In the second volume brought out by the Gulf Publishing Company, Houston, Texas (1964), Ludwig deals with the chemical and
mechanical design aspects of
Distillation and Absorption in Plate and Packed columns. This volume has two sections - Distillation and Packed Towers. The section dealing with Distillation has three parts - Distillation Process Performance , Hydrocarbon Absorption and Stripping , and
mechanical Designs for Performance. It has an appendix containing a lot of useful data.
The section on Distillation covers both Constant Molal Overflow and Unequal Molal Overflow. Stagewise calculations for Multicomponent distillation are exemplified and an example on digital computer worked out. Practical data have been incorporated to make the volume truly useful. However, a section on vapor pressure estimation would have increased the value of this volume. Similarly , such a masterpiece ignores the treatment of azeotropic distillation The Edmister method detailed in the part dealing with Absorption is quite elaborate. The best parts , however, are the ones pertaining to Mechanical Design and details of Packed Towers. Bubble cap design covers both Bolles method and Dauphine method for a rigorous estimation of the total pressure drop through a tray. The finer aspects of slot design on bubble caps are very educative in that equations are given both for rectangular and trapezoidal slots.
The various types of packings are pictorially shown alongwith the specifications. The text covers approximations to be used for HETP and HTU in design calculations. Cooling tower design is also dealt with abundantly.
While normal textbooks mainly cover the theoretical aspects of a process, a book such as the one under review is essential for detailed engineering and design. Even troubleshooting in operational plants can be taken up with this volume as a guide in so far as distillation and absorption are concerned. One can consider this volume as very insightful and truly a masterpiece from a master !