MULTICOMPONENT

DISTILLATION
 SINGLE STAGE FLASH
• USES TWO PHASE EQUILIBRIUM
– FLASH
– BUBBLE POINT
– DEW POINT
• CAN BE TWO
LIQUID PHASES http://www.hills2.u-net.com/chemical/distil/fig17.gif
• USES RELATIVE VOLATILITY
Ki
y i  K i xi i, j 
Kj
 METHODS TO OBTAIN Ki
• EMPIRICAL DATA
– SET UP EXPERIMENTS TO MEASURE
y = y(x,P,T)
– FIT TO STANDARD CORRELATIONS
– DATA CAN BE BASED ON BINARY SETS -
SEE PERRY'S SECTION 13 FOR BINARY
DATA
– GENERAL CORRELATIONS FOR SPECIFIC
TYPES OF MIXTURES - UNIQUAC

http://www.intelligen.com/images/screenshots/BinaryChartDlg_v8.jpg
 METHODS TO OBTAIN Ki

• DEPRIESTER
CHARTS FOR
HYDROCARBON
SYSTEMS
• LOW
TEMPERATURE
DATA
• PERRY’S FIGURE
13-14, P. 13-17
 METHODS TO OBTAIN Ki

• DEPRIESTER
CHARTS FOR
HYDROCARBON
SYSTEMS
• HIGH
TEMPERATURE
DATA
• PERRY’S
FIGURE 13-14, P.
13-18
 METHODS TO OBTAIN Ki
• AIR
SEPARATION
PLANT DATA

http://www.cryogenic-
consulting.com/argon.
pdf#search=%22AIR
%20SEPARATION
%20EQUILIBRIA%22

http://www.ecs.umass.edu/che/henson_group/research/air/air_separation_plant.png
 Pi sat xi
y i 1 
P

FLASH CALCULATIONS
• BUBBLE POINT PRESSURE (DIRECT)
– T AND xi ARE GIVEN, FIND yi AND P
xi  i P *i
 y i  1  PSYS
 K i x i (11 .7  5)
i i

• BUBBLE POINT TEMPERATURE (T & E)

– P AND xi ARE GIVEN, FIND yi AND T
xi  i P *i
 y i  1  PSYS
 K i x i (11 .7  5)
i i
 FLASH CALCULATIONS
• DEW POINT PRESSURE (DIRECT)
– T AND yi ARE GIVEN, FIND PSYS AND xi
y i PSYS y
 x i  1   i P *i
 i (11 .7  7 )
i i Ki

• DEW POINT TEMPERATURE ( T & E)

– P AND yi ARE GIVEN,
yP FIND
y T AND xi
 xi  1  i PSYS
*
 i
K
(11 .7  7 )
i i i i i
 FLASH CALCULATIONS
• PARTIAL FLASH ∑zi = 1
– P, T AND zi ARE GIVEN, FIND xi & yi
– FLASH LINES ARE DEVELOPED FOR EACH
COMPONENT WITH A COMMON f
f 1 x iF
yi  xi   K REF  i ,REF x i (11 .7  10)
f f
– SOLVE BY T&E FOR VALUES OF V IN f =
V/F
xiF zi (K i  1)
 f (K   1)  1  1 OR  V (K  1)  1  0
i REF i ,REF i i
 MULTICOMPONENT
FRACTIONATION
• GENERAL DESIGN
CONSIDERATIONS
– SPECIFY PRESSURE
– DETERMINE NUMBER OF
EQUILIBRIUM STAGES
– ADJUST NUMBER OF
STAGES FOR STAGE
EFFICIENCY
– DESIGN TRAYS
– DESIGN COLUMN

