Preliminary Experimental Study for Cryogenic Distillation Column with Small Inner Diameter, (I)

Abstract

A preliminary experimental study was performed by using a cryogenic distillation column which has a small inner diameter (~2 cm). The column separated N₂ and Ar at a total reflux operation mode. The experimental column simulates adequately some significant features of a hydrogen isotope distillation column. A significant result obtained is that the mesh of the wire holding the packings was required to be as large as possible and conically-shaped for avoiding the flooding. The dynamic column behavior predicted by computer-aided simulation is in very close agreement with the experimental observation. The HETP value was measured for Dixon Ring under a variety of vapor flow rates within the column. The measured value is approximately 5.5 cm. The over-all HETP value is almost independent of the vapor flow rate. However, if the vapor flow rate is excessively small, the HETP value for the upper half of the column differs slightly from that for the lower half.

KEYWORDS:

• cryogenic distillation
• dynamic column behavior
• HETP value
• Dixon Ring
• vapor flow
• flow rates
• computerized simulation