Currently distillation is the most commonly used separation/purification technique in many industrial applications. Irrespective of its higher energy consumption and limited separation efficiency, distillation remains the first choice of process engineer. Therefore the study of distillation column has unparalleled importance in process design. This study comprises of column internals like trays and packing’s. The paper rigorously reviewed the literature published on current operational phenomena and economic feasibilities of trays in distillation columns. The operational features of the column like pressure drop, energy consumption, liquid holdup etc are discussed in brief. The assessment of column based on the challenges in operation like weeping, foaming, entrainment etc is carried out individually. Moreover the collective economical footprint of these problems on the operational performance of whole bioethanol plant is discussed critically. This paper summarizes the operational and economic analysis of state-of-the art column trays. The matrices includes sieve tray, valve tray and bubble cap tray. In most of the cases industrial results are unavailable. Further, the research in this field is too limited to be of value for industrial application.