Plate tower is perferred, if interstage cooling is required to remove heats of reaction or solution
The total weight of a dry plate tower is usually much more than that of a dry packed tower designed for the same duty
Plate tower is preferred over packed tower, if the operation involves liquids containing dispersed solids
In operations involving large temperature changes. (e.g. distillation), plate towers are preferred over packed towers as the packing may be crushed due to large temperature changes
Minimum tube sheet thickness (in which tubes are fixed) is equal to the O.D. of the tube upto 15 mm tube diameter; and for > 15 mm tube diameter, tube sheet thickness is smaller than tube diameter
All of these
O.D. of the tube is 6 to 40 mm while the tube lengths used are 0.5, 2.5, 3.0, 4.0, 5.0, 6 metres
Minimum cleaning lane of 6.5 mm is provided, when tubes are on a square pitch