Distillation Column Design
:Designing The Distillation Column first we need to make some assumptions
1- R=R min∗1.5
2- efficiency is 60%
3-Constant Molar Overflow (CMO)
4-0.6 tray spacing is used
:Here is the equilibrium data table
T (K) Pvap(A) Pvap(B) x y α (alpha)
337.7 0.94578 0.2451475 1 1 —
4
341.7 1.10497 0.2926541 0.870774 0.9621816 3.775694
2
345.7 1.28579 0.3477211 0.695337 0.8940623 3.697783
7
349.7 1.49046 0.4112798 0.545524 0.8130824 3.623961
2
353.7 1.723114 0.4843403 0.416872 0.7175676 3.553935
357.7 1.98084 0.5679363 0.305770 0.6056819 3.487434
0
361.7 2.27167 0.6634146 0.209285 0.4754285 3.422416
5
365.7 2.59650 0.7718642 0.125024 0.3243676 3.364057
5
369.7 2.95582 0.8946921 0.051025 0.1509600 3.306752
4
373.0 3.28714 1.0078671 0 0 —
9
Equations used in the table above are as follows:
1-1. Relative Volatility
α = [ y × (1 - x) ] / [ x × (1 - y) ]
Where:
- x: Mole fraction of component A in liquid
- y: Mole fraction of component A in vapor
- α: Relative volatility of A to B
2. Raoult’s Law
yᵢ × P = xᵢ × Pᵢˢᵃᵗ → yᵢ = (xᵢ × Pᵢˢᵃᵗ) / P
Where:
- yᵢ: Mole fraction of component i in vapor
- xᵢ: Mole fraction of component i in liquid
- Pᵢˢᵃᵗ: Vapor pressure of i at temperature T
- P: Total pressure
3. Antoine Equation
log₁₀(Pˢᵃᵗ) = A - [ B / (C + T) ]
Where:
- Pˢᵃᵗ: Vapor pressure (bar)
- T: Temperature (°K)
- A, B, C: Antoine constants
Component A B C
Methanol 5.1585 1569.61 34.846-
3
Water 5.0835 1663.13 45.622-
4
Distillation Stream Summary and Component
Balance
1. Stream Composition Table
Compone Feed xF Distillate xD Bottoms xW
nt (kmol/h) (kmol/h) (kmol/h)
MeOH 3132.00 0.85561 2944.08 0.98934 187.920 0.27444
0 3 0 3
H₂O 528.532 0.14438 31.7119 0.01065 496.820 0.72556
7 7 4
Total 3660.53 1 2975.79 1 684.740 1
2 19 4
2. Formulas Used
Mole fractions (xF, xD, xW) are calculated using:
Fi
1- xF=
Ft
Wi
2- xW =
Wt
Di
3- xD=
Dt
T-xy Diagram:
380
370
360
350
340
330
320
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2
xy Diagram:
x-y diagram
1
0.9
0.8
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
05 .1line
The0Blue 2 2 5 .3 3 5 .4 4 5 .5 5 5 .6 6 5 .7 7 5 .8 8 5 .9 9 5 1
15 .is the equilibrium curve and the orange is the operating line
0. 0 0. 0 0. 0 0. 0 0. 0 0. 0 0. 0 0. 0 0. 0 0.
which goes through (1,0) to (1,0).
Identifying T bubble and T dew
We either can draw a line in the txy diagram and see from feed composition
where the
bubble point or the dew point are or we can use interpolation in the tables to
calculate it.
Variable Point 1 Point 2
y₁ 341.7 345.7
x 0.855613 0.855613
x₁ 0.870774 0.894062
x₂ 0.695337 0.813083
y₂ 345.7 349.7
Tb(°K) and Td(°K) 342.0457 347.5992
Tb(°C) and Td(°C) 68.89567 74.44921
q-feed
from the T Feed =38°C we can see that it is in the subcooled region from the txy
and verifying is looking at T bubble > T Feed , with this we can say that q >1.
