Distillation IV

McCabe thiele method (2)

Mass Transfer for 4th Year
Chemical Engineering Department
Faculty of Engineering
Cairo University
 Today isA

Special cases of binary systems distillation

using McCabe Thiele method.
 The Simple Case
•Only one feed
(XD,XD)
•Consisting of two sections
•Condenser and Reboiler
•No side products xD
Steps: R min  1
xD
1. q-line R 1
2. Rmin
3. Rop and Top section oper.
(XW,XW)
Line XW XF XD

4. Bottom section oper. line

 Other Cases
1. Enriching Section
2. Stripping Section
3. Complex Feed or Multiple feeds
4. Open Steam
5. Top Side Product
6. Bottom Side Product

NOTE: q-line NOT ONLY represents feed, but it

represents any stream that changes the
flow rates inside the column.
 1- Enriching Section
• Used in case when it’s needed to V
yo
recover light component from feed
L D
containing little amount of it. xo xD

• Feed composition is near that of the

bottom product (xF is very small)
• Feed is usually saturated vapour
• No reboiler is used.

F
xF

W
xW
 1- Enriching Section
Steps:
(XD,XD)
• Feed is saturated vapour
• No. of stages in bottom
section =0
• Get point of intersection
of bottom section and
q-line directly
• Draw the top section
operating line.
XW XF XD
 2- Stripping Section
D
• Used in case when it’s needed to xD

recover heavy component from feed F

containing little amount of it. xF

• Feed composition is near that of the

top product (xF is very big)
• Feed is usually saturated liquid
• No reflux is needed.

V’
yr’

W
L’ xW
xo’
 2- Stripping Section
Steps:
• Feed is saturated liqiud
• No. of stages in top
section =0
• Get point of intersection
of top section and
q-line directly
• Draw the bottom section
operating line.
XW XF XD
 3- Multiple Feeds
Generally F1 is saturated liquid, and F2 V
yo
is saturated vapour.
L D
The column can now be divided into xo xD

THREE section: Enriching, Stripping and

Middle section. F1
xF1

Both operating lines of the top and

bottom sections will not be changed. F2
xF2

Only we will need to get the middle

section line. V”
yr

W
L’’ xW
xo
 3- Multiple Feeds
Since we assumed constant molar flow V
yo
rates in the column, we can say that:
L D
L’=L+F1 xo xD

V’=V L V

F1
xF1
And L’ V’

L”=L’ F2
xF2
V’=V”+F2 L” V”

V”
To draw the middle section operating yr

line we have to calculate its slope from W

L’’
the above relations xo
xW
 3- Multiple Feeds
Given information:
(XD,XD)
F1, xf1, F2, xf2, xD, xW, R
F1 is saturated liqiud
F2 is saturated vapour

xD
Steps: R 1
Top section operating line
as it is
(XW,XW)

XW XF2 XF1 XD
 3- Multiple Feeds
Middle line starts from the
end of the top section and (XD,XD)

ends at the beginning of

the bottom section.
So point of intersection of
top section and first q-line
is on the middle section
line. xD
We need another point or R  1
a slope to draw the middle
line. (XW,XW)

XW XF2 XF1 XD
 3- Multiple Feeds
The slope of any operating
line is L/V in the section it (XD,XD)

represents.
So in the middle section
slope is L’/V’ L’/V’

As we know
xD
L’=F1+L and V’=V
R 1
Where
L=D*R and V=L+D=(R+1)D (XW,XW)

So we can now get L’/V’

and draw its line XW XF2 XF1 XD
 4- Upper Side Product
• Any side product is withdrawn as V
yo
saturated liquid.
L D
• As this side product will change the flow xo xD

rates inside the column, there will be a S

xS
q-line representing the side product.
F
• The column will be divided into
x
3 section: Top, middle and bottom F

• Still the top section not affected, and we

want to draw the middle section line. V’
yr

L’ W
xo xW
 4- Upper Side Product
V
To get Operating line of the middle section do yo
MB on the loop:
L D
V=L+S+D xo xD
V.yn+1=L.xn+S.xS+D.xD S
xS
(equation of st. line as S,D,xS,xD are constants) L
xn
V
yn+1
F
This line starts at the intersection of the top xF

section with the q-line of side product

V’
yr

L’ W
xo xW
 4- Upper Side Product
Steps:
(XD,XD)
1. Side product is saturated
liquid.
2. Feed q-line is drawn
whatever its state
3. Draw the top section line

We need to use the x D

equation of the middle R  1
section to draw its operating
(XW,XW)
line.
XW XF XS XD
 4- Upper Side Product
Back to equations:
(XD,XD)
V=L+S+D V-L=S+D
V.yn+1=L.xn+S.xS+D.xD x=y

We know a point on the line

and need to get another
point to draw it
The easy point is on 45 line
V.x=L.x+S.xS+D.xD xD
(V-L).x=S.xS+D.xD R 1
(S+D).x=S.xS+D.xD (XW,XW)

