Engineering Standard

SAES-C-001 21 June 2015

Process Design of Distillation Trays and Packing
Document Responsibility: Trays and Packing Process Design Stds. Committee

Saudi Aramco DeskTop Standards

Table of Contents

1 Scope.............................................................. 2
2 Conflicts and Deviations................................. 2
3 References..................................................... 2
4 Definitions....................................................... 3
5 Responsibilities............................................... 3
6 Tray Design.................................................... 4
7 Packing Design............................................... 6
8 Vessel, Tray, and Packing manufacturing….. 6
9 Maintenance and Repairs............................... 6

Previous Issue: 14 November 2009 Next Planned Update: 21 June 2018

Primary contact: Bunaiyan, Ahmad Saleh (bunayaas) on +966-13-8808059

Copyright©Saudi Aramco 2015. All rights reserved.

Document Responsibility: Trays and Packing Process Design Standards Committee SAES-C-001
Issue Date: 21 June 2015
Next Planned Update: 21 June 2018 Process Design of Distillation Trays and Packing

1 Scope

1.1 This standard covers the minimum mandatory requirements for the process design
of trays and inert packing for distillation columns (herein after referred to as
“vessel”).

1.2 The requirements in this standard shall be used by the Design Engineer, Tray
Manufacturer and Packing Manufacturer for the completion of all required Design
Data Sheets (herein after referred to as “data sheets”) for trays and packing.

1.3 This standard covers the design requirements of new trays and the repair of
existing trays.

1.4 This standard may not be attached to nor made a part of purchase orders.

2 Conflicts and Deviations

2.1 Any conflicts between this standard and other applicable Saudi Aramco
Engineering Standards (SAESs), Materials System Specifications (SAMSSs),
Standard Drawings (SASDs), or industry standard, codes, and forms shall be
resolved in writing by the Company or Buyer Representative through the
Manager, Process and Control Systems Department of Saudi Aramco, Dhahran.

2.2 Direct all requests to deviate from this standard in writing to the Company or
Buyer Representative, who shall follow internal company procedure SAEP-302
and forward such requests to the Manager, Process and Control Systems
Department of Saudi Aramco, Dhahran.

3 References

The selection of material and equipment, and the design, construction, maintenance, and
repair of equipment and facilities covered by this standard shall comply with the latest
edition of the references listed below, unless otherwise noted.

 Saudi Aramco Documents

Saudi Aramco Engineering Procedure

SAEP-302 Instructions for Obtaining a Waiver of a Mandatory
Saudi Aramco Engineering Requirement

Saudi Aramco Engineering Standard

SAES-D-001 Design Criteria of Pressure Vessels

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Document Responsibility: Trays and Packing Process Design Standards Committee SAES-C-001
Issue Date: 21 June 2015
Next Planned Update: 21 June 2018 Process Design of Distillation Trays and Packing

Saudi Aramco Materials System Specifications

32-SAMSS-004 Manufacture of Pressure Vessels
32-SAMSS-020 Manufacture of Trays and Packing

Saudi Aramco Form and Data Sheet

9524-ENG Process Design Data Sheet for Distillation Trays
and Packing

4 Definitions

Data Sheet: General term referring to the document that specifies design criteria,
specifications and data for the distillation column and internals. These data sheets can
be from Saudi Aramco, Technology Provider, Design Engineer’s company, Tray
Manufacturer or Packing Manufacturer as applicable.

Design Engineer: The assigned representative of the Engineering Company

responsible for specifying on the data sheets the process and mechanical requirements
for trays and packing.

Packing Manufacturer: The company responsible for the detailed process design and
manufacture of packing in accordance with 32-SAMSS-020.

Saudi Aramco Engineer: General Supervisor of the Downstream Process Engineering

Division, Dhahran.

Technology Provider: The company responsible for providing specialized or

proprietary design and/or license for licensed process units.

Tray Assemblies and Systems: Components required for the complete tray
installation, including tray decks, downcomers, feed distributors, and tray hardware.

Tray Hardware: Components required for assembling tray sections and attaching tray
assemblies to a vessel, including clamps, nuts, bolts, washers, and gaskets.

Tray Manufacturer: The company responsible for the detailed process design and
manufacture of trays in accordance with 32-SAMSS-020.

5 Responsibilities

5.1 The Design Engineer is responsible for specifying all process design data
required for the design of trays and packing, verifying the validity, consistency
and completeness of data on the design data sheets, and verifying the process
designs of the Tray and Packing Manufacturers.

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Document Responsibility: Trays and Packing Process Design Standards Committee SAES-C-001
Issue Date: 21 June 2015
Next Planned Update: 21 June 2018 Process Design of Distillation Trays and Packing

5.2 The Tray Manufacturer is responsible for the process design, mechanical design,
and fabrication of tray systems.

5.3 The Packing Manufacturer is responsible for the process design and fabrication
of packing.

6 Tray Design

6.1 The following process data is required for the design of trays:
a) The Design Engineer shall provide the process and mechanical data specified
in 9524-ENG Tables 1, 3 and 4 to properly define the duty of the distillation
column. This data may be provided in the Design Engineer’s own format.
b) The Tray Manufacturer shall provide the process and mechanical data
specified in 9524-ENG Table 5 to properly define the performance of the
trays. This data may be provided in the Tray Manufacturer’s own format.
c) Tray Manufacturer shall also specify the correlations that were used in
their design (e.g., FRI, Glitsch Bulletin 13, proprietary correlations).

