ABSTRACT

The objective of this experiment was to study the function of unit operation condenser,
valve and separator. Also, the objective of the experiment is to separate the ammonia
and water. The result shows, in the vapour stream of the separator, there are 5.64
kmol/hr of ammonia and 1.29 kmol/hr of water with 0.81386 mole % of ammonia and
0.18614 mole % of water present. In the liquid stream, there were 22.99 kmol/hr of
ammonia and 109.98 kmol/hr of water with 0.17293 mole% of ammonia and 0.82707
mole % of water present. The vapour fraction for liquid stream is 0.00 and vapour
stream is 1.00. The separation of ammonia and water was successfully conducted.

INTRODUCTION
Separation process or separation technique is a method use to achieve any mass
transfer phenomena that convert a mixture of substance into two distinct mixture
products or a fraction. To carry out a separation process, the mixture must have different
in chemical or physical properties such as size, shape, mass density or chemical affinity,
between the constituent of a mixture.

Example of common separation process is

evaporation, crystallization and liquid-liquid extraction (LLE).

In this design, the condenser is used. Generally condenser is used to condense fluid
from its gaseous state to liquid by cooling it. Condenser are typically heat exchanger
which have various design and size from small range to large range that commonly
used in plant process. In this design also use valve and separator.
The condenser used in this design is the combination of cooler and separator. The
cooler is used to decrease the temperature and the separator is used to make sure the
vapour composition is 0.00 before proceeding further. Valve is used to reduce the
pressure before entering the separator. Separator is used to separate the ammonia and
water into two streams that is liquid streams and vapour streams.

OBJECTIVE
The objective of this experiment is to understand the usage of condenser, valve and
separation process.

THEORY
The composition of each species in separation process can be calculated when
the data of temperature and pressure of each streams is present. From the First Law of
Thermodynamic, it said that energy can neither be created nor destroyed but the energy
can be change into another form. Based on this statement, the equation below is
defined:
2

E Eout =

E
t

E Eout =0

E =Eout

hout + gz out +

v out 2
2

v
]= Qout +W out
2

Q +W

m[ h +gz +

In this system, the heat transfer into the condenser, potential energy and kinetic energy
and the work supply or work produced is neglected. Therefore the energy balance is
performed as below:
Q = hm hout mout

The energy balance is used to determine the outlet temperature of the condenser and
the valve. The temperature of the outlet is then used to find the saturated pressure and
the composition of the species in the system. Using the Antoine formula to find the
saturated pressure:
log 10 P sat
i ( mmHg ) =A

B
T ( C ) +C
3

Raoults law states that the vapor pressure of an ideal solution is independent on the
vapor pressure of each chemical component and the mole fraction of the component
present in the solution. By using this law, the composition of each species in the system
can be determined.
Composition For liquid phase:
PT = P1satx1 + P2satx2
PT=P1satx1 + P2sat (1-x1)
Composition for vapor phase:

1/PT = y1/P1satx1 + y2/P2x2

1/PT=y1/P1satx1 + (1-x1)/P2

METHODOLOGY
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Icon software was opened.

A new project was created to start the process design.
The fluid package Peng-Robinson was selected.
Components were added to the component list that is methanol and water.
Cooler icon from the tool box was selected at the right side of the interface to

remove the heat at 1700kW at 4536 kgmol/hr.

6. Stream 1, stream 2 and heat source was connected to the cooler.
7. The properties of water and methanol was filled to the streams as follow:

Temperature (oC)
Pressure (kPa)
Composition (methanol)
Composition(water )

143.6
1724
0.8 wt%
0.2 wt%

8. Horizontal icon was selected from the tool box and connected to the stream 2.
Stream 3 was inserted and connected to the condensed exit of the separator.

9. Valve was selected to reduce the pressure to 1034 kPa and connected to the
stream 3. Stream 4 was inserted and connected to the exit stream of the valve.
10. Vertical icon was selected to separate the product and connected to stream 4.
Stream 5 and stream 6 were selected and connected to the vertical separator.
11. The results were collected.

PROCES FLOW DIAGRAM (PFD)

Figure 6.1 : Process flow diagram of the process design.

Stream
1
Pressure, kPa 1724.00
Temperature,C 143.6
Flow rate,
4536

2
1724.00
137.5
4536

3
1724.00
137.5
139.90

4
1034.00
123.3
139.90

5
1034.00
123.3
132.97

6
1034.00
123.3
6.92

kgmol/h
Mass fraction 0.80884

0.80884

0.20466

0.20466

0.17293

0.81386

of ammonia
Mole fraction 0.19116

0.19116

0.79534

0.79534

0.82707

0.18614

of water
Table 6.1: Stream summary for process diagram.
RESULT
5

Streams Summary

Name

S1

S2

S3

S4

E-2.Out

V-2.Liq0

Vlv-1.Out

V-2.In

Vlv-1.In

V-1.In

Description
Upstream Op
Downstream Op

E-2.In
1.00

0.9691
6

0.00

0.0495

143.6

137.5

137.5

123.3

P [kPa]

1724.0
0

1724.0
0

1724.0
0

1034.0
0

MoleFlow/Comp
osition

Fractio
n

kmol/
h

Fractio
n

kmol/
h

Fractio
n

kmol
/h

Fractio
n

kmol
/h

AMMONIA

0.8088
4

3668.
91

0.8088
4

3668.
91

0.2046
6

28.6
3

0.2046
6

28.6
3

WATER

0.1911
6

867.0
9

0.1911
6

867.0
9

0.7953
4

111.
27

0.7953
4

111.
27

1.00

4536.
00

1.00

4536.
00

1.00

139.
90

1.00

139.
90

VapFrac
T [C]

Total
Mass Flow [kg/h]