S .xS  D.xD
x y XW XF XS XD
SD
 5- Bottom Side Product
V
• The column will be divided into 3 yo

section: Top, middle and bottom L D

xo xD
• Still the top section not affected, and
we want to draw the middle section
line.
• We will derive the middle section F
xF
operating line equation (as in
S
previous case) xS

V’
yr

L’ W
xo xW
 5- Bottom Side Product
V
To get Operating line of the middle section do yo
MB on the loop:
L D
L’=V’+S+W xo xD
L’.x’m+1=V’.y’m+S.xS+W.xW
F
(equation of st. line as S,W,xS,xw are constants)
xF

L’
This line ends at the intersection of the V’
Xm+1

bottom section with the q-line of side product ym

S
xS
V’
yr

L’ W
xo xW
 5- Bottom Side Product
Steps:
(XD,XD)
1. Side product is saturated
liquid.
2. Feed q-line is drawn
whatever its state
3. Draw the top section line
xD
We need to use theR  1
equation of the middle
section to draw its operating
(XW,XW)
line.
XW XS XF XD
 5- Bottom Side Product
Back to equations:
(XD,XD)
L’=V’+S+W L’-V’=S+W
L’.x’m+1=V’.y’m+S.xS+W.xw
We know a point on the line
and need to get another
point to draw it
The easy point is on 45 line x D
L’.x=V’.x+S.xS+W.xW R 1
(L’-V’).x=S.xS+W.xW x=y

(S+W).x=S.xS+W.xW (XW,XW)

S .xS  W .xW
x y XW XS XF XD
S W
 6- Open Steam
• Used in cases when the feed V
yo
contains water, so heat is added to
L D
column in the form of direct heating xo xD

by steam instead of reboiler.

• The bottom section operating line
will change as the equations will be F
xF
changed.
• Still the intersection of the top
section line and the q-line is on the
bottom section line. S

W
xW
 6- Open Steam
Operating line of bottom section: V
yo

L’+S=V’+W L’-V’=W-S L D
xo xD
L’.x’m+1+S.yS=V’.y’m+W.xW

To draw this line we need another point,

try 45o line F
xF
L’.x=V’.x+W.xW
L’ V’
(L’-V’)x=W.xW Xm+1 ym

(W-S)x=W.xW S
W .xW
x y
W S
W
xW
 6- Open Steam
Steps:
(XD,XD)
1. Draw the top section line
2. Draw the q-line
3. Locate the point derived
on the 45o line
4. Draw the bottom section
line. xD
Here the bottom section willR  1
end at a point (xw,0) W .xW
W S

Usually S needed to be calculated.

XW(XW,ys) XF XD
4- 100 Kgmol/hr of saturated liquid containing 70 mol%
benzene enters a stripping tower at 1 atm. The bottom
product flow rate is 15 Kgmol/hr containing only 10%
benzene. Saturated steam at 4 atmospheres is available for
the reboiler duty. (Hv=2740 KJ/Kg, hL=610 KJ/Kg).
Calculate:
a- The overhead product flow rate and its composition.
b- Number of theoretical plates required.
c- Steam consumption in reboiler.
Equilibrium data:
T, C 80 85 90 95 100 105 110
PBo, mmHg 760 877 1016 1068 1344 1532 1800
PTo, mmHg 205 345 405 475 557 645 760

lBenzene=7360 Cal/gmol, lToluene=7960 Cal/gmol

Stripping tower
F=100 Kgmol/hr (saturated liquid)
xF=0.7 P=1 atm
W=15 Kgmol/hr xW=0.1
Steam: Hv=2740 KJ/Kg, hL=610 KJ/Kg
lst=2130 KJ/Kg

a)
D=F-W=100-15=85 Kmol/hr
xD=(F.xF-W.xW)/D=(100*0.7-15*0.1)/85=0.806
 T, C 80 85 90 95 100 105 110
PBo, mmHg 760 877 1016 1068 1344 1532 1800
PTo, mmHg 205 345 405 475 557 645 760
X 1 0.78 0.58 0.48 0.26 0.13 0
Y 1 0.90 0.78 0.678 0.46 0.26 0
1
b)
0.9
NTS= Reboiler + 4.6
0.8

c) 0.7

Qr=mst.lst=V’.lr 0.6
lr is calculated at yr
0.5
lr =0.2*7360+0.8*7960
lr =7840 Cal/gmol 0.4

0.3

0.2

0.1

0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
V’=???
Slope of operating line is L’/V’=1.1667
And
W+V’=L’ 1

0.9
Get L’ and V’
0.8
V’=90 kmol/hr
0.7
L’=105 Kmol/hr
0.6
L’/V’
0.5
V’
y’m
L’ 0.4
x’m+1 V’
y’m

L’ 0.3
x’m

0.2
V’
yr
0.1

W
L’ xw 0
X’1 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
Finally
Qr=90*7840=705600 Cal/hr= 2949.408 KJ/hr
lst=2130 KJ/Kg
2949.408 =2130*mst
mst= 1384.7 Kg/hr