DISTILLATION DESIGN

STAGES VERSUS REFLUX

INCREASED REFLUX
FEWER TRAYS
LOWER INITIAL CAPITAL COST
HIGHER OPERATING COST
INCREASED NUMBER OF TRAYS
LOWER REFLUX
HIGHER INITIAL CAPITAL COST
LOWER OPERATING COST
EXAMPLE
START WITH
EQUILIBRIUM
DIAGRAM
DEFINE OPERATING
CONCENTRATIONS
DETERMINE FEED
CONDITIONS
CALCULATE R
dMIN





SELECT R
dDZN
= 2
y
0
= 0.3
LOCATE STRIPPING
OPERATING LINE
CALCULATE
STAGES
ACETONE(1)/BENZENE(2) COLUMN
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0.9
1
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
X ACETONE)
Y
(
A
C
E
T
O
N
E
)
x
B
x
F
x
D
02 . 1
1
1
0
0
=
=
+
=
dMIN
D
dMIN
dMIN
D
R
y
x
R
R
x
y
PROCESS IMPACTS
REFLUX
R
dMIN
REQUIRES INFINITE STAGES
INCREASES REFLUX INCREASESS THE
DRIVING FORCE
REDUCES THE NUMBER OF STAGES
NUMBER OF STAGES
N
MIN
REQUIRES TOTAL REFLUX
ADDING STAGES REDUCES NECESSARY
DRIVING FORCE

STAGE VS. REFLUX RELATIONSHIP
RUNNING A SERIES OF CHECKS FOR NUMBER OF
STAGES VS. REFLUX YIELDS
ERBAR-MADDOX CHART GILLILAND CHART
PERRYS FIGURE 13-41
STAGE VS. REFLUX RELATIONSHIP
CORRELATION FOR GILLILAND BY
MOLOKANOV:
1
1
2 . 117 11
4 . 54 1
exp 1
1
5 . 0
+

= +
(

|
.
|

\
|
+
+
|
.
|

\
|
+ +
+ +
=
+

R
R R
N
N N
MIN
MIN
http://www.hyper-tvt.ethz.ch/gif/gilliland2.gif
Molokanov, International Chemical
Engineering, 12(2), 209, 1972
COLUMN ENTHALPY BALANCES
CONTROL VOLUMES
FOR COLUMNS
TOP OF COLUMN
OVERALL

CONDENSER



SENSIBLE HEAT
EFFECTS ARE A FACTOR
McCabe, Smith & Harriott, Unit Operations of
Chemical Engineering, 4
th
Ed., 1985, p 479.
D n n c n n
Dh h L q H V + = +
+ + 1 1
)] * ( )[ (
*)] ( [
0
1
D Pl
c Pv D a
T T c D L
q T T c V
+
= + +
COLUMN ENTHALPY BALANCES
BOTTOM OF COLUMN
OVERALL

REBOILER

OVERALL FOR COLUMN
1 1 + +
+ = +
m m B r m m
H V Bh q h L
b b r
V q =
B D LOSSES r c F
Bh Dh q q q Fh + = + + +
TRAY DESIGN FACTORS
EFFICIENCY IS APPROACH
TO EQUILIBRIUM
OVERALL
APPLIES FOR CONSTANT
DRIVING FORCE
MURPHREE

BASED ON LOCAL DRIVING
FORCES
PROVIDES MORE ACCURATE
STAGE COUNT
LOCAL
CONSIDERS VARIATIONS AT
LOCATION ON TRAY
IDEAL
ACTUAL
OVER
N
N
= q
) 2 5 . 11 (
1
*
1

=
+
+
n n
n n
M
y y
y y
q
http://www.hyper-tvt.ethz.ch/gif/tray_efficiency.gif
APPLICATION OF
M
USING MURPHREE EFFICIENCY RESULTS IN AN
EFFECTIVE EQUILIBRIUM LINE
STAGES IN PACKED COLUMNS
HETP = HEIGHT OF THEORETICAL PLATE
TOTAL PACKED HEIGHT




