Distillation Tower Hydraulics: Low L/V

[RRE]

A proposal has been made in a gas sweetening application using a very low L/V ratio, at 0.217. That is an 70" ID amine contactor is being proposed to treat 115 mmscfd of gas using a 25 gpm amine rate. This is the lowest L/V I have ever seen and I'm very concerned that the internals (packing) will be wet enough (make the contact necessary) for this amine and acid gas (CO2) reaction to occur.

Any experience with this low L/V in a distillation tower?? I know that a proper internal distributor will be key in this application.
(If this is not the correct forum for this question, please redirect me to the better forum).

 

[siretb]

I do not know the operating pressure, as I am not a specialist in amine process.
What is important is the wetting rate , and the appropriate unit would be m3/h (of liquid) / m2 (cross section)
the L/V is not that important for the packing operation, as long as you stay away from flooding. It is of course important for process reasons.

I'd be a concerned with anything lower than 6 m3/m2/hr, but this figure is packing-dependant.