78104.
46

78104.
46

2492.0
7

2492.0
7

Volume Flow
[m3/h]

8439.3
08

8040.3
14

2.976

23.678

Std Liq Volume

Flow [m3/h]

117.13
4

117.13
4

2.799

2.799

Std Gas Volume

Flow [Sm3/d]

2.579E
+6

2.579E
+6

7.954E
+4

7.954E
+4

1.555E
+7

8.830E
+5

8.830E
+5

Energy [W]

1.725E
+7

Name

S5

S6

V-1.Liq0

V-1.Vap

Description
Upstream Op
Downstream
H [kJ/kmol] Op
VapFrac
TS[C]
[kJ/kmol-K]

13691.
4
0.00

12342.
2
1.00

22721.
9

22721.
9

123.3
182.45
1
1034.00
17.22

123.3
179.18
6
1034.00
17.22

102.18
9

102.41
1

17.81

17.81

837.50
44

105.24
61

90.119

85.369

0.5313

0.5351

1.3760
E-4

1.5058
E-4

0.021

0.169

0.0128

0.0544

P [kPa]
MW
MoleFlow/Compo
sition
Mass Density
[kg/m3]

kmol
Fraction
9.2548 /h

AMMONIA
Cp [kJ/kmol-K]

0.17293
41.584

22.9
9 0.81386
43.115

5.64

Thermal
WATER
Conductivity
[W/m-K]

0.0399
0.82707

109. 0.0552
98 0.18614

1.29

Total
Viscosity [Pa-s]

1.00
1.4343
E-5
2372.86

Mass Flow [kg/h]

132.
97

kmol
Fraction
9.7141 /h

1.00
1.5511
E-5
119.20

Volume Flow
[m3/h]
Molar Volume
[m3/kmol]
Std Liq Volume
Flow
[m3/h]
Z Factor

2.619
0.9298

0.179
0.8991

Std Gas Volume

Flow [Sm3/d]

7.5603
E+4

3.9372
E+3

Energy [W]

9.083E
+5

2.537E
+4

H [kJ/kmol]

24592.0

13187.7

98.101

185.155

17.84

17.21

865.569
0

5.6934

Cp [kJ/kmol-K]

87.737

39.891

Thermal
Conductivity
[W/m-K]

0.5602

0.0365

Viscosity [Pa-s]

1.6526
E-4

1.3586
E-5

S [kJ/kmol-K]
MW
Mass Density
[kg/m3]

Molar Volume

2.741
1.861

6.92

20.937
1.773

DISCUSSION
1. What is the temperature of the outlet streams of the condenser?
The temperature of the outlet streams is 137.5 C. Initially the temperature of the
inlet streams is 143.6C. The data shown a correct value since the heat lost to the
surrounding by 1700kW.
2. What are the mole fraction for ammonia and water in vapour and liquid stream of
the separator?

Ammonia
Water

0.17293
0.82707

Ammonia
Water

0.81386
0.18614

Mole fraction for vapour stream (stream 6)

Mole fraction of liquid stream (stream 5)

Initially, the solutions have 0.8wt% of methanol and 0.2wt% of water flow into the
stream. The separator was added to separate the ammonia from the water to
increase the purity at the liquid stream. According to the data shown, at the liquid
outlet stream of the separator, shows that ammonia have 0.81386 mole fraction
compare to water only 0.18614. The separation of ammonia from water was
successful.

3. Determine the mass flow rate for each stream of the separator.
The mass flow rate for the vapour stream outlet of the separator is 119.20kg/hr
and for liquid outlet stream is 2372.86kg/hr.

The objective of this experiment was to separate water and ammonia in

separation process and understand the function of three unit operation that involves,
that are condenser, valve and separator. For each unit operation that involves, they
have their own function so that ammonia and water can be separated effectively.
Besides, Peng-Robinson fluid package was used in this design. A mixture that contain
80 wt% of ammonia and 20 wt% of water with temperature of 143.2 C and 1724 kPa
enter a cooler at 4536 kgmole/hr. Heat was release from the cooler at 1700 kW. The
temperature of the outlet of the cooler was 137.5 C. Leaving the cooler, stream 2, then
was connected to the separator. The outlet stream of the separator has temperature of
137.5 C and the vapour fraction is 0.00. The condenser is the combination of the cooler
and separator. The cooler was used to decrease the temperature and release heat
while separator was used to make use the vapour fraction was zero indicates that the
component is in liquid phase.
The stream that leaving the condenser was then connected to the valve. The
function of the valve was to decrease the pressure before the components enter the
separator. The pressure was decrease to 1034 kPa. When the pressure decreases, the
9

temperature also decrease to 123.3 C as the temperature is directly proportional to the

pressure. The liquid mixture leaving the valve is then enter the separator. In the
separator, vapour and liquid is separated from the mixture based on their saturated
pressure and temperature.
The streams leaving the separator consist of vapour stream and liquid stream. In
the vapour stream, there are 5.64 kmol/hr of ammonia and 1.29 kmol/hr of water with
0.81386 mole % of ammonia and 0.18614 mole % of water present. In the liquid stream,
there were 22.99 kmol/hr of ammonia and 109.98 kmol/hr of water with 0.17293 mole%
of ammonia and 0.82707 mole % of water present. The vapour fraction for liquid stream
is 0.00 and vapour stream is 1.00. The separation of ammonia and water was
successfully conducted.
The separation of ammonia and water will not be successful if the condenser use
is cooler only. The function of cooler and separator was discussed above. In order to get
vapour fraction of 1 before entering the last separator, the cooler and separator must be
used to completely remove the vapour fraction.

CONCLUSION
In this process, the separation of ammonia and water was successfully conducted and
the function of condenser, valve and separator was studied. The objective of this
experiment is achieved.

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