Bed Limiters are situated directly over a packed bed to preven the movement or discharge of the packings. They are particularly necessary in such cases where packings can experience uplift due to high gas loading or sporadic pressure surges. In addition, they can be used to separate packing of different sizes to avoid mixing of different packings within the column.

Bed limiters are designed in such a way that they do not disturb the steady state of the liquid distribution. Depending on the model, bed limiters either sit directly on top of the packed bed or are mechanically attached to the vessel wall. It is also possible to hang them directly from the liquid distributor and /or redistributor. Additionally, bed limiter can be integrated into the design of the liquid distributor or redistributor.