Separation of isotope 13C using high-performance structured packing

A special high-performance structured packing, PACK-13C, with the surface area high as 1135 m2 m−3 was developed, and the first stable isotope 13C pilot-scale plant using structured packing was designed and constructed by carbon monoxide cryogenic distillation, which has run smoothly over 6 months. The height and inner diameter of the distillation column were respectively, 20 m and 45 mm and the height of packing bed was 18 m. The column was well insulated by vacuum multilayer insulation and the total heat leakage of the column was less than 30 W. When the F-factor changes from 0.18 to 0.90 ms−1 (kg m−3)1/2, the numbers of theoretical plates per meter decreases from 30 to 20, the pressure drop is less than 25 Pa for each theoretical plate, the dynamic liquid holdup is between 11% and 21%, and the pilot-scale plant produces 2.1 g 15% isotope 13C each day. The fluid mechanical and mass transfer empirical equations were developed according to the experimental data of PACK-13C. The PACK-13C structured packing exhibits very high performances in isotope separation efficiency and operational flexibility, which is far superior to the traditional random packing. PACK-13C is a perfect packing to serve in 13C separation to increase productivity and reduce consumption.