KING SAUD UNIVERSITY,

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT
CHE 411: Separation Processes (II): Second Semester 2007/2008
Exam # 1
Date: Monday April 28, 2008 Dr. Hasan Atiyeh
Time: TWO Hours
Answer Question number one and any two of the remaining Questions two to four.

1.
a. A tray tower is absorbing ethanol from an inert gas stream using pure water at 303 K and 101.3
kPa. The inlet gas stream flow rate is 100 kg mol/h and it contains 3 mol % ethanol. It is desired
to recover 90% of the ethanol from the inlet gas stream. The equilibrium relationship is
y = m⋅x = 0.75 x for this dilute stream. Using 1.6 times the minimum liquid flow rate, determine
the number of theoretical and actual trays required for this separation process assuming that the
overall tray efficiency is equal to 30%.
b. What should be taken into consideration when choosing a solvent for gas absorption towers?

2. Using the following data for a mixture of n-heptane and n-octane at 1 atm total pressure, which may
be expected to form ideal solutions to:

a. Calculate the liquid and vapor compositions ( xi and yi ) at each temperature

b. Plot the boiling point diagram for n-heptane and n-octane
c. Calculate the relative volatility at 110.0oC

Temperature n-heptane n-octane

o
C Vapor pressure Vapor pressure
mm Hg mm Hg
98.4 760 333
105.0 940 417
110.0 1050 484
115.0 1200 561
120.0 1350 650
125.6 1540 760

3. A mixture of 100 kg mol of feed containing 70 mol % heptane and 30 mol % octane is
vaporized at 20 psia under differential conditions. If 80 % of the total mixture is vaporized.
What is the average composition of the total vapor distilled ( yav ) and the composition of the
liquid left ( x1 )?
x 1.000 0.800 0.693 0.500 0.308 0.152 0
y 1.000 0.918 0.832 0.675 0.477 0.271 0

4. 200 moles per second of the following feed is to be subjected to Equilibrium Flash Vaporization
(EFV) at 280 psia and 300°F. Determine the amounts and composition of the vapor (V) and the
liquid (L) phases resulting from this equilibrium flash.
Component(i) xiF Ki
C3 0.40 2.90
nC4 0.10 1.50
nC5 0.10 0.82
nC6 0.28 0.45
nC7 0.12 0.25