Equipment Design and

Costs for Separating

Homogeneous Mixtures

1. Distillation

Design Procedures for Columns with

Sieve Trays
Designation of design bases
Composition and physical properties of feed and
product
Special limitations: maximum temperature and pressure
drop restrictions, presence of reactive materials or toxic
components etc
Selection of design variables: operating pressure,

reflux ratio, feed condition

Establishment of physical equilibria data

data for binary pairs are combined with a model

(Wilson, NRTL and UNIQUAC) to predict multicomponent behavior; UNIFAC model is used for
prediction based on functional group

Design Procedures for Columns with

Sieve Trays (contd)
Determination of number of equilibrium stages
Underwood equation for minimum reflux
Minimum number of stages from Fenske equation

N min

x LK

ln
x HK

x HK

x LK
D

ln LK / HK av

LK / HK av LK / HK D LK / HK B 1 / 2

Number of equilibrium stages, N as a function of N min

and R min(Gilliand equation)

N N min
R Rmin
0.75 1

N 1
R 1

0.566

Design Procedures for Columns with

Sieve Trays (contd)
Selection of column

internals

Design Procedures for Columns with

Sieve Trays (contd)

Determination of column

diameter

20

Vnf Csb

0.2

L v

Vn 50 90%Vnf
m"v
An
Vn

AC An Ad
4A c
D

1/ 2

0.5

Design Procedures for Columns with

Sieve Trays (contd)
Efficiency:

E 0.492
0.245

LK / HK av

Tray Spacing: H s 0.46 to 0.61 m (0.3 and

0.91 m are also used)
Column height

N act

Eo

H c N act 1 H s H

Design Procedures for Columns with

Sieve Trays (contd)
Sieve Tray Geometry

Hole dia: 0.005-0.025 m

Fractional free area: 0.06-0.16 m2
Fractional downcomer area: 0.05-0.3 m2
Pitch/hole dia ratio: 2.5-4.0
Tray spacing: 0.305-0.915 m
Weir height: 0.025-0.075 m

Design Procedures for Columns with

Random Packing
Determination of diameter

Vapor velocity is 70 to 90 % of flooding velocity

Recommended pressure drop

400 to 600 Pa/m for atmospheric and high-pressure

separation
4 to 50 Pa/m for vacuum operations
200 to 400 Pa/m for absorption and stripping
column

Design Procedures for Columns with

Random Packing (contd)
Heights of columns

HTU method
Z (HTU )( NTU )
m"v
HTU
K Ga e Ac

NTU

y1

dy
y y y*
2

HTU HTU v HTU L

Vv
V
L
k va e
k La e

mV

Design Procedures for Columns with

Random Packing (contd)

HETP method

ln

HETP HTU

Z HETP N

Design Procedures for Columns with

Structured Packing

Design Procedures for Columns with

Structured Packing (contd)
Diameter
Height

HETP: Rule of thumb

HETP

9.29
10
ap

Other Distillation Processes

Batch distillation:

Food, pharmaceuticals and biotechnolgy

industries
Rayleigh equation

W
ln

xi2

x i1

dx i
yi x i

Other Distillation Processes (contd)

Azeotropic distillation

Cost Estimation

Cost Estimation (contd)

Costs of distillation column

25 trays

50 trays

Cost Estimation (contd)

Costs of sieve tray

Cost Estimation (contd)

Cost Estimation (contd)

Cost Estimation (contd)

Cost Estimation (contd)

2. Absorption and Stripping

Gas Treatment with Solvent Recovery

Design Procedures
Column diameter: 70 to 90% of the

flooding velocity, Larger of the top or

bottom diameter is used
Number of equilibrium stages: Modified
Kremser equation
A iN 1 A i

N 1
Ai 1

Solute fraction absorbed

SiN 1 Si
Solute fraction stripped
N 1
Si 1

L
Ai
KiV

Si

KiV
L

Design Procedures (contd)

Stage efficiency and column height

Overall efficiency

E o 19.2 57.8 log L

Column height: Tray spacing/HTU/HETP

3. Membrane Separation

Selection of Membranes
Fabricated from natural and synthetic

polymers
Membrane modules
Plate and Frame ($250-400/m2)
Spiral-wound ($25-100/m2)
Hollow fiber ($10-20/m2)
Tubular ($250-400/m2)
Capillary ($25-100/m2)
Ceramic ($1000-1600/m2)

Concentration Profile across Membranes

Design Parameter
Permeance: porosity, solubility or partition

coefficient
Separation factor/selectivity
Purity and yield

Flow Patterns

4. Adsorption

Selection of Adsorbent
Activated Carbon
Molecular Sieve Zeolites
Silica gel
Activated Alumina

Basic Adsorption Cycles

Temperature Swing cycle
Cycle time: few hours
Capacity: 1 kg per 100 kg
of adsorbent

Basic Adsorption Cycles (contd)

Inert Purge cycle

Regeneration is done by purging inert

gas and lowering the partial pressure of
the adsorbate
Cycle times are only a few minutes
Capacity 1 to 2 kg adsorbate per 100 kg
adsorbent

Basic Adsorption Cycles (contd)

Pressure Swing cycle
Cycle time: few minutes
Capacity: 1 to 2 kg per
100 kg adsorbent