Liquid Distribution

[PLAYMP]

Went down a rabbit hole last night on packed columns and one of the things that stood out was around efficiency gains from proper liquid distribution throughout the column. Presumably to spread the liquid out across the diameter of the column and preventing it from running down the sides.

I know on here there’s a post where someone has designed a copper plate that’s somewhat of a vortex to direct liquid to the center of the packing. I also know of another post where some helpful forum member ran their column at an angle where presumably all the liquid is being directed down the side of the column.

Does anyone have any thoughts or I’d generally just be curious to know how else people are tackling this problem. For reference I use a 3” column packed with slightly undersized spp.

[elbono]

If you search for centering rings you'll find a lot of opinions, some think they're needed, some think they are bad for performance. My opinion is my SPP works fine without them, no problem to tackle.

Here's Yummy's thread on tilted columns.
viewtopic.php?p=7683367#p7683367

[Salt Must Flow]

Liquid distribution is NOT an issue. I believe that was an old, outdated theory. Somewhat recently more and more people have built Borosilicate glass columns and can clearly see that 'channeling' around the packing is not happening. Centering collars are not even recommended anymore and can only serve to be a choke point which can cause the column to flood.

Now I do use what could be called a 'centering collar', but I installed it just above my sight glass and below the vapor takeoff of my VM still. In other words at the top of my packed column I have have the sight glass. Above the sight glass I have my VM head. On top of my VM head I have my reflux condenser. When I looked through my sight glass I could see all of the reflux trickling along the glass. I wanted to see all of the reflux dropping straight down through the center of the sight glass instead of just running along the glass. The centering collar I use has nothing to do with how the still functions. I use it only so I can see the reflux falling in a stream rather than looking through blurry glass.

I made this using a Still Dragon 3" Plate Gasket and a copper disk. I made the disk by splitting a short piece of copper pipe, annealing it, hammering it flat and cutting it to shape. You can make your own Plate Gasket by carefully removing material from the interior of a Tri-Clamp gasket. The goal is to make the disk a tight fit so it seals well and forces 100% of the reflux to the center. This design will NOT cause restriction or cause flooding.

Centering Plate.jpg

[drmiller100]

Liquid will congregate where packing is tighter.

Vapor goes faster where packing is looser. Try to keep your packing consistent.