Okuzeka
Chemical Engineering vocabulary · Mass Transfer and Separation Processes

Tray

Meaning in chemical engineering, with examples

/treɪ/nounCommon term

In chemical engineering, tray means: A horizontal plate inside a distillation or absorption column where rising vapor bubbles through the liquid flowing across it, so the two phases exchange components.

In Turkish: tepsi, raf, kademe

How it is used

Used when talking about column internals, design and troubleshooting. Common types are sieve, valve and bubble-cap trays. Engineers count trays from the top or bottom, talk about tray efficiency and flooding, and specify the feed tray. The alternative is packing.

Example sentences

  1. The feed enters on tray 18, counting from the top.

  2. Gamma scanning showed that two trays had collapsed during the last upset.

Common collocations

  • sieve tray
  • valve tray
  • tray efficiency
  • feed tray
  • tray flooding
  • distillationA way of separating a liquid mixture by boiling it and condensing the vapor, using the fact that the components boil at different temperatures.
  • reflux ratioIn distillation, the amount of condensed liquid sent back to the top of the column divided by the amount taken off as product (L/D).
  • mass transferThe movement of a component from one place or phase to another because of a difference in concentration, for example from a gas into a liquid or from a liquid into a solid.
  • absorptionA separation method in which one or more components of a gas dissolve into a liquid, for example CO2 being removed from gas by an amine solution.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Mass Transfer and Separation Processes

Practise with graded reading

Reading at the right level is the fastest way to make new words stick. Pick free English books by level: