A typical column does not need to re-distribute irrigation fluid. This component is mostly for very high efficiency applications involved tall and narrow packed beds. A re-distributor may also be used in gases with low solubility.  Once the liquid has traveled 3-5 times the diameter of the column in the downward direction the fluid begins to make its way to the outer perimeter of the column and fails to reach critical sections of the packed bed. The re-distributor gathers the scrubbing fluid after a 1st stage section of packed bed and evenly dissipates it over a second stage of packed bed. This is generally only used when more than 8 transfer units are required. Typically only used when capture efficiency requirements exceeds 99.9%