Distillation Column

Abstract

Styrene monomer is the fourth largest chemical produced on an industrial scale and most ethyl-
benzene is utilized in styrene monomer production. The largest chemical produced on an industrial scale
is ammonia for fertilizer production, followed by crude oil refining, and then ethylene by furnace
pyrolysis. Styrene monomer has been manufactured commercially for more than fifty years with
advances in the key unit operation areas of reactor design and distillation.

Introduction

One of the most important operation in the chemical and petroleum industry is the separation of liquid
mixtures into several components. It is sometimes referred to as fractional distillation. It is one of the
oldest unit operation processes. The technical publication of distillation was first developed in 1957,
however, distillation had been practiced for many centuries prior to this. Distillation is one of the most
common and widely used separation processes in the chemical industry. However, it is also an
extremely energy intensive process. It requires large amounts of energy for both cooling and heating.
50% of plants operating costs are produced from distillation. At present distillation is commonly used in
the petroleum, chemical, petrochemical, beverage and pharmaceutical industries. Distillation is a
process which is important in the development of new products and for the recovery and reuse of
volatile liquids. A great deal of research has been carried out into techniques of distillation due to the
demand for purer products and a persistent requirement of greater efficiency. When designing a
distillation column it is essential to consider process control. Many distillation columns usually operate
with the combination of many other separate units. The correct design of a distillation column is not
always a simple procedure as it is regarded as a specialised technology. Compared to other types of
processing equipment distillation columns have to be designed with a larger range in capacity with
single columns varying from 0.3 to 10m in diameter and 3m to 75m in height. It is important that
designers are able to provide the desired product quality at a minimum cost but also at a constant
purity. Distillation is usually used to separate liquid mixtures into two or more vapour or liquid products
which have different compositions. The separation of liquid mixtures is dependent on the differences in
the volatility between the components. Separation is easier if the relative volatilities are larger. There
are two major types of distillation, this includes continuous distillation and batch distillation. In
continuous distillation the feed is supplied continuously. There are usually no interruptions however,
problems may occur with the column or surrounding units. This type is the more common of the two
types of distillation. However, in batch distillation the feed is supplied to the column batch-wise. The
column is charged with a batch and the distillation process is then carried out. Once the desired task has
been achieved the next batch of the feed is then introduced.

Process Description

The product distillation unit will be fed with a Ethyl Benzene/Styrene mixture. The mixture fed to the
product distillation column is obtained from the bottom stream of the first multicomponent distillation
column. Within the product distillation column cooling water which enters the condenser and steam
which enters the reboiler is utilised.

Key Components

Before the design stage of a distillation column the designer must select the key components which are
to be separated. The light key is described as the component that is desired to be kept out of the
bottom product. The heavy key is described as the component that is desired to be kept out of the top
product. Usually it is relatively easy to determine which the key components are. However, there may
be situations in which close boiling isomers are present so judgement must be used in their selection.
The light key is described as the most volatile component in the bottom product and the heavy key is
described as the least volatile component in the top product. In this case the light and heavy keys are as
follows:

 Light Key: Ethyl Benzene (A)

 Heavy Key: Styrene (B)

Operating Conditions

It is assumed that the process operates at a steady state and the system is ideal. It is assumed that the
inlet temperature of the feed to the column will be at the boiling point i.e. ‘boiling liquid feed’. The feed
temperature is used as operating temperature.

Because of avoiding any vacuum formation in a column, column will be operated on a continuous basis
and will be operated at atmospheric pressure.

Process Equipment Design

The design of a distillation column requires extensive research, careful calculations, and an overall
economic analysis. In this project, the distillation column for the separation of ethyl benzene and
styrene will be designed. The important parameters involved in the design of a distillation column
include column diameter, column height, types of tray, tray efficiency, weir height and materials of
construction.

