5/30/2017 DistillationColumnDesign

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anintroduction
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Introduction DISTILLATIONCOLUMNDESIGN
TypesofColumns
Asmentioned,distillationcolumnsaredesignedusingVLEdataforthemixturestobe
BasicEquipment [Link](indicatedbytheshapeofthe
andOperation equilibriumcurve)ofthemixturewilldeterminethenumberofstages,andhencethe
ColumnInternals numberoftrays,[Link]
McCabeThielemethodtodesignabinarycolumn.
Reboilers
Distillation McCABETHIELEDESIGNMETHOD
Principles
TheMcCabeThieleapproachisagraphicalone,andusestheVLEplottodetermine
VapourLiquid thetheoreticalnumberofstagesrequiredtoeffecttheseparationofabinarymixture.
Equilibria Itassumesconstantmolaroverflowandthisimpliesthat:
Distillation molalheatsofvaporisationofthecomponentsareroughlythesame
ColumnDesign
Effectsofthe heateffects(heatsofsolution,heatlossestoandfromcolumn,etc.)are
NumberofTrays negligible
orStages
foreverymoleofvapourcondensed,1moleofliquidisvaporised
FactorsAffecting
Operation [Link],
Crossword operatinglinesaredrawnfirst.

OtherResources Operatinglinesdefinethemassbalancerelationshipsbetweentheliquidand
vapourphasesinthecolumn.
Copyright
Information Thereisoneoperatinglineforthebottom(stripping)sectionofthecolumn,and
onforthetop(rectificationorenriching)sectionofthecolumn.
Useoftheconstantmolaroverflowassumptionalsoensuresthetheoperating
linesarestraightlines.
OperatingLinefortheRectificationSection

[Link]
desiredtopproductcompositionislocatedontheVLEdiagram,andavertical
lineproduceduntilitintersectsthediagonallinethatsplitstheVLEplotinhalf.
AlinewithslopeR/(R+1)isthendrawnfromthisinstersectionpointasshownin
thediagrambelow.

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Ristheratioofrefluxflow(L)todistillateflow(D)andiscalledtherefluxratio
andisameasureofhowmuchofthematerialgoingupthetopofthecolumnis
returnedbacktothecolumnasreflux.

OperatingLinefortheStrippingSection
Theoperatinglineforthestrippingsectionisconstructedinasimilarmanner.
However,thestartingpointisthedesiredbottomproductcomposition.A
verticallineisdrawnfromthispointtothediagonalline,andalineofslope
Ls/Vsisdrawnasillustratedinthediagrambelow.

Lsistheliquidratedownthestrippingsectionofthecolumn,whileVsisthe
[Link]
operatinglineforthestrippingsectionisaratiobetweentheliquidandvapour
flowsinthatpartofthecolumn.

EquilibriumandOperatingLines
TheMcCabeThielemethodassumesthattheliquidonatrayandthevapour
[Link]
linesisdepictedgraphicallyinthediagramontheright.

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Amagnifiedsectionoftheoperatinglineforthestrippingsectionisshownin
relationtothecorrespondingn'thstageinthecolumn.L'saretheliquidflows
whileV'[Link]
[Link]'n1'
willmeanfromthestagebelowstage'n'while'n+1'willmeanfromthe
stageabovestage'n'.Theliquidinstage'n'andthevapouraboveitarein
equilibrium,therefore,[Link]
carriedtothetrayabovewithoutchangingcomposition,thisisdepictedasa
[Link]
thecompositionoftheliquidontray'n+1'astheoperatinglinedefinesthe
[Link]'n+1'
trayisobtainedfromtheintersectionoftheverticallinefromthispointtothe
equilibriumline.

NumberofStagesandTrays
Doingthegraphicalconstructionrepeatedlywillgiverisetoanumberof'corner'
sections,[Link]
thebasisofsizingdistillationcolumnsusingtheMcCabeThielegraphicaldesign
methodologyasshowninthefollowingexample.

Giventheoperatinglinesforboth
strippingandrectificationsections,
thegraphicalconstructiondescribed
[Link]
exampleshowsthat7theoretical
stagesarerequiredtoachievethe
[Link]
numberoftrays(asopposedto
stages)isonelessthanthenumber
ofstagessincethegraphical
constructionincludesthecontribution
ofthereboilerincarryingoutthe
separation.

Theactualnumberoftraysrequiredisgivenbytheformula:

(numberoftheoreticaltrays)/(trayefficiency)

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Typicalvaluesfortrayefficiency
rangesfrom0.5to0.7anddepends
onanumberoffactors,suchasthe
typeoftraysbeingused,and
internalliquidandvapourflow
[Link],additional
traysareadded(upto10%)to
accomodatethepossibilitythatthe
columnmaybeunderdesigned.

TheFeedLine(qline)
Thediagramabovealsoshowsthatthebinaryfeedshouldbeintroducedatthe
4'[Link],ifthefeedcompositionissuchthatitdoesnotcoincide
withtheintersectionoftheoperatinglines,thismeansthatthefeedisnota
[Link]
[Link]
operatinglines,andwherethefeedcompositionliesonthediagonalline.

Dependingonthestateofthefeed,
thefeedlineswillhavedifferent
[Link],

q=0(saturatedvapour)
q=1(saturatedliquid)
0<q<1(mixofliquidandvapour)
q>1(subcooledliquid)
q<0(superheatedvapour)

Theqlinesforthevariousfeed
conditionsareshowninthediagram
ontheleft.

UsingOperatingLinesandtheFeedLineinMcCabeThieleDesign

Ifwehaveinformationabouttheconditionofthefeedmixture,thenwecan
[Link],excluding
theequilibriumline,onlytwootherpairsoflinescanbeusedintheMcCabe
[Link]:

feedlineandrectificationsectionoperatingline
feedlineandstrippingsectionoperatingline
strippingandrectificationoperatinglines

Thisisbecausethesepairsoflinesdeterminethethird.

[seeFlashtutorialonDistillationBasicswrittenbyJonLee]
OVERALLCOLUMNDESIGN
Determiningthenumberofstagesrequiredforthedesireddegreeofseparationand
thelocationofthefeedtrayismerelythefirststepsinproducinganoverall

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[Link]
[Link]
[Link],distillationcolumndesignisoftenan
[Link],thenthe
[Link]
thatcanaffectdistillationcolumnperformance.

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