| Abstract: | A type of tray for gas-liquid contacting is described, in which the free area for gas flow through the tray is variable with and controlled by the gas flowrate. The property through which control of the free area is effected is the surface tension of the liquid phase. The advantages are the same as those of ballast and valve trays; namely, reduced pressure drop at high gas rates resulting in increased column capacity, and reduced free space at lower gas rates resulting in high mass transfer efficiency at low and medium vapor loadings as well. Tooling and production costs for the trays of the present investigation, however, are considerably lower than for ballast or valve trays or any other types which require machining operations in their fabrication, and are as low or lower than for sieve trays. Initial experimental comparisons with conventional trays demonstrated that the trays of the present investigation, although designed primarily for operation at high vapor loadings, were indeed capable of yielding high mass transfer efficiencies in the low-to-medium range of vapor loading |
