Choice of Equipments

Plate Towers

  • Provides stage wise contact.

  • Suitable for high capacity.

  • Cooling can be done by providing the plate with cooling coils.

  • Pressure drop is higher.

  • Easy to clean — suitable for dirty liquids.

Packed Towers

  • Provides continuous contact.

  • Suitable for smaller capacity.

  • Lower pressure drop is lower compared with plate columns. Hence packed towers are suitable for vacuum applications.

  • Foaming liquids can be handled.

  • More choices in materials of construction for packings makes it suitable for corrosive applications.

As a rule of thumb, plates are always used in columns of large diameters and towers that have more than 20 to 30 stages.