Now we need to calculate q
Property Value
Feed T (K) 311.15
λ mix (kJ/kg) 1267.05
5
C p w (kJ/kg·K) 4.18
C pm (kJ/kg·K) 2.53
C pmix (kJ/kg·K) 2.76823
8
q 1.0675
Here is the formulas used for each property:
1- λ mix=λ w∗x F w + λm∗x F m
2-C pmix =C p w∗x F w +C pm∗x F m
C pmix∗( T b−T f )
3-q=1+
λmix
After getting q >1 we can verify that our answer is good because it is in the
subcooled region.
Mccabe and Thiele method to find number of stages:
Opreating line equations are :
1-Rectifying Operating Line
R xD
y= ∗x +
R+1 R +1
2- Strpping Opreating Line
V B+ 1 xW
y= ∗x+
VB VB
3-Feed Opreating Line
q xF
y= ∗x +
q−1 q−1
Rmin Calculation:
Drawing the Rectifying operating line and feed operating line at the pinch
point to find the intercept of the Rectifying operating line equation:
xD
=0.735
R min +1
solving the equation for Rmin:
Rmin =0.346
To find R we assume:
R=R min∗1.5
R=0.519
Number of stages:
Using mccabe and thiele method in the graph we get N th =9
N th
N act =
e%
e%: is the efficiency
Nact =15
Column Height:
Number of tray spacing=N +1=16
Column Height=Number of tray spacing∗Tray spacing=9.6
Tower Diameter:
F LV =
ṁL
ṁV √ ρV
ρL
ṁ L=mass flow rate for liquid
ṁv =mass flow rate for vapour
ρV =density for vapour
ρ L=density for liquid
Property MeOH Water Unit
Liquid Density 766.5 977.8 kg/m³
Vapor Density 1.4 0.42 kg/m³
Molecular Weight 32.04 18.015 kg/kmol
Surface Tension 21.2 62.6 dyne/cm
Rectifying section:
LTop= ( D × R )=¿ 1544.436 kmol/h = 13.74548 kg/s
V Top =D ( R+ 1 )=¿4520.2279 kmol/h= 40.23003 kg/s
Stripping Section:
LBottom=LTop + ( F ×q )=¿5452.05487 kmol/h=27.28299 kg/s
V Bottom=V Top + F × (1−q )=¿4767.31477 kmol/h =23.85644 kg/s
F LV =
ṁL
ṁV √ ρV
ρL
F LV ( Top )=¿0.01460217
F LV ( Bottom )=¿ 0.02370206
:From this graph we can get Souder and brown flooding capacity factor
K1(Top)= 0.11
K1(Bottom)= 0.12
Correlation For K:
( )
0.2
21.2
K 1 ( Top ) =0.11 =0.111
20
( )
0.2
62.6
K 1 ( Bottom )=0.12 =¿0.151
20
Flooding Velocity:
u f (Top ) =0 .111
√ 766.5−1.4
1.4
=2.6
m
s
u f ( Bottom )=0.151
√ 977.8−0.42
0.42
=7.273
m
s
80% of the flooding velocity is used , therefore :
un ( top )=0.8∗2.6=2.08 m/s
un ( bottom )=0.8∗7.273=5.818 m/ s
:Calculating the net area
ṁv(Top) 40.23
A(Top)= = =13.806 m2
( ρV ∗u n) Top 1.4∗2.081
ṁv(Bottom ) 23.856
A(Bottom)= = =9.763 m2
( ρV ∗un ) bottom 0.42∗5.818
For the downcomer are, 20% is taken from the total area:
13.8067 2
Area ( Top )= =17.258 m
0.80
9.763 2
Area ( Bottom )= =12.2 m
0.8
Column diameter:
D=
√ 4× A
π
D(Top )=
√ 4 × 17.258
π
=4.688 m
D(Bottom)=
√ 4 × 12.2
π
=3.942 m
The largest diameter will be chosen, so the distillation column will be 4.688m.