Design
Methanol-Water separation
Welahetti W.P.K
080533H
Distillation Column Design 2012
Table of Contents
1 Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 4
2 Theory ................................................................................................................................ 4
2.1 Operating Line equation for Top Operating Line (TOP) .............................................. 4
2.2 Operating Line equation for Bottom operating Line (BOP) ........................................ 6
2.3 Equation of q – factor.................................................................................................. 7
3 Calculation ......................................................................................................................... 7
3.1 Data ............................................................................................................................. 7
3.2 Calculation of amount of distillate and bottom product ............................................ 7
3.3 Equilibrium data of methanol and water mixture ...................................................... 9
3.4 Calculation of Minimum Reflux Ratio ......................................................................... 9
3.4.1 Drawing q line ...................................................................................................... 9
3.4.2 Drawing Top Operating Line (TOP) at minimum reflux ..................................... 10
3.5 Calculation of Operating Reflux Ratio ....................................................................... 11
3.6 Calculation of Actual number of stages required ..................................................... 11
3.7 Calculation of liquid and vapuor amounts in both sections ..................................... 13
3.8 Liquid and Vapour Density calculation...................................................................... 14
3.8.1 Rectifying section densities ............................................................................... 15
3.8.2 Stripping section densities ................................................................................. 15
3.9 Calculation of column diameter ................................................................................ 16
3.9.1 Diameter of rectifying section ........................................................................... 16
3.9.2 Calculation of diameter of stripping section ..................................................... 19
3.10 Calculation of hole diameter and area .................................................................. 20
3.11 Number of Holes in a tray at rectifying section..................................................... 20
3.12 Number of Holes in a tray at stripping section...................................................... 21
3.13 Flow pattern identification and down comer selection ........................................ 21
3.13.1 Flow pattern of rectifying section ...................................................................... 22
3.13.2 Flow pattern of stripping section ....................................................................... 22
3.14 Column efficiency calculation ................................................................................ 23
3.15 Calculation of actual number of stages required .................................................. 25
3.16 Calculation of height of the column ...................................................................... 25
Table of Figure
2.1 TOP Line ............................................................................................................................... 4
2.2 Bottom Operating Line ........................................................................................................ 6
3.1 Data ...................................................................................................................................... 7
3.2 Mass balance........................................................................................................................ 8
3.3 Methanol Water Equilibrium Data ...................................................................................... 9
3.4 Temperature Composition Diagram of methanol/water .................................................... 9
3.5 R min Figure ......................................................................................................................... 10
3.6 Vapour Liquid Equilibrium Curve ....................................................................................... 12
3.7 Column 1 ............................................................................................................................ 13
3.8 Feeding Section .................................................................................................................. 14
3.9 Recommended general conditions and dimensions for tray tower .................................. 18
3.10 selection of Liquid-flow arrangement ............................................................................. 21
3.11 Reverse Flow Down Comer .............................................................................................. 22
3.12 Cross flow down comer ................................................................................................... 22
3.13 Van Winkle’s correlation .................................................................................................. 23
Content of Table
3.1 Density data ....................................................................................................................... 14
3.2 Density of Mixture ............................................................................................................. 15
5.1 Summary ............................................................................................................................ 28
1 Introduction
This is continuous distillation with reflux. There are two sections in fractionation column.
The upper section is called the rectification section and lower section is called stripping
section. Rectifying section enriches with more volatile components and stripping section
enriches with less volatile components.
2 Theory
Assumptions;
Overall Balance;
Thus we have,
Equation 2.1
This is the Operating Line Equation for the rectifying section (Top Operating Line) or TOL
in short.
Slope
Intercept ,
Material balance around the envelope shown: Under constant molar overflow assumption:
Overall Balance;
Thus we have,
Equation 2.2
3 Calculation
3.1 Data
3.1 Data
Assumptions
At steady state there are no any material losses, material accumulation and material
generation.
Feed is at saturated liquid condition; therefore according to q line equation q value should
be 1.
Therefore,
At the minimum reflux ratio; maximum numbers of theoretical stages are given. Therefore
TOP line should be pass through interception of equilibrium curve and q-line.
Gradient of TOL
No hard and fast rules can be given for the selection of the design reflux ratio, but for many
systems the optimum will lie between 1.2 to 1.5 times the minimum reflux ratios. Assume
operating reflux ratio is 1.25 of minimum reflux ratio. Therefore operating Reflux ratio (R);
BOL can easily draw with starting (Xw,Xw) to ending intersection of q line and TOL.
According to figure 3.6 vapour- liquid equilibrium curve it can count number of theoretical
plates.
There are total condenser and partial reboiler. Total condenser is not act as equilibrium
stage, but partial reboiler is act as equilibrium stage. So, reboiler stage need reduce from
total theoretical stages.
3.7 Column 1
Rectifying section
Lo
R
D
Stripping Section
According to given data, feed is at saturated liquid condition therefore all feeding liquids
join with stripping section liquid.
=892.15kg/m3
Similarly;
Rectifying section is operating in between 65˚C -77˚C. Therefore at the average temperature
density values can calculate.
L =826.6 kg/m3
v =1.28 kg/m3
Stripping section is operating in between 100˚C -77˚C. Therefore at the average temperature
density values can calculate.
Similarly;
The flooding velocity can be estimated from the correlation given by Fair
Prasanna Welahetti Page 16
Distillation Column Design 2012
L v
U f K1
v
(When it calculate the average molar weight, feed methanol composition is 35%,
assume inside the distillation column 50% methanol in mixture)
V n 1.175 m3 / s
Vn
Ua
An
Here we have assumed tray spacing for the column. According to the “Recommended
general conditions and dimensions for tray tower” table, it can check.
According to above “Recommended general conditions and dimensions for tray tower”
table, diameter of the column is correct. Because assume tray space was 0.45m and
V m 1.175 m3 / s
Vn
Ua
An
Hole size less than 6.5 mm. Entrainment may be greater with larger hole sizes. (Page No.
568 Coulson & Richardson 6th volume 4th edition).
For a plate there is one down comer on the plate and top down comer also affected to
bottom plate. Therefore two down comer areas need to reduce from active area. So,
Area of a hole
Column Diameter
Column Diameter
Here we can use “Van Winkle’s correlation” for calculate to efficiency of column.
Maximum and minimum temperatures of inside the column are respectively 100C˚ and
65C˚. Assume liquid temperature is average temperature of column. Assume properties of
liquid mixture are equal to water properties.
Surface tension of liquid at 82.5 is calculated according to their molar basis of feed.
Weir height for 1 atm column is 40-90mm. Therefore here I’m assuming weir height of the
column is 45mm.
Therefore;
No. of plates
∆H= 0.5 meter each for liquid hold up and vapor disengagement
∆H=1 m
= 0.085m
Height of column =
According to figure 3.6 vapour-liquid equilibrium curve; it can find the feed tray location.
Feed composition of methanol is 0.35. This value is at 10th plate (theoretical) of the column.
To calculate the actual feed tray location this value need to divide with column efficiency.
4 References
Separation Process En gineering,2nd Edition, Phillip C.Wankat
Chemical Engineering volume 6, 4th Edition, Coulson & Richardson’s
Mass-transfer Operations,3rd Edition, Robert E.Treybal
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/je00019a016
http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/water-dynamic-kinematic-viscosity-d_596.html
http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/methanol-properties-d_1209.html
5 Summary
5.1 Summary