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metal packing is a critical component in tower internals, widely used in chemical, petrochemical, and environmental engineering for separations like distillation and absorption. To maximize its efficiency, surface treatment of metal packing has emerged as a key technique. This process modifies the packing’s surface properties to enhance mass transfer, reduce pressure drop, and extend service life.
Common surface treatment methods include coating, etching, and structuring. Coating with materials like Teflon or ceramics improves corrosion resistance and wettability, while chemical or plasma etching creates micro-roughness, increasing specific surface area by up to 30%. Structuring techniques, such as forming corrugated or honeycomb patterns, optimizes fluid distribution, further boosting separation efficiency.
Anodic oxidation is another effective approach, forming a porous oxide layer that enhances mechanical strength and catalytic activity. These treatments not only improve mass transfer efficiency but also reduce operational costs by minimizing fouling and prolonging packing replacement cycles.
In industrial applications, treated metal packing significantly improves tower performance, with pressure drop reduced by 15-25% and separation efficiency increased by 10-20% compared to untreated packing. As a result, it plays a vital role in upgrading existing tower internals and optimizing new separation systems.
