Engineering
Optimizing Distillation Column Tray Spacing to Reduce Energy Consumption
Quick fact
Reducing tray spacing by just 10% can increase pressure drop by 25%, which may raise reboiler duty by several percent—sometimes enough to outweigh the savings from a shorter, cheaper column.
Why this is interesting
What if the distance between trays in a distillation column could make or break the energy bill of an entire chemical plant? It's a hidden design lever that many engineers overlook.