Abstract
This paper presents results of continuous feed and total reflux distillation tests carried out with a common type and size structured packing using two- and three component mixtures of common alcohol's and water. With the binary mixture, packing performed slightly better than with a three component mixture, and, surprisingly, this performance appeared slightly better than in the case of the total reflux operation. Under total reflux a test was carried out also with a water rich mixture, however without any consequences for the mass transfer performance of the packing. Delft model predictions of the overall mass transfer efficiency appeared to be conservative enough around the operating/design point load of the packing in question. The composition profiles measured with the three components mixture were used to validate the rate-based (non-equilibrium) model developed at the Nagoya Institute of Technology, which appeared to be highly accurate, but also sensitive to the choice of the predictive method for the interfacial area.
