Basic Tray Model

Stage j-1

vji lji-1
Vj H j Lj-1hj-1

Stage j

vji+1
Vj+1Hj+1 lji
L jh j

Stage j-1

vji lji-1
VjHj Lj-1hj-1

Stage j

vji+1
Vj-1Hj-1 lji
L jh j

Stage f-1
vFi vfi + vFi lf-1i
FfXFi Lf-1hf-1
FfHF
lFi
vfi lf-1i + lFi
VfHf
Stage f

vf+1i lfi
Vf+1Hf+1 Lf hf

Stage p-1

vpi lp-1i
VpHp Lp-1hp-1

Stage p
lpi + wpi
vp+1i
Vp+1Hp+1 lpi wpi
L ph p W p hp

1
 Basic Equations

• Material balances, component and total.

vij+1 + lij-1 - vij - lij = 0

• Equilibrium equations.
yij = Kij xij

• Summation or composition constraints.

C C
Σ yij+1 and Σ xij-1

i=1 i=1

• Heat or energy balances.

Vj+1Hj+1 + Lj-1hj-1 - VjHj - Ljhj = 0

A rigorous method describes a column as a group of equations and is the

mathematical engine to solve and satisfy these equations to calculate the operating
conditions of the column.
Column design and performance calculations present the column at steady state;
that is what enters the column matches with what exits (material and energy
balances), i.e.:
Σ (molar feed flow rates) = Σ (molar product flow rates)
Σ (mass feed flow rates) = Σ (mass product flow rates)
Σ (moles of any component in the feeds) = Σ (moles of the component in the
products)
Feeds enthalpy + Heat added = Products enthalpy + Heat removed

The enthalpy terms, Hj and hj, are molar enthalpies of the vapor and liquid leaving
the stage, respectively. These molar enthalpies are multiplied by the total flow
rates, Vj and Lj, leaving the stage to give the total energy leaving the stage in each
phase.

2
 Basic Variables

Design variables
• Stage temperatures, Tj's.
• Total vapor and liquid rates, Vj's and Lj's.
• Stage compositions, yji's and xji's.

Basic thermodynamic parameters

• Kji = Kji( Tj, Pj, xji, yji )
• Hj = Hj( Tj, Pj, yji )
• hj = hj( Tj, Pj, xji )

The independent variables of a column are the product rates and compositions,
internal vapor and liquid rates and compositions, and stage temperatures. Equilibrium
constants, K-values, and mixture enthalpies are dependent variables.
The MESH equations form a large system of interrelated, non-linear, algebraic
equations. The number of equations and variables are at least N(c+2) (N=number of
stages, c=number of components).
The mathematical method used to solve all or part of these equations as a group is the
Newton-Raphson method.
The Newton-Raphson is an approximation technique. It assumes in the derivatives
that the MESH equations are linear over short distances and the slopes will point
toward the answers. The MESH equations can be far from linear and the predictions
can take the next trial well off the curves, and move away from the solution. Much of
this is due to the thermodynamic methods or equation of state used to get the K-values
and enthalpies.
With a large number of stages or components, the number of equations can be quite
large. A few bad actor components can upset the works.

3
 Inside-Out Method

K-values
• ln Kbj = Aj + Bj ( 1 / Tj - 1 / T* )
• αji = Kji(actual) / KbjRef
• ln γ*ij = aij + bij xij
• Kji(simple) = Kbj αji γ*ij
Enthalpies
• Hj = Hoj + ∆HVj
• hj = hoj + ∆HLj
• ∆HVj = Cj - Dj ( Tj - T* )
• ∆HLj = Ej - Fj ( Tj - T* )

The Inside-Out algorithm has become one of the most popular methods because of its
robustness and its ability to solve a wide variety of columns. The Inside-Out concept was
developed by Boston (1980). Russell (1983) presented an Inside-Out method that works well
for many refinery fractionators. The Inside-Out methods are now the methods of choice for
mainstream column simulation and have displaced other methods.
In older methods, the MESH variables of temperatures, total flow rates and component flow
rates are the primary solution variables and are used to generate the K-values and enthalpies
from complex correlations. These methods update the MESH variables in an outer loop with
the K-values and enthalpies updated whenever the MESH variables change. The inside-out
concept reverses this by using the complex K-value and enthalpy correlations to generate
parameters for simple K-value and enthalpy models. These parameters are unique for each
stage and become the variables for the outside loop. These αij's, Aj's, Bj's, aij's, bij's, Cj's, Dj's,
Ej's and Fj's, are updated after each inside loop solution using the latest temperatures and
compositions from the inside loop. The inside loop consists of the MESH equations and is a
variation on other methods. In every step through the outside loop, the simple models are
updated using MESH variables from the inside loop. This sets up the next pass through the
inside loop. Since the K-values and enthalpies are simple, the inside loop works well for a
wide range of mixtures and is little affected by the non-ideality of mixtures or the quality of
initial values.