How many theoretical plates per cm and different packings

[Whotan]

As suggested, I'll open a new thread here. Maybe it's best to make one for everyone.


1. Where we write in which packs there are!


2.How many theoretical floors are there with the respective packs per cm or inch of width and height!?

3.Whether there are other advantages with different packs?!

4.How to calculate how much land you have?!

[Whotan]

I'm just planning to build a reflux and want to find out which ¹ material I want to use and how much theoretical floors I have ?! Who I have measurements from 2m example

I'm just planning to build a reflux and want to find out which ¹ material I want to use and how much theoretical floors I have ?! Who do I have measurements of 2m high and 2 or 3 inches wide with marbles or copper sponges for example!?

[GrumbleStill]

Hi whotan.

The search you are looking for is Height Equivalent Theoretical Plate - HETP.

There is a calculator for some of the common packings at https://homedistiller.org/wiki/htm/calc ... p_calc.htm

You may also want to search for Spiral Prismatic Packing - SPP, or Lava Rock, which are both extensively used by members here.

[elbono]

viewtopic.php?t=30727 has discussion on lots of different packing material.

Standard recommendation for height is 20-24 times the diameter. With SPP you can go as short as 12-15 x diameter but that won't work well for most packing materials.

[drmiller100]

I found a meter tall of 12 mm marbles works for 1.5 to 3 inch diameter columns. Will take 10 percent wash out to azeo at max rate.

[Whotan]

Why does steel wool have so many more plates in the calculator than anything else? Is this true or is this a bug?

[Whotan]

Do I have to specify the reflux ratio as a percentage? If I put 90 in there, then 90 percent of the product will be deducted, right? I'll upload a photo from the computer! Is it true that the steel wool has so many more plates than all the others? And isn't steel wool the best material

[Whotan]

My picture

[Saltbush Bill]

Why does steel wool have so many more plates in the calculator than anything else?

You need to start getting your words right Whotan......if you dont things start to get awfully confusing. While I'm at it I'll change the thread title to say what I think you meant it to say......let me know if I get it wrong.
This is what most people I know refer to as "steel wool".......steel wool is very very fine, its made of steel and rusts.
You do not want fine rusting steel of any kind in your column.

This or similar is what some people like to use, its what is referred to as a pot scrubber or "scrubby". It is much courser and is made from stainless steel which will not rust.

IMO Copper structured mesh is better but more expensive than scubbies especially if your running an all stainless still.
It comes in rolls and looks like this.

images.jpg (21.48 KiB) Viewed 1798 times

[Whotan]

I'm sorry. You're right, I meant scrubby! My englisch is not so good! But I'm trying to make an effort. So is it true that scrubby does most of the theoretical plating? And in what is the packing ratio indicated? (% or what?) What do I have to specify in the packing ratio line

Thank you very much for your help

[Saltbush Bill]

I have no idea....I've never worried about the numbers or calculators.
My 3 Inch boka runs copper mesh.....it will put out azeotrope from start to finish of the run......that is all I need to know.
When it was built we simply copied other peoples successful builds that worked well.

[elbono]

You need to start getting your words right

That wiki calculator confused me too, I've assumed it means scrubbers. But it actually says "stainless steel wool" which looks exactly like your picture. If it does mean scrubbers maybe the wiki can be changed?

Mash rookie's ancient thread mentions trying ss wool too but never posted any results.

I've got some ss wool but haven't tried it yet, a online still shop forum has some posts indicating they think it's as good as SPP but it's old and they were trying to sell stuff.

Some noobs (like me) look at the wiki as distilled truth from the forum before they realize that.the forum info never got a spirit run before hitting the wiki

[drmiller100]

I have no idea....I've never worried about the numbers or calculators.
My 3 Inch boka runs copper mesh.....it will put out azeotrope from start to finish of the run......that is all I need to know.
When it was built we simply copied other peoples successful builds that worked well.

How tall is your packing? It works. Really hard to argue with that.

I believe the hetp calculator uses some invalid assumptions and then build from there. I also believe too tall of packing hurts nothing.

I mostly believe theory should never get in the way of success.

[drmiller100]

You need to start getting your words right

That wiki calculator confused me too, I've assumed it means scrubbers. But it actually says "stainless steel wool" which looks exactly like your picture. If it does mean scrubbers maybe the wiki can be changed?

Mash rookie's ancient thread mentions trying ss wool too but never posted any results.

I've got some ss wool but haven't tried it yet, a online still shop forum has some posts indicating they think it's as good as SPP but it's old and they were trying to sell stuff.

Some noobs (like me) look at the wiki as distilled truth from the forum before they realize that.the forum info never got a spirit run before hitting the wiki

I absolutely positively know wool can't be used in continuous.
I also know wool is horribly picky about high tight it is. And I know if you do 24 inchss of wool the liquid saturates it and it collapsed down and flooded and made a big god damn mess.

[bluefish_dist]

I'm sorry. You're right, I meant scrubby! My englisch is not so good! But I'm trying to make an effort. So is it true that scrubby does most of the theoretical plating? And in what is the packing ratio indicated? (% or what?) What do I have to specify in the packing ratio line

Thank you very much for your help

The HETP for scrubbies is right around 4” or 100mm. I have tested it and verified that height to my satisfaction. Marbles are about 5” or 125mm. Spp is supposedly better, but I was never able to get it to perform better than scrubbies. Could have been the spp I was using. At the cost, I was not willing to buy more.

I found best 190proof + performance is a minimum of 20 plate equivalents. Using scrubbies this means 80” or 2m. Taller is better yet. I routinely ran 96” of packed over a single plate and could run 190.2-190.5 proof at 1 gal/hr over low wines with a 4” column. The same setup with a 6” could do 2 gal/hr at 190.1-190.3.