Dressing up of distillation column
prior to installation
1
Conventional way of Installing trays and
dressing up of column
1. Conventionally the dressing up of column (insulation, ladder &
platforms etc.) is done after column erection at its foundation.
2. Similarly installation of trays is also taken up after installation of
external platforms and ladders.
3. This puts all activities in series.
4. Besides there are safety and efficiency issues due to working at
elevation.
5. It takes longer time to transport the material from grade to
desired level and working against gravity.
2
Dressing up of column
1. Growing expectations of reducing construction schedule, forces EPC
contractors to reduce the column related erection schedule.
2. It has become a practice to dress up the column in horizontal position
(i.e. installation of ladder, platforms, insulation, cladding including
electrical trays, column connected piping, top mounted nozzle valves
etc.).
3. Besides if crane of desired capacity is available, the trays are also
installed in horizontal position in side column before lifting of column.
4. Trays can also be installed at column fabricator’s shop and dispatched
to site in installed condition.
5. Above practice is very useful in brown field jobs where shut down
period available to contractor is very limited. Also some times space
availability at site is an issue.
3
Advantages of dressing up of column at
ground level
1. Multiple worker teams can work outside.
2. Grade level working is faster, lesser risk than working
at elevation.
3. Can install spiders, platforms, hand-rails, ladders,
column attached piping, safety valves etc.
4. All piping and structure can be installed with final paint
and insulation.
5. Need not to wait for column erection and thus saves
field installation site time
4
A Question
Can we install all trays and packed tower
internals in column horizontal condition at
ground level.
5
Let us understand tray supporting and
holding arrangement
6
Let us understand tray construction
Tray integral beam arrangement
1. Trays are formed of thin sheet 2
or 3 mm thickness.
2. Their support beams are integral
formed by the plate itself. This
avoids welding and deformation
due to welding.
3. The tray segments are held
together by using friction clamps.
It makes their hassle free
installation also protects the
column from damage in case of
any internal upset/ internal
explosion.
7
Tray Hardware
8
Tray parts ( tray diameter around 2 to 3 M)
9
Cartridge type construction of tray
1. Used for small diameter where it is
normally not easy to go inside column.
2. Diameters less than 850~ 900 trays are
designed as cartridge construction.
3. All trays are bundled together in a
group.
4. The bundles are inserted from column
top opening.
5. These can be installed inside column at
Column fabricator works, saving field
erection time.
10
Medium size valve tray (diameter up to 3M approx.)
1. These can be installed
in horizontal or vertical
position of column.
2. But need some special
considerations in
design and holding
arrangement of the
tray components.
3. Some additional
bolting is needed, to
avoid dislodging any
component.
11
Large tray ( size more than 3M ~ 10M )
1. Difficult to install such large size tray
in column horizontal position. Due to
handling these segments inside with
tray panel vertical.
2. Large size tray increases the overall
erection load phenomenally high.
Further chances of dislodging are high
during lifting. Not recommended to
install such trays in laying down
condition.
3. However, pre-installation of certain
items like beams and girders before
column erection, helps in tray
installation in vertical position and
reduces time schedule.
12
Packed tower internals
1. Random packed tower
consists of either random
packing or structures packing.
2. The operation and efficiency
of these towers is highly
sensitive to packed beds
heights and liquid distributor
levelness.
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Packing support plates
1. Packing support plates are
heavy and more often
supported on support ring by
gravity under load of tower
packing.
2. Besides packed bed height
changing position from
horizontal to vertical may
dislodge the support plate
and bed limiter. 14
Packed column distributors
1. Packed column distributors are
mostly gravity distributors.
2. Their levelness and placement
over packed bed is of very high
importance and impacts the
packing efficiency / operation.
3. It is not recommended to install
packing and internals in packed
columns in horizontal position
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Advantages of installing trays at ground level
1. Multiple worker teams can work inside using multiple
man-holes.
2. Grade level working is faster, less risk.
3. Makes job easier, easy to move in and move out.
4. Need not to wait for column erection and installation
of monkey ladders and platforms.
5. Saves field installation site time
6. Shortens field construction schedule and installation
cost.
16
Points to be carefully considered before
deciding dressing up of column
i. Increases column lifting load. Needs crane of larger capacity.
ii. Stringent quality checks required on tray support rings and bolting
bar dimensions, before trays are taken in, to meet tray levelness
and other vital dimensions as per tray design. Once trays are
installed such modifications are very difficult
iii. Any jerk can dislodge the friction clamps and damage trays. At
design stage trays need some additional positive bolting to avoid
such situation.
iv. Large diameter trays say more than ~3 M diameter, the weight of
trays go substantially high, consider only installation of beams and
girders in pre-installation.
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Thank you
