The PDA-2 High Power Distillation Column, looking deceptively simple here without its insulation jacket, was a natural development from
the Classic PDA-1, which was the first really small-scale distillation column that ensured production of absolutely pure vodka, yet with the ability to be de-tuned to produce flavored spirits. Many commercial distillation
companies had bought the PDA-1 to enable them to conduct economical laboratory testing of their products. It therefore wasn't long before we started to get requests for a higher powered column that had the same characteristics.
Existing production equipment they had just didn't match the PDA-1 for efficiency, and the commercial advantages of a larger still that produced the same high quality were obvious.
Investment in new production equipment had
always been very expensive, so upgrading had naturally been undertaken with caution and only after exhaustive cost-benefit analysis. The PDA-2 changed all that. Here was a distillation column that not only gave reliable, high
quality output, but it was relatively inexpensive.
The PDA-2 also enabled growth to be planned and controlled. A modular concept had guided its design, so instead of heavy investment in one very large distillation column, growth
could be controlled by adding more PDA-2 columns to the same boiler as demand increased.
Naturally, this modular concept also delivered maintenance benefits, in that individual columns could be removed for servicing, cleaning,
etc. without interrupting production. But the greatest advantage lay in versatility, for the same columns could be used to produce either pure vodka or flavored spirits, and with no change to their configuration other than
adjustment of a single control valve.