DESIGN OF THE DISTILLATION COLUMN : Estimating VLE data for NH

3
H
2
O system

Data given :
Total Pressure in the distillation Column = 20 atm.
T
0
= 214
0
C ; T
f
= 50
0
C
Temperature (
0
C) P
1
*
(Pa) P
2
*
(Pa)
50 14753 93
60 18845 150
70 23696 234
80 29372 355
90 35936 526
100 43450 760
110 51968 1075
120 61540 1489
130 72214 2027
140 84029 2712
150 90625 3135
160 111218 4641
170 127255 6005
180 143328 7535
190 161276 9434
200 180501 11689
210 201009 14342
220 222803 17436

Where P
1
*
is the partial pressure of NH
3
and P
2
*
is the partial pressure of H
2
O in pascals.
Also, we know that,
For a mixture of two components,
y
1
=

x
1
y
2
=

x
2
where, y
i
is the mole fraction of component i in vapour phase,
x
i
is the mole fraction of component i in liquid phase,
P
i
*
(T) is the partial pressure of component i ; and P is the Total Pressure.
Taking the more volatile component as reference, i.e., NH
3
, we have,
y

=

x ----- (1) ;
(1-y)

=

(1-x)
x =

------ (2)
Now, using the data given above in the table, we calculate the mole fractions x and y at various
temperatures using equations (1) and (2) to get the VLE data.
i.e., x =

and y =

x
Temperature (
0
C) x y
220 0 0
210 0.002 0.030
200 0.018 0.222
190 0.035 0.383
180 0.053 0.516
170 0.072 0.622
160 0.095 0.715
150 0.133 0.816
140 0.148 0.843
130 0.181 0.888
120 0.221 0.921
110 0.269 0.947
100 0.328 0.965
90 0.402 0.979
80 0.496 0.988
70 0.619 0.994
60 0.781 0.998
50 1.000 1.000

The plot of y vs. x gives us the equilibrium curve for the distillation column.


Finding Operating line, Q-line and Feed Line:
To be able to draw the Operating line, we first need to calculate the mole fractions x
f
, x
b
, and x
d
in the
feed , reboiler and distillate sections respectively.
Calculating x
f
:
From the flow sheet of Ammonia absorption and Distillation, we see that the Outlet stream from
Ammonia absorption column is mixed with aqueous ammonia from Purge gas absorber and fed to the
Distillation column as Feed stream.
Let the mass fraction of ammonia in the feed stream be x
f
.
Now, consider the refrigeration loop at the purge gas recovery unit (L-501)
There are two streams through which ammonia enters the unit:
1.Water to purge gas absorber, which comes from the bottom part of the distillation column, thus havein a
mass fraction x
b
of NH
3
.
2.Purge gas from E-508 (pos.4)
(Molar flow rate of ammonia)
in
=

+3402x
b
= 64.547 +(3402/18)x
b
kmol/hr.
Streams through which ammonia exits are:
1. Aqueous ammonia to C-521, Flow rate = 4476kg/hr (which contains all the water from the stream
water to purge gas absorber)
2. Stream to ammonia absorption unit with Flow rate = 11 Nm
3
/hr (which can be neglected)
Flow rate of ammonia in the aqueous ammonia stream can be given as :
F = 4476 ( 3402 x (1-x
d
) ) [as 1-x
d
is the mass fraction of water in the stream]
Also, material balance across the distillation column gives,
F(x
f
) = D(x
d
) + B(x
b
)
Where F,D,B are the flow rates of feed , distillate and the bottom product respectively.
5273 ( x
f
) = 4056 ( x
b
) + 1217 ( 0.99) [given, x
d
= 0.99] ----- (1)
Also, 5273 (x
f
) = {flow rate of NH
3
in aqueous ammonia stream + outlet NH
3
from absorption column}
5273 (x
f
) = {4476 3402(1-x
b
) + 17(7.098)} ------------- (2)
Solving equations (1) and (2) ,
x
b
= 0.017094 ; x
f
= 0.24299 ; x
d
= 0.99 (given)
Equation of Operating line for Stripping section :
The slope of operating line for stripping section is given by,
m =


=

= 2
This line starts at (x
1
, y
1
) = (x
b
, x
b
) [ i.e., on line x=y at x= x
b
]
= (0.017094,0.017094)
Equation of stripping line is given by:
(y 0.017094) = 2 ( x 0.017094)
Equation of operating line for rectification section:
Slope of rectification line =


=

= 0.62
This line starts at (x
1
, y
1
) = (0.99 , 0.99)
Equation of rectification line is given by:
(y 0.99) = 0.62 ( x 0.99)
The stripping line and rectification line intersect at (0.28658,0.55616)
The feed line is given by : x = 0.24299 which intersects y=x at (0.24299,0.24299)
Hence, the Q-line is the line joining points (0.28658,0.55616) and (0.24299,0.24299), as shown in the fig.