Structured packing
The term structured packing refers to a range of specially designed materials for use in absorption and distillation columns and chemical reactors. Structured packings typically consist of thin corrugated metal plates or gauzes arranged in a way that they force fluids to take complicated paths through the column, thereby creating a large surface area for contact between different phases.
Structured packing is formed from corrugated sheets of perforated embossed metal or wire gauze. The result is a very open honeycomb structure with inclined flow channels giving a relatively high surface area but with very low resistance to gas flow. The surface enhancements have been chosen to maximize liquid spreading. These characteristics tend to show significant performance benefits in low pressure and low irrigation rate applications. Typical applications include vacuum and atmospheric crude oil fractionators, FCC main fractionators and TEG contactors. Structured packing is manufactured in a wide range of sizes by varying the crimp altitude. Packing surface ranges from 50 m²/m³ (lowest efficiency, highest capacity) to 750 m²/m³ (highest efficiency, lowest capacity).