Fundamental model for the prediction of sieve tray efficiency

Abstract

Fundamental considerations of sieve tray hydraulics, such as hole activity (jet and bubble formation), bubble sizes and rise velocities, and average void fraction have been combined with diffusional mechanisms to develop a model for predicting mass transfer on an active sieve tray. Experiments were conducted to support model development. A computer-based data acquisition circuitry was designed and built to monitor digitally and simultaneously eight electroresistivity probes, independently located in separate holes of a sieve tray of an air-water simulator. With this monitoring system, it was possible to determine bubble size formation distributions and, importantly, the fraction of active holes that were either jetting or bubbling under a given set of hydrodynamic conditions. In addition, concurrent gas- and liquid-phase resistant mass-transfer efficiencies were measured