Overall Efficiency
• The overall tray efficiency, EO is defined as
• It is applied for the whole column. Every tray is assumed to have the same
efficiency.
• The overall efficiency depends on the
– (i) geometry and design of the contacting trays,
– (ii) flow rates and flow paths of vapor and liquid streams,
– (iii) Compositions and properties of vapor and liquid streams.
• The overall efficiency can be calculated from the following correlations:
The Drickamer-Bradford empirical correlation
The corrrelation is valid for hydrocarbon mixtures in the range of 342 K < T <
488.5 K, 1 atm < P < 25 atm and 0.066 < µ < 0.355 cP
The O'Connell correlation:
The number of real trays required (N) is related to the number of theoretical trays
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(NTP) by the concept of tray efficiency,
Murphree Efficiency
• Based on vapor phase:
• Based on liquid phase:
• In this case it is assumed that the vapor and liquid between trays
are well-mixed and have uniform composition.
• It is defined for each tray according to the separation achieved on
each tray based on either the liquid phase or the vapor phase.
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Point Efficiency
• Point efficiency refers to mass transfer at a
point on the tray and is related to single-tray
or Murphree Efficiency, taking into account
the flow pattern on the tray.
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Analytical method of determination of Rmin
• The minimum number of equilibrium trays can also be approximated by
Fenske equation
In this equation aave = (α1 α B)1/2 where α1 is the relative volatility of the overhead vapor and
α B is the relative volatility of the bottoms liquid.
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Example 1
Phase Diagram & Equilibrium Curve
• Use Raoult's Law and calculate the vapour and liquid compositions
in equilibrium (in mole fractions, y and x) for the benzene-toluene
system using vapour pressure data measure at a pressure of 101.32
kPa as shown in Table below :
• Table . Temperature-Vapour Pressure Data for Benzene-Toluene at
101.32 kPa
• Next plot the phase diagram (T-x-y diagram) and equilibrium curve
for the benzene-toluene system at 101.32 kPa
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Solution
• Write Raoult's Law for a binary mixture of A and B;
• pA = Pvp,A xA ; pB = Pvp,B xB = Pvp,B (1 - xA)
• The total pressure, PT = pA + pB
• Replacing for the partial pressures and re-arrange, we have:
• Re-arrange, we have the expression for xA:
Since Pvp,A xA = yA PT ; we have the expression for yA:
The VLE data can be calculated at each temperature by
substituting for total pressure (101.32 kPa) and the
appropriate vapour pressures. For example, at 85.0 oC,
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The constant pressure phase diagram can be plotted using the
above T-x-y values, and the equilibrium curve plotted using x-y
values
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Simple Distillation - Area under the Curve
Example 2: Simple Distillation
• A 100-g-mole liquid mixture containing 50 mole% n-heptane and 50 mole% n-
octane at 30 oC is to be subjected to a differential distillation at atmospheric
pressure.
• The process is stopped when the mole fraction of MVC in the still reaches
0.33.
• Determine the amount of composited distillate collected and its mole fraction,
(i.e. yave).
• Equilibrium data for n-heptane and n-octane is given in Table below (in mole
fractions n-heptane in vapour and liquid):
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Solution
This is the problem of determining L2 from known values (either given in the problem
statement or can be calculated from the information given) of L1 , x1 and x2 .
In this case, L1 = 100 g-moles, x1 = 0.50 (n-heptane, the MVC) and x2 = 0.33
From the Rayleigh equation =
Plot the curve using the equilibrium data given: (see Note)
The RHS = the area under the curve 1/(y-x) bounded between x1 and x2 is 0.916. Thus,
the LHS = ln (100/L2) = 0.916
Solving for L2:
L2 = 40.0 g-mole
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Average composition in the vapour distilled:
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These data are obtained from equilibrium curve as shown below. The
equilibrium curve is plotted using the given VLE data
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Example 3: Flash Distillation
An equimolar mixture of benzene and toluene is subjected to flash distillation at a pressure of
1 bar in the separator. Determine the compositions (in mole fraction benzene) of the liquid
and vapour leaving the separator when the feed is 25% vaporized.
Estimate the temperature in the separator.
Equilibrium data for benzene-toluene system at 1 bar is given in Table E-3 below
What are the concentrations in the
vapour and liquid, and the separator
temperature the feed is:
· 0% vapourised
· 50% vapourised
· 75% vapourised
· 100% vapourised ?
Plot the operating lines for each of
these cases and discuss how the
operating lines change as f changes.
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Solution to Example 3
• The operating line equation is as follows, with f = 0.25 (25% of feed is vapourised) and xF =
0.50 (equimolar mixture, MVC = benzene)
Locate the first point ( x = xF = 0.50, y = xF = 0.50 ) on the 45o diagonal.
