid collected by the deentrainment bed will be determined by a collector tray draw off. Proposed Internals and Test System: Two inch or larger metal random packing, 45 ft 2 /ft 3 surface area or less structured packing, atomizing spray nozzles, collector tray, vane/mesh pad collector and fiber collector. Estimated Unit Time: One week for each packing tested at each pressure level. Total four weeks. Estimated Additional Costs (Beyond Unit Time): None Background and Discussion: Deentrainment is becoming a more important physical process in the design of mass transfer contacting equipment as equipment capacity limits are being pushed to new levels. This program is intended to initiate FRI research in this area, utilizing FRI's capabilities in doing high vacuum and high-pressure studies with industrially representative chemical systems. Developmental Research Idea

PROSPECTUS

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