theoretical plate


theoretical plate

[‚thē·ə′red·ə·kəl ′plāt] (chemical engineering) A distillation column plate or tray that produces perfect distillation (that is, produces the same difference in composition as that existing between a liquid mixture and the vapor in equilibrium with it); the packed-column equivalent of a theoretical plate is the HETP, or height (of packing) equivalent to a theoretical plate.