6.2 The minimum tray spacing for bubble cap trays shall be as follows:

Minimum Tray Spacing

Vessel Diameter
mm Inches
1.8 m and smaller 610 mm 24”
2.0 to 3.0 m 690 mm 27”
3.2 and larger 760 mm 30”

6.3 The minimum tray spacing for valve and sieve trays shall be as follows:

Minimum Under Tray Spacing

Vessel Diameter
mm Inches
1.8 m and smaller 450 mm 18”
1.9 m and larger 610 mm 24”

The minimum tray spacing of 450mm can be applied to columns with diameters
larger than 1.8 m if they have over 100 trays (like Superfractionators). It can
also be applied when substantial cost savings could be realized (columns with
less than 100 trays, manufactured by special materials like CS cladded or SS)
under the approval of Trays and Packing Process Design Standards Committee
Chairman in order to decrease overall column height.

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Document Responsibility: Trays and Packing Process Design Standards Committee SAES-C-001
Issue Date: 21 June 2015
Next Planned Update: 21 June 2018 Process Design of Distillation Trays and Packing

6.4 The minimum acceptable diameter for conventionally trayed vessels shall be
910 mm. Smaller diameters are acceptable for cartridge-type tray assemblies only.

6.6 The Tray Manufacturer's process design calculations shall be reviewed and
approved by the Design Engineer.

6.7 Fractionation internals designs shall conform to the following process design
specifications:
a) 85% maximum jet flood
b) 85% maximum downcomer choke

6.8 Where the service has a foaming tendency, the system factor used shall be
specified in the process design data. Unless specified in the Technology
Provider’s data sheet, the system factors in Table 1 shall be used:

Table 1 - System Factors for Foaming Systems

System / Column Service Factor
Amine Units (MEA, DEA, MDEA, TEA)
Absorbers 0.73
Regenerators 0.85
Glycol Dehydration
Contactors 0.70
Regenerators 0.80
Contactors in Glycol Synthesis (Manufacture of glycol) 0.65
Primary Absorbers (Light Ends)
Ambient Temp. 0.85
Refrigerated 0.80
Sponge Absorbers (FCC and Coker Units)
Ambient Temp. 0.80
Refrigerated 0.75
H2S Strippers (Naphtha, Gas Oil) 0.85
Top Section of Absorbing Demethanizer/Deethanizer (FCC gas plants) 0.85
Sour Water Strippers 0.60
Caustic Wash (Merox, Merichem)
Absorber 0.65
Regenerator 0.60
Hot Carbonate Processes (Ammonia plants)
Absorber 0.85
Regenerator 0.90
Furfural Fractionator (Extractive distillation using furfural) 0.85
Alcohol Synthesis Absorber 0.35
Asphalt Blowing, Absorber 0.40
Oil Reclaimer 0.70
Fluorine Systems 0.90

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Document Responsibility: Trays and Packing Process Design Standards Committee SAES-C-001
Issue Date: 21 June 2015
Next Planned Update: 21 June 2018 Process Design of Distillation Trays and Packing

7 Packing Design

7.1 The following process data is required for the design of packed sections:
a) The Design Engineer shall provide the process and mechanical data
specified in 9524-ENG Tables 2 and 4 to properly define the duty of the
distillation column. This data may be provided in the Design Engineer’s
own format.
b) The Packing Manufacturer shall provide the process and mechanical data
specified in 9524-ENG Table 6 to properly define the performance of the
packing. This data may be provided in the Packing Manufacturer’s own
format.
c) Packing Manufacturer shall also specify the correlations that were used in
their design (e.g., FRI, Glitsch Bulletin 13, proprietary correlations)

7.2 For the redistribution of liquid running down the shell of a vessel to the next
section of packing, a conical-shaped deflector shall be used, as a minimum.

8 Vessel, Tray and Packing Manufacturing

8.1 Vessels shall be mechanically designed in accordance with SAES-D-001.

8.2 Vessels shall be manufactured in accordance with the requirements of

32-SAMSS-004.

8.3 Trays and packing shall be manufactured and installed in accordance with the
requirements of 32-SAMSS-020.

9 Maintenance and Repairs

The maintenance and repair of tray assemblies, including replacement in-kind, shall be
in accordance with the original design modified by Technical Alerts, inspection history,
and industry practices. For assistance in the incorporation of these modifications
consult the Saudi Aramco Engineer.

Revision Summary
21 June 2015 Revised the Next Planned Update, reaffirmed the content of the document, and reissued as
major revision. SAES-C-001 and 32-SAMSS-020 were due to be revised (5 years since last
review) so we took the opportunity to make real improvements to the standards to make things
safer, cheaper, and decrease delivery schedules, decrease requests for waivers whilst
increasing Aramco’s technical understanding of the latest developments in this area.

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