SIMULATION OF DISTILLATION COLUMN

DEFFINATION OF DISTILLATION COLUMN

A process in which a liquid or vapour mixture of two or more substances is separated into its
component fractions of desired purity, by the application and removal of heat.

Distillation is based on the fact that the vapour of a boiling mixture will be richer in the
components that have lower boiling points.

INTRODUCTION OF DISTILLATION COLUMN

1. Types of columns

2. Basic distillation equipment and operation

3. Column internals

4. Reboilers

5. Distillation principles

6. Vapour liquid equilibria

7. Distillation column design and

8. The factors that affect distillation column operation.

TYPES OF DISTILLATION COLUMNS

There are many types of distillation columns, each designed to perform specific types of
separations, and each design differs in terms of complexity.

BATCH AND CONTINUOUS COLUMN

One way of classifying distillation column type is to look at how they are operated. Thus we
have:

batch and

continuous columns.
BATCH COLUMN

In batch operation, the feed to the column is introduced batch-wise. That is, the column is
charged with a 'batch' and then the distillation process is carried out. When the desired task is
achieved, a next batch of feed is introduced.

CONTINUOUS COLUMN

In contrast, continuous columns process a continuous feed stream. No interruptions occur

unless there is a problem with the column or surrounding process units. They are capable of
handling high throughputs and are the most common of the two types. We shall concentrate
only on this class of columns.

Types of Continuous Columns

Continuous columns can be further classified according to:
1. the nature of the feed that they are processing,

binary column - feed contains only two components

multi-component column - feed contains more than two components

2. the number of product streams they have

multi-product column - column has more than two product streams

3. where the extra feed exits when it is used to help with the separation,

extractive distillation - where the extra feed appears in the bottom product stream

azeotropic distillation - where the extra feed appears at the top product stream

4. the type of column internals

tray column - where trays of various designs are used to hold up the liquid to provide
better contact between vapour and liquid, hence better separation

packed column - where instead of trays, 'packings' are used to enhance contact
between vapour and liquid.
“MODELLING & SIMULATION OF BINARY DISTILLATION COLUMN”

CONTENTS

•Introduction

•Vapour Liquid Equilibrium

•Types of Distillation

1. Batch Distillation 2. Continuous Distillation •Simple Distillation

•Flash Evaporation

•Fractional Distillation

•Types of Azeotropes

•Separation of Azeotropes

•Steam Distillation

•Vacuum Distillation

•Extractive Distillation

•Theoretical plates

•Methods of calculating no. of stages

1.Fenske Equation

2.McCabe-Thiele Method

•Modelling of McCabe-Thiele Method

•Assumptions of McCabe-Thiele Method

•Introduction to Simulation

•Flow Chart of Simulation Program

•Problem

•Discussion & Conclusion

• Distillation is the most common separation technique.

• It consumes enormous amounts of energy, both in terms of cooling and heating requirements.
• It can contribute to more than 50% of plant operating costs.

The best way to reduce operating costs of existing units, is to improve their efficiency and
operation via process optimization and control. To achieve this improvement, a thorough
understanding of distillation principles and how distillation systems are designed is essential.
The Distillation of the Crude Oil in Oil Refinery can be represented by:
Vapor-Liquid Equilibrium Vapor-liquid equilibrium, abbreviated as VLE by some, is a condition
where a liquid and its vapor (gas phase) are in equilibrium with each other, a condition or state
where the rate of evaporation (liquid changing to vapor) equals the rate of condensation (vapor
changing to liquid) on a molecular level such that there is no net (overall) vapor-liquid inter
conversion.
 Although in theory equilibrium takes forever to reach, such an equilibrium is practically reached
in a relatively closed location if a liquid and its vapor are allowed to stand in contact with each
other long enough with no interference or only gradual interference from the outside.