The first step of the process for designing a distillation column is to determine the minimum reflux ratio,
and the number of trays required to obtain the desired separation. There are several methods available
for determining these design parameters for distillation towers, including the FUG method and the
McCabe-Thiele method. The FUG method is an analytical approach, whereas McCabe-Thiele uses a
graphical approach. Both of these methods have their merits, and were both in the design of the ethyl
benzene-styrene distillation tower.

Since the column is binary, I used McCabe-Thiele method, because it is easier and nowadays mostly
used method.
Equilibrium Curve (Relative Volatility)

First of all, vapour-liquid equilibrium (VLE) data which I got from PROII required for the McCabe-Thiele is
shown in Figure 1 for an ethyl benzene-styrene mixture at atmospheric pressure.

Figure 1.

This is the nearly the same plot when I take the relative volatility (=1.38) which is given in our
Separation Process Principles book (Table 7.1) for ethyl benzene/styrene mixture and plot the x and y
diagram in my Excel document by this relationship:

Figure 2.
Reflux Ratio

In a McCabe-Thiele method there is a pinch point which is the intersection of rectifying, equilibrium and
q (feed) line. At this point, the intersection of ordinate line and the continued line of rectifying line is the
function of Rmin.

Intersection point= XD/(Rmin+1) Eq-1

Figure 3.

To find more accurate value of Rmin, I did all of these lines, intersections in excel. First of all, after
plotting equilibrium curve, should be started to plot with 45®line.

q-line

After that, continue and plot the q-line. Initial point of this line is the fraction of light component in the
feed ( xF=yF=0,461). To find the second line we should find the slope of the line.
𝑞
Slope of the q-line= . Eq -2
𝑞−1

Here, q equals to:

Eq-3

Because of the lack of information, I assume as an Example 7.1 in Separation Process Principles book.
The feed enters the column with a molar percent vaporization equals to the distillate-to-feed ratio.

VF/F= D/F=102.79/222.88=0.461
q=LF/F= (F-VF)/F=1-VF/F=1-D/F=-0,539

Now, just need a q-line to pass from the equilibrium curve for intersection point. This linear equation
can easily be used to find any second point by assuming x2.

y2=k(x2-x1) + y1

Stripping line

There is no any role of stripping line. It will just join to the intersection point of equilibrium curve,
rectifying and q-lines. Start point of this line is fraction of light component in bottom stream (
xW=yW=0.0004).

Rectifying line

Finally, for rectifying line the initial point of rectifying line-fraction of light component in distillate
(xD=yD=0,999) is noted. The end point of this line is on the ordinate line. So the x is 0 and y is Eq-1. End
point of y is a function of Rmin . Because rectifying line should be intersected with equilibrium and q-line
at pinch point, by giving various values to Rmin we find the pinch point and accurate Rmin at Excel.(
Rmin=6.02)

It is suggested that for many systems the optimum reflux ratio lies between 1.2 to 1.5 times the
minimum reflux ratio. Therefore:

R= Rmin x 1.3=8.06

Number of plates

In the attached excel spreadsheet (file name: Number of plates), after input of data (Reflux ratio,
Relative volatility, q-line, etc.) following results are obtained :

Number of theoretical plates (Plus reboiler): 80

Feed plate (From top of the column): 38

It is not difficult to find number of trays and feed tray in excel after finding a pinch point and reflux ratio
in a graph, especially for less tray numbered columns. However, because there is 80 trays it would take
hours to find the exact number. That is why I used the prepared excel spreadsheet.

Tray Efficiency
To find tray efficiency, Equation 4 is used:

E0=13.3 - 66.8 log μ = 52.4% (4)

Where E0 is in % and μ (cP) is liquid viscosity in a feed. Viscosity is taken from the stream
property table in PROII. S1 is the feed stream.
 𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑜𝑟𝑜𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑦𝑠
Actual Number of Trays= *100=152.73=153
𝐸𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑦

This number is too close to the number of trays which is given in Turton_AppB result T-402
tower(158).