A general correlation for predicting the loading point of corrugated sheetstructured packings

Comprehensive experimental studies have been conducted with several varieti es of commercial structured packing to ascertain geometry-imposed effects o n their hydraulic behavior. At Delft, the air-water system was used for hyd raulic studies, and at the the Separations Research Program (SRP) the cyclo hexane/n-heptane distillation system was used to provide additional hydraul ic and mass-transfer data for the same packings. These and other performanc e data available in the SRP database have been used to substantiate the dev elopment of a physically sound, generally applicable empirical correlation for predicting the onset of loading, where hydraulic characteristics of the packed bed change significantly. The correlation proposed in this paper co vers a wide range of operating conditions and variations in structured pack ing geometry. It can be used with either Delft or SRP preloading models to provide an outgoing point for determining pressure drop, liquid holdup, and mass transfer in the loading region.