Packed Towers

Packed towers are finding applications in adsorption, absorption, ion-exchange, distillation, humdification, catalytic reactions, regenerative heaters etc.,

The packing is to provide a good contact between the contacting phases.

Based on the method of packing, packings are classified as (a) Random packings and (b) Stacked packings

There are a variety of materials that are being used as random packings. The packings are made with clay, porcelain, plastics or metals. The following table gives the different packing materials and their approximate void fraction.

Principal requirements of a tower packing are:

1. It must be chemically inert to the fluids in the tower.
2. It must be strong without excessive weight.
3. It must contain adequate passages for the contacting streams without excessive pressure drop.
4. It must provide good contact between the contacting phases.
5. It should be reasonable in cost.

Normally, the denser fluid (e.g. water) runs down the surface of the packings by gravity, while the less dense fluid flows upward because it is introduced at the bottom of the tower at a higher pressure than it is with drawn from the top.