Improved Technology for Distillation and Absorption

Rim plates are based upon a regular geometric pattern of active rims with short down comers sited within a horizontal mother plate. The principles underlying the technology have been known and practice proven for over thirty years. The technology has now been revived and improved and is unlikely to be surpassed for it’s particular combination of advantages which include:

• Very Low HETP
• Very low pressure drop
• Low liquid hold up
• Wide turn down ratio
• Ability to handle viscous and sticky liquids
• Good tolerance of material deposition

The key feature of the technology is the use of the kinetic energy of the gas or vapour to self distribute the liquid and to create a scrubbed thin film for mass transfer at the site of the active rims.

Plates are stacked at a very low inter plate spacing (typically 30 mm). Each plate has a regular series of down corner rims offset on a stagger from the adjacent plates.

Recent improvements in the design of the rims have had the double effect of improving the economics of manufacture and improving the operating characteristics of the device.

The plates are being manufactured in the UK and a low cost absorber unit for small-scale solvent users has been developed. A fifty-plate test column of 24 inches diameter is available for proving particular applications.