http://www.eia.doe.gov/kids/energyfacts/sources/n
on-renewable/images/FCCDistCol.jpg
 SHORTCUT METHOD -
PSEUDOBINARY SEPARATION
• ASSUMES TWO PRIMARY (KEY)
COMPONENTS CAN BE USED TO
MODEL THE PROCESS
• NON-KEYS ARE DISTRIBUTED
BASED ON αi,KEY
• KEY COMPONENTS
– DISTRIBUTED TO DISTILLATE & BOTTOMS
– MAJOR COMPONENTS IN FEED
– NON-KEY COMPONENTS
– LIGHTER THAN LIGHT ARE ASSUMED TO
GO TO DISTILLATE
– HEAVIER THAN HEAVY ARE ASSUMED TO
GO TO BOTTOMS
– INTERMEDIATE ARE ASSUMED TO http://image.absoluteastrono
DISTRIBUTE TO DISTILLATE AND BOTTOMS my.com/images/encyclopedi
aimages/d/di/distillation_colu
mn.png
 COMPONENT DISTRIBUTIONS
• EXAMPLE FROM AIR SEPARATION
• KEYS
– O2
– N2
• NON-KEY
– Ar

http://www.cryogenic-
consulting.com/argon.pdf#se
arch=%22AIR
%20SEPARATION
%20EQUILIBRIA%22
 SHORTCUT METHOD
• DISTRIBUTE KEYS BASED ON TARGET
PRODUCT COMPOSITION
• COMPLETE DISTRIBUTION TO YIELD
FEED AND PRODUCT MATRICES
– xFi, xDi, xBi
• CALCULATE NMIN WITH FENSKE
EQUATION USING KEY VALUES
 xDLK DxBHK B 
ln 
 x DHK Dx BLK B 
NMIN  (11 .7  12)
ln( LK ,HK )avg
 SHORTCUT METHOD
• AVERAGE RELATIVE VOLATILITY, αLK,HK
– FEED VALUE
 avg   LK ,HK F
– TOP/BOTTOM AVERAGE
 LK ,HKD   LK ,HK B
 avg 
2

– GEOMETRIC AVERAGES
– OVERALL
 avg  3  LK ,HKF  LK ,HKD  LK ,HKB
– TOP/BOTTOM
 avg   LK ,HKD  LK ,HKB
 SHORTCUT METHOD
• CHECK OF NON-KEY DISTRIBUTION
– USE FENSKE EQUATION RESOLVED FOR
NON-KEY RELATIVE TO KEY:

 x iD D   xHKD D 
    i ,HK   (11 .7  14)
 x iB B   xHKB B 
 SHORTCUT METHOD
• MINIMUM REFLUX RATIO
– OPERATING LINES FOR EACH
COMPONENT AT TOTAL REFLUX
– RECTIFICATION SECTION
D xDi D xDi
y i 
V 1   L V K i 
1.0 
V
 1  L V K 
i   i

– STRIPPING SECTION
B xBi B xBi
y i 

V 1  L V K i  1.0 
V
 L 
V K i  1
i 
 SHORTCUT METHOD
• UNDERWOOD EQUATIONS COMPLETE
BALANCE OVER THE COLUMN
 i x Fi
1 q  
i i  
 i x Di
RdMIN  
i i  
• NUMBER OF θ VALUES ARE (1 + NUMBER OF
COMPONENTS BETWEEN KEYS)
• VALUE OF θ IS BETWEEN VALUES OF αij
 SHORTCUT METHOD
• USE GILLILAND OR ERBAR-MADDOX
CORRELATIONS TO DETERMINE N
FOR A SPECIFIC Rd
N  N MIN  1  54.4    1 
 1  exp  0.5 
N 1  11  117.2   
R  RMIN

R 1
Molokanov, International Chemical
Engineering, 12(2), 209, 1972

McCabe, Smith and Harriontt, Unit Operations of

Chemical Engineering, Ed. 4, p, 578, 1985.
 SHORTCUT METHOD
• LOCATION OF FEED TRAY
• IS CRITICAL TO COLUMN EFFICIENCY
– LOSS OF SEPARATION
– INCOMPLETE SEPARATION
• BASIS FOR ESTIMATE

NRECT  x 2
 B  xLK ,B 
log  0.206 log HK ,F  
Dx
 
  (11 .7  21)
NSTRIP  xLK ,F   HK ,D  
