CH4010 Assignment 5

B Prasad
CH11B015
October 27, 2014

1) Determination of Product Compositions and Minimum number of plates

A) Product Compositions
Assumption: Components lighter than light key are completely present in the distillate and the
components heavier than heavy key are completely present in the bottoms.
Subscripts a, b, and c correspond to n-hexane, n-heptane and n-octane respectively

Feed composition is given as

= 0.33,

=0.37 and

=0.3 .

Assumeing F = 100 mol/s.

Given, n-hexane in bottoms

= 0.01 and n-heptane in distillate is given as

=0.01.

We can concluded that the light key in this problem is n-hexane and the heavy key is n-heptane.
The distillate will not contain n-octane since it is heavier than heavy key. Therefore
=0.
The relation between compositions can be written as
+
Therefore, Distillate composition
= 0.99,
=0.01,
For this system, mass balance equations can be written as:
F = D + Boverall mass balance
F

=B

+D

.. n hexane species balqnce

+
=0.

=1 and

.= 1

Solving the system of equations by taking F = 100 mol/s and

mol/s and B = 67.35 mol/s

= 0.99,

=0.01 we get D = 32.65

n- octane is completely present in bottoms stream. Therefore, mole fraction of n-octane can be
computed as:

And, the composition of n-hexane can be obtained as:

= 0.545.

Product streams compositions are tabulated below.

Product stream Compositions (mole fraction)
Component
n-hexane
n-heptane
n-octane

Feed Composition
0.37
0.33
0.30

Distillate Composition
0.99
0.01
0

Bottoms Composition
0.010
0.545
0.445

Determination of Bubble point Temperature

In the vapor phase of Bottoms stream, the following equation can be written:
+

= 1.(1)

Assuming the vapor phase behaves as an ideal gas, the following relations can be used.
=

for i=a,b,c where

Here, Pi sat corresponds to saturation pressure of component i at the bubble point temperature. The
following correlation for the estimation of saturation pressure was given to us:
ln

) ((

))

Eq. 1 can be written as, (Ai xi + Bi xi1.5 +Ci xi3 + Di xi6 )

.
Using the above correlation for each species result in a non-linear equation in T. This equation can be
solved easily in a spreadsheet program such as excel.
Algorithm: It starts with an initial guess for T and then repeats the computation till the left hand side
value is equal to right hand. This procedure can be implanted by Goal seek command in excel. The
initial and final tables are shown below.

Computation of Bubble point temperature in Excel

Compon
ent
n-hexane

Ai

Bi

Ci

Di

Pci

T
Tci

387.2943*
xi
Psat

-7.46765

1.44211

-3.28222

-2.50941

30.1

507.5

0.236859

nheptane
n-octane

-7.67468

1.37068

-3.5362

-3.20243

27.4

540.3

0.283187

-7.91211

1.38007

-3.80345

-4.50132

24.9

568.8

0.319103

3.479434
358
1.572056
855
0.728857
483

P
Pc

1.2159
1.21590691
-6.9097E-06
*Initial Guess value must be entered in this block. After computation it gives the bubble point value.
Therefore, in this case, bubble point of the bottoms stream = 387.2943 K.
At the bubble point temperature, the relative volatility of n-hexane (LK) w.r.t n-heptane (HK) can be
obtained as

= 3.497/1.572=2.213

Similar analysis can be done at the distillate and its temperature can be evaluated. (Or) Since the
composition of n-heptane is very low (0.01 mole fraction), the boiling point of n-hexane can be taken as
the distillate temperature. The temperature of distillate was obtained as 348.043 K. At this temperature,
the relative volatility can be estimated:
=

= 1.223/0.479=2.553

Geometric mean of the relative volatilities at the Distillate and Bottoms temperature will be used for all
calculations: =
=2.377

Determination of Minimum Number of Ideal Plates at Infinite Reflux

Fenske correlation for minimum number of ideal plates at infinite reflux (or total reflux) is given below:
=

Taking log on both sides we get,

Log(

) =Nmin*log( )+log(

Nmin =

= 9.925 =10

( )

Therefore, minimum number of ideal stages required = 10 (at infinite reflux)

B) Computation of Minimum Reflux Ratio

Underwoods equations are as follows:

Since, feed is saturated liquid, value of q=1. Values of relative volatility are tabulated below. These
values are geometric mean of relative volatilities at bubble point of Feed, Distillate and Bottom. These
values are estimated w.r.t n-heptane (Heavy key).
Relative Volatilities w.r.t n-heptane (HK)
Component

at Feed Temp.

n-Hexane
n-heptane
n-octane

2.34692
1
0.43692

at Distillate
Temp.
2.213301
1
0.463633

at Bottom
Temp.
2.550391
1

Geometric mean
2.3662
1
0.4501

Geometric mean values will be used in Underwoods Equations. We have two equations and two
unknowns and Rmin. The two equations can be solved simultaneously to get minimum reflux ratio
value.
= 0 (since q=0)
= Rmin

On solving the equations, we get = 0.5567 or = 1.489. We seek a solution which is in between the
relative volatilities of LK and HK. Therefore, we will ignore = 0.5567 and consider = 1.489. Value of
reflux ratio corresponding to = 1.489 can be obtained by solving the second equation.

Rmin =

= 1.641

Therefore, minimum reflux ratio = 1.641

C) Number of stages and Feed Plate location

Number of Stages
Gilliland Correlation can be used to estimate the number of plates when reflux ratio, R = 1.1 Rmin.
Value of Reflux ratio, R = 1.1*1.614 = 1.8056
(

*(

(
(

) (
) (

) ([(

) (

)]

)+

Instead of using this correlation, number of plates can also be estimated from the graph below:
This graph was plotted between (N/N+1) = f(R/R+1).
First, the value of (R/R+1) will be calculated and using this value (Nestimated from the graph.
From the graph, the value of (N/N+1) corresponding to (RSince
=10 we found N=26.5 ~ 27

/N+1) will be

/R+1) was found to be 0.6.

Therefore, number of plates required when Reflux Ratio, R = 1.1 Rmin; N = 27.

Feed Plate Location

Kirkbrides equation can be used to determine the feed plate location. Kirkbride equation is as follows:
Where,

=*(

)(

) ( )+

Where, NR and NS correspond to number of plates in Rectifying section and Stripping section
respectively. The Relation between N, NR and NS is N = NR+NS(5)
=[(

)(

) (

)]

Substituting NR = 1.188 NS in equation (5). We get 2.188NS = 27 Ns =14.66

Therefore, feed must enter on 15th plate.

D): Distillation Sequence

Since there are three components, we can have a sequence of two distillation columns. Let A,B
and C denote n-hexane, n-heptane and n-octane respectively.
Heuristic 1: Plentiful component early
B is the plentiful component. However it cannot be seaprated in the first stage as it is neither the
lightest nor the heaviest component. So hence the next most plentiful component is separated
out. The separating sequence is shown below:
A|BCB|C
Heuristic 2: Difficult separation last
The volatilies of B and C are closer than that of A and B. So their separation is the most difficult
and hence is performed last. The separating sequence is shown below:
A|BCB|C
Heuristic 3: Marginal vapour flows of sequence
The direct sequence always has the least vapour flows. This is because component A is vapourized
only once. The separating sequence is shown below:
A|BCB|C