Locate the second point using the operating line equation.
Plot the operating line by joining the 2 points. Intersection between the operating line and
equilibrium curve gives the solution for xB and yD
From graph - this
is shown as case
(b) - we have:
xB = 0.44, yD =
0.66
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The separator temperature can be estimate by interpolation or determined from the
equilibrium phase diagram. As shown in the Figure, this is approximately 92.4 oC.
We can see from the results that
there is a trade-off between quantity
and concentration: the higher the
fraction of feed vapourised (i.e. the
larger the vapour product), the lower
the mole fraction MVC in the vapour
The same calculations can be repeated for the other scenarios and the results are tabulated in
the following Table:
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Example 4: Continuous Distillation
A distillation column operating at 1 atm is to be designed for separating an ethanol-water mixture. The feed is 20
mole% ethanol and the feed flow rate is 1000 kg-mole/hr of saturated liquid. A distillate composition of 80 mole%
ethanol and a bottoms composition of not more than 2 mole% ethanol are desired. The reflux ratio is 5/3.
Determine:
(a) the total number of equilibrium stages required
(b) the optimum feed plate location
(c) the distillate and bottoms flow rates in kg-mole/hr
Equilibrium data for ethanol-water system at 1 atm pressure are in Table E-4 given below:
Analyse the graphical solution. What can you
conclude about the extent of separation in
the rectifying section and stripping section
respectively?
Obtain the mole fractions in liquid and
vapour for each tray and plot a
concentration profile for your design
(vertical-axis: number of trays, top-down,
horizontal-axis: mole fractions x and y).
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Solution
Given:
F = 1000 kg-mole/hr, xF = 0.20 (ethanol is MVC)
Feed is saturated liquid, thus q = 1.0
xD = 0.80, xB = 0.02 (maximum); R = 5/3
First, plot the equilibrium curve using the VLE data given. Note that you need to convert mole% ethanol into mole
fraction. Then, apply the McCabe-Thiele method to find the number of theoretical (equilibrium) trays required for the
separation.
Step 1:
Since R and xD are known (5/3, and 0.80 respectively), plot the ROL equation - it passes through xD on the
45o diagonal, i.e. the point (0.80, 0.80).
The intercept is 0.80 / (5/3+1) = 0.30.
Step 2:
Plot the feed line using the q-line equation with q = 1.0 and xF = 0.20 - it passes through
xF on the 45o diagonal.
In this case, with q = 1.0, the q-line is a vertical line at xF = 0.20. Then locate its
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intersection with ROL.
Step 3:
Plot the SOL, by joining the point xB = 0.02 on the 45o diagonal to the intersection point
between the ROL and q-line.
Step 4:
Draw triangles starting from xD (between ROL and equilibrium curve) down to xB (between
SOL and equilibrium curve). The change from ROL to SOL occurs when xF is reached.
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From the graph plotted, number of triangles = 15.
Thus, number of equilibrium stages required = 14 + 1 reboiler.
Optimum feed plate location = stage #13.
The distillate and bottoms flowrates (D and B) can be obtained using material balances:
Total: F = D + B ; thus, B = 1000 - D
MVC: F xF = D xD + B xB
Substituting for B gives: ( 1000 ) ( 0.20 ) = ( D ) ( 0.80 ) + ( 1000 - D ) ( 0.02 )
Solving gives: D = 230.77 kg-mole/hr
And B = 769.23 kg-mole/hr
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Example 5: Continuous Distillation
For the same separation of Example 4, i.e. a saturated liquid feed of 20 mole% ethanol to be
separated into a distillate of 80 mole% ethanol and a bottoms of not more than 2 mole%
ethanol, determine the number of theoretical trays required if the reflux ratio used is 11/3.
What can you conclude regarding the relationship between R and N?
Solution
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Problems: Batch Distillation: Constant Relative Volatility
100 g-moles of benzene-toluene mixture are
being distilled in a batch distillation column
equipped with 5 theoretical trays (including
the batch still) at 1 atm pressure. The mole
fraction of benzene in the initial mixture is
0.45, and it is desired to maintain the distillate
at a constant composition of 0.80 mole
fraction benzene. This is done by gradually
increasing the reflux ratio used. The relative
volatility of the benzene-toluene mixture can
be assumed constant at 2.457.
Determine the amount of distillate collected
(in g-moles) and the concentration of benzene
remaining in the still (in mole fraction) if the
process is stopped when the reflux ratio has
reached: (a) 3.00, (b) 4.00.
Equilibrium data for benzene-toluene system
at 1 atm:
What will be the reflux ratio required for a
batch column with 10 theoretical trays
(including the batch still) to produce the same
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amount of distillate as part (b) of the above ?