HETP DEPENDS ON
TYPE OF PACKING
HYDRODYNAMICS
|
|
.
|

\
|

= =
V L
m
V L
m
HETP HTU z NTU HTU z
OG OG OG
ln
1
HETP DATA
PACKING VENDORS PROVIDE DATA FOR
ESTIMATES OF HETP
VALUES ARE SPECIFIC
TO MEASURED
SYSTEMS
CAN SHOW
FLOODING LIMITS



http://www.jaeger.com/Brochure/500.pdf
OTHER HETP VALUES
HETP COMPARISON
INDUSTRIAL COLUMNS
5 100 PLATES
LARGE DIAMETERS
CHROMATOGRAPHIC COLUMNS
1000 100,000 PLATES
SMALL DIAMETERS AND CAN BE AFFECTED BY FLOW RATES
http://www.chem.usu.edu/~sbialko
w/Classes/361/GC/GC.html
D. C. Harris Quantitative
Chemical Analysis 4th Ed., W. H.
Freeman and Company, New
York 1995 Chapters 22 and 23.
HETP CORRELATIONS
GENERAL CORRELATIONS FROM TEXT
SECTION 11.5E:
f t f t f t a f t HETP
m m m a m HETP
STRUCTURED
f t in d f t HETP
m mm d m HETP
VACUUM RANDOM
in d f t HETP
mm d m HETP
RANDOM
P
P
P
P
33 . 0 ) / ( / 100 ) (
10 . 0 ) / ( / 100 ) (
) 13 5 . 11 ( :
5 . 0 ) ( 5 . 1 ) (
15 . 0 ) ( 018 . 0 ) (
) 12 5 . 11 ( :
) ( 5 . 1 ) (
) ( 018 . 0 ) (
) 11 5 . 11 ( :
3 2
3 2
+ =
+ =

+ =
+ =

=
=

STABLE (EFFICIENT) OPERATION
STABILITY EXISTS
BETWEEN FLOODING
AND WEEPING
FLOODING IS THE
UPPER LIMIT FOR
FLUXES
BASED ON EXCESS P
NORMALLY GAS
PHASE CONTROL
ENTRAINMENT CAN
LIMIT EFFICIENCY
http://texasiof.ces.utexas.edu/PDF/
Presentations/Mar3_05/srp%20dzya
cky%20finite%20reflux.pdf
PACKED COLUMN STABLITY
HETP VALUES CHANGE WITH
HYDRODYNAMICS
Douglas L. Bennett and Kenneth W. Kovak, Optimize Distillation
Columns, Chemical Engineering Progress, May 2000
STABLE OPERATING RANGES
CAN BE EXPRESSED IN TERMS OF P
DESIGN FLUX
FLOODING RESTRICTIONS FOR TRAY COLUMNS


VALUES ARE BASED ON ENTRAINMENT
OTHER LIMITS FROM WEEPING MUST BE
DETERMINED THROUGH NORMAL OPERATION
CAN USE RECYCLE TO RUN AT MINIMUM FLUX AT
A PRICE.
SIEVE TRAYS HAVE NARROW RANGE OF OPERATION
CAP AND VALVE TRAYS CAN OPERATE AT LOWER
TURNDOWN RATIOS
VALVES HAVE LESS OPEN AREA WITH REDUCED GAS
FLUX


) 14 . 5 . 11 (
20
v
2 . 0

o
v l
v MAX
K v

|
.
|

\
|
=
FOAMING IMPACTS
FOAMING CAN ALSO
IMPACT STABILITY
DIFFICULT TO
PREDICT
A CHALLENGE TO
ELIMINATE
LESS OF A PROBLEM
WITH PACKED BEDS

http://www.bp.com/sectiongenericarticle.do?c
ategoryId=4005991&contentId=7010506
http://www.cheresources.com/distgroupnewsone.pdf
MULTIPLE FEEDS/DRAW-OFFS
INTERNAL COLUMN
FLOWS CHANGE
DUE TO -
FEEDS
DRAW-OFFS
HEAT EXCHANGES
PERRYS 7
th
, SECTION 13, P. 13-94
MODIFIED McCABE DIAGRAM
OPERATING LINES CHANGE FOR EACH
SECTION
ACETONE(1)/BENZENE(2) COLUMN
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0.9
1
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
X ACETONE)
Y
(
A
C
E
T
O
N
E
)