VLE Data Introduction

The concentration of a vapor in contact with its liquid, especially at equilibrium, is often given in
terms of vapor pressure, which could be a partial pressure (part of the total gas pressure) if any
other gas(es) are present with the vapor. The equilibrium vapor pressure of a liquid is usually
very dependent on temperature. At vapor-liquid equilibrium, a liquid with individual components
(compounds) in certain concentrations will have an equilibrium vapor in which the
concentrations or partial pressures of the vapor components will have certain set values
depending on all of the liquid component concentrations and the temperature. This fact is true in
reverse also; if a vapor with components at certain concentrations or partial pressures is in
vapor-liquid equilibrium with its liquid, then the component concentrations in the liquid will be set
dependent on the vapor concentrations, again also depending on the temperature. The
equilibrium concentration of each component in the liquid phase is often different from its
concentration (or vapor pressure) in the vapor phase, but there is a correlation. Such VLE
concentration data is often known or can be determined experimentally for vapor-liquid mixtures
with various components. In certain cases such VLE data can be determined or approximated
with the help of certain theories such as Raoult's Law, Dalton's Law, and/or Henry's Law. Such
VLE information is useful in designing columns for distillation, especially fractional distillation,
which is a particular specialty of chemical engineers. Distillation is a process used to separate
or partially separate components in a mixture by boiling (vaporization) followed by
condensation. Distillation takes advantage of differences in concentrations of components in the
liquid and vapor phases. In mixtures containing two or more components where their
concentrations are compared in the vapor and liquid phases, concentrations of each component
are often expressed as mole fractions. A mole fraction is number of moles of a given component
in an amount of mixture in a phase (either vapor or liquid phase) divided by the total number of
moles of all components in that amount of mixture in that phase. Binary mixtures are those
having two components. Three-component mixtures could be called ternary mixtures. There can
be VLE data for mixtures with even more components, but such data becomes copious and is
often hard to show graphically. VLE data is often shown at a certain overall pressure, such as 1
atm or whatever pressure a process of interest is conducted at. When at a certain temperature,
the total of partial pressures of all the components becomes equal to the overall pressure of the
system such that vapors generated from the liquid displace any air or other gas which
maintained the overall pressure, the mixture is said to boil and the corresponding temperature is
the boiling point (This assumes excess pressure is relieved by letting out gases to maintain a
desired total pressure). A boiling point at an overall pressure of 1 atm is called the normal
boiling point.
Thermodynamic Description of Vapor-Liquid Equilibrium

The field of thermodynamics describes when vapor-liquid equilibrium is possible, and its
properties. Much of the analysis depends on whether the vapor and liquid consist of a single
component, or if they are mixtures

Pure (single-component) systems

If the liquid and vapor are pure, in that they consist of only one molecular component and no
impurities, then the equilibrium state between the two phases is described by the following
equations:

And

where and are the pressures within the liquid and vapor, and are the temperatures within the
liquid and vapor, and and are the molar Gibbs free energies (units of energy per amount of
substance) within the liquid and vapor, respectively.[4] In other words, the temperature,
pressure and molar Gibbs free energy are the same between the two phases when they are at
equilibrium. An equivalent, more common way to express the vapor-liquid equilibrium condition
in a pure system is by using the concept of fugacity. Under this view, equilibrium is described by
the following equation: where and are the fugacities of the liquid and vapor, respectively, at the
system temperature and pressure .[5] Using fugacity is often more convenient for calculation,
given that the fugacity of the liquid is, to a good approximation, pressure-independent,[6] and it
is often convenient to use the quantity , the dimensionless fugacity coefficient, which is 1 for an
ideal gas.

Multicomponent systems
In a multicomponent system, where the vapor and liquid consist of more than one type of
molecule, describing the equilibrium state is more complicated. For all componentsin the
system, the equilibrium state between the two phases is described by the following equations:
whereandare the temperature and pressure for each phase, and and are the partial molar Gibbs
free energy also called chemical potential (units of energy per amount of substance) within the
liquid and vapor, respectively, for each phase. The partial molar Gibbs free energy is defined by:

where G is the (extensive) Gibbs free energy, and is the amount of substance of component.

Types Of Distillation Columns

There are many types of distillation columns, each designed to perform specific types of
separations, and each design differs in terms of complexity. One way of classifying distillation
column type is to look at how they are operated.

Thus we have:

1.Batch and

2.Continuous columns.

