Design of steam-stripping columns for removal of volatile organic compounds from water using random and structured packings

Mass-transfer data at different feed and steam rates, using structured and random packings, have been collected to develop a model for the design or analysis of packed columns for stripping of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from water. The steam-stripping experiments were conducted in a stainless steel column of 0.245-m internal diameter, with 2.8 m of packed section. The packings used were Sulzer EX gauze structured packing, Mellapak 250Y structured packing, 1-in. Flexirings, and 1-in. Flerrimax random packing. The VOCs were chloroform (CH3Cl) and toluene (C7H8). The model considers the simultaneous occurrence of mass transfer and hydraulic phenomena with the same expressions for liquid and vapor mass-transfer coefficients and the same expression for effective interfacial area with one constant for each packing. The average deviation for the measured and calculated volumetric mass-transfer coefficient and effective height of packing is 0.29 and 0.23, respectively.