Batch Columns
In batch operation, the feed to the column is introduced batch-wise. That is, the column is
charged with a 'batch' and then the distillation process is carried out. When the desired task is
achieved, a next batch of feed is introduced.
Heating an ideal mixture of two volatile substances A and B (with A having the higher volatility,
or lower boiling point) in a batch distillation setup (such as in an apparatus depicted in the
opening figure) until the mixture is boiling results in a vapor above the liquid which contains a
mixture of A and B. The ratio between A and B in the vapor will be different from the ratio in the
liquid: the ratio in the liquid will be determined by how the original mixture was prepared, while
the ratio in the vapor will be enriched in the more volatile compound, A (due to Raoult's Law,
see above). The vapor goes through the condenser and is removed from the system. This in
turn meansthat the ratio of compounds in the remaining liquid is now different from the initial
ratio (i.e. more enriched in B than the starting liquid). The result is that the ratio in the liquid
mixture is changing, becoming richer in component B. This causes the boiling point of the
mixture to rise, which in turn results in a rise in the temperature in the vapor, which results in a
changing ratio of A : B in the gas phase (as distillation continues, there is an increasing
proportion of B in the gas phase). This results in a slowly changing ratio A : B in the distillate. If
the difference in vapor pressure between the two components A and B is large (generally
expressed as the difference in boiling points), the mixture in the beginning of the distillation is
highly enriched in component A, and when component A has distilled off, the boiling liquid is
enriched in component B.

Continuous Columns
In contrast, continuous columns process a continuous feed stream. No interruptions occur
unless there is a problem with the column or surrounding process units. They are capable of
handling high throughputs and are the most common of the two types. We shall concentrate
only on this class of columns. Continuous distillation is an ongoing distillation in which a liquid
mixture is continuously (without interruption) fed into the process and separated fractions are
removed continuously as output streams as time passes during the operation. Continuous
distillation produces at least two output fractions, including at least one volatile distillate fraction,
which has boiled and been separately captured as a vapor condensed to a liquid. There is
always a bottoms (or residue) fraction, which is the least volatile residue that has not been
separately captured as a condensed vapor. Continuous distillation differs from batch distillation
in the respect that concentrations should not change over time. Continuous distillation can be
run at a steady state for an arbitrary amount of time. Given a feed of in a specified composition,
the main variables that affect the purity of products in continuous distillation are the reflux ratio
and the number of theoretical equilibrium stages (practically, the number of trays or the height of
packing). Reflux is a flow from the condenser back to the column, which generates a recycle
that allows a better separation with a given number of trays. Equilibrium stages are ideal steps
where compositions achieve vapor-liquid

equilibrium, repeating the separation process and allowing better separation given a reflux ratio.
A column with a high reflux ratio may have fewer stages, but it refluxes a large amount of liquid,
giving a wide column with a large holdup. Conversely, a column with a low reflux ratio must
have a large number of stages, thus requiring a taller column. Continuous distillation requires
building and configuring dedicated equipment. The resulting high investment cost restricts its
use to the large scale.

Types of Continuous Columns

Continuous columns can be further classified according to:

1.The nature of the feed that they are processing

• Binary column - feed contains only two components.

• Multi-component column - feed contains more than two components.

2.The number of product streams they have

• Multi-product column - column has more than two product streams.

3. Where the extra feed exits when it is used to help with the separation

• Extractive distillation - where the extra feed appears in the bottom product stream.

• Azeotropic distillation - where the extra feed appears at the top product stream.

4.The type of column internals

• Tray column - where trays of various designs are used to hold up the liquid to provide better
contact between vapour and liquid, hence better separation.

• Packed column - where instead of trays,'Packi ng' are used to enhance contact between
vapour and liquid.

Simple Distillation
In simple distillation, all the hot vapors produced are immediately channeled into a condenser
which cools and condenses the vapors. Therefore, the distillate will not be pure its composition
will be identical to the composition of the vapors at the given temperature and pressure, and can
be computed from Raoult's law. As a result, simple distillation is usually used only to separate
liquids whose boiling points differ greatly (rule of thumb is 25 °C) [25] or to separate liquids from
in volatile solids or oils. For these cases, the vapor pressures of the components are usually
sufficiently different that Raoult's law may be neglected due to the insignificant contribution of
the less volatile component. In this case, the distillate may be sufficiently pure for its intended
purpose.