a reboiler in which liquid

from the bottom stage is

partially vaporized to give a
liquid bottom products and
the vapor boil off returned
to the bottom stage;
accumulator which is
(usually) a horizontal
pressure vessel where the
condensed vapor is
collected;
Heat exchanger where the
hot bottoms stream is used

Figure 8

Analysis of binary distillation in tray

towers: McCabe-Thiele Method
McCabe-Thiele method uses the equilibrium curve
diagram to determine the number of theoretical
stages (trays) required to achieve a desired degree
of separation.
It assumes constant molar overflow and this
implies that:
(i) molal heats of vaporization of the components
are roughly the same;
(ii) heat effects are negligible.
The information required for the systematic
calculation are the VLE data, feed condition

eflux ratio is defined as the ratio of reflux liquid to the dis

ct.
e ratio of the quantity of liquid returned to the distillation
n to the quantity of liquid withdrawn as top product from t
mn
matically written as: R = L / D

der the designing of a column

used for the separation of a
y mixture as shown

Figure 9

The feed has a concentration of xF (mole fraction)

of the more volatile component;
A distillate having a concentration of xD of the
more volatile component and a bottoms having a
concentration of xB is desired.
Using McCabe-Thiele method involves the plotting
of three straight lines on the equilibrium diagram.
These lines are the rectifying section operating line
(ROL), the feed line (also known as the q-line) and
the stripping section operating line (SOL)
The reflux ratio R is important parameter in the
analysis. This is because the concentration of the
more volatile component in the distillate (in mole
fraction xD) can be changed by changing the value

The steps to determine the number of theoretical

stages using McCabe-Thiele Method:
Determination of required reflux ratio (R).
Determination of the Rectifying section operating
line (ROL).
Determination of the feed condition (q).
Determination of the feed section operating line (qline).
Determination of the stripping section operating
line (SOL).
Determination of number of theoretical stage.

Determination of the rectifying section

operating line (ROL)

nsider the rectifying section as shown

aterial balance can be written around

e enveloped column;

verall or total balance:

Vn+1 = Ln + D
[18]

mponent balance for more volatile component:

Vn+1yn+1 = Lnxn + DxD

[19]

bstituting for Vn+1 in equation [19] we have:

(Ln + D)yn+1 = Lnxn + DxD

[20]
Figure 10

Assumption of molal flow in the column implies:

L1 = L2 = .......... Ln-1 = Ln = Ln+1 = L = constant
and V1 = V2 = .......... Vn-1 = Vn = Vn+1 = V =
constant.
Equation [20] becomes:
(L + D)yn+1 = Lxn + DxD

[21]

Rearranging equation [21] gives:

[22a]
Introducing reflux ratio defined as: R = L/D, then
Equation (22a) can be expressed as:
[22b]
Without subscript, [22b] can be re-written as:

Equation [23] is the rectifying section operating

line (ROL)
The equation having slope R/(R+1) and intercept,
xD/(R+1) as shown in the Figure below.
When x = xD, y = xD, the rectifying section
operating line will pass through the point (xD, xD)
on the 45o diagonal line.
When the reflux ratio is R changed, the ROL will
change.

Figure 11

Determination the feed condition (q)

The feed entering the distillation column
may consists of liquid, vapour or can be a
mixture of both.
Some portion of the feed go as liquid
stream to the stripping and some portion
go as vapour stream to the rectifying
sections.
The parameter q is the mole fraction of
liquid in the feed.
The limits of the q-value for various feed
conditions are shown in Table 4.

Table 4:

q-value as per feed conditions

where, q depends the fraction of the feed

that is liquid

When feed is partially vaporized:

Other than saturated liquid (q = 1) and saturated
vapour (q = 0), the feed condition is uncertain.
In those cases, the value of q must be calculated.
The q-value can be obtained from enthalpy balance
around the feed plate from the following form of
equation:
[24]
where HF, HV and HL are enthalpies of feed, vapour
and liquid respectively which can be obtained from
enthalpy-concentration diagram for the mixture.

When feed is cold liquid or superheated

vapor:
q can be alternatively defined as the heat required
to convert 1 mole of feed from its entering condition
to a saturated vapour; divided by the molal latent
heat of vaporization.
Based on this definition, one can calculate the qvalue from the following equations for the case
whereby q > 1 (cold liquid feed) and q < 0
(superheated vapour feed) as:

For cold liquid feed:

[25]
For superheated vapour feed:
[26]

Determination of the feed section operating

line
(q-line):
Consider
the section of the
distillation column (as shown
in Figure 9) at the tray
(called feed tray) where the
feed is introduced.
In the feed tray the feed is
introduced at F moles/hr
with liquid of q fraction of
feed and vapour of (1-q)
fraction of feed as shown in
Figure 12.
Overall material balance
around the feed tray:
L = L + qF
and
q)F
[27]

V =V + (1-

Figure 12.

Component balances for the

more volatile component in
the rectifying and stripping
sections are:
For rectifying section:
yV = xL + xDD
[28]
For stripping section:
yV = xL - xBB
[29]
At the feed point where the
two operating lines
(Equations [28] and [29])
intersect can be written as:
y(V-V) = x(L-L) + xDD +

Figure 12.

From component balance

around the entire column, it
can be written as:
xFF = xDD + xBB

[31]

Substituting [27] and [31] into

[30]
and rearranging gives the q q
1
line Equation
x as:

xF
y
q 1

q 1

[32]

Figure 12.

For a given feed condition, xF and q are q

q 1
fixed, therefore the q-line is a straight line
with slope qx 1 and intercept
.
F

When x = xF, y = xF, q-line passes through

the point (xF, xF) on the 45o diagonal line.
Different values of q will result in different
slope of the q-line.
Different q-lines for different feed
conditions are shown in Figure 13.

q = 0 (saturated vapor)
q = 1 (saturated liquid)
q > 1(subcooled liquid)
q < 0 (superheated
vapor)
0 < q < 1 (mix of liquid
and vapor)

Figure 13

Determination of the stripping section

operating line (SOL):

The stripping section operating line (SOL) can be

obtained from the ROL and q-line without doing
any material balance.
The SOL can be drawn by connecting point xB on
the diagonal to the point of intersection between
the ROL and q-line.
The SOL will change if q-line is changed at fixed
ROL. The change of SOL with different q-lines for
a given ROL at constant Reflux, R and xD is shown
in Figure 14.

Figure 14

The stripping section operating line can be derived

from the material balance around the stripping
section of the distillation column.
The stripping section of a distillation column is
shown in Figure 15.
The reboiled vapour is in equilibrium with bottoms
liquid which is leaving the column.

Figure 15

Consider the constant molal

overflow in the column.
Thus L'm = L'm+1 = .... = L' =
constant and V'm = V'm+1
= ..... = V' = constant.
Overall material balance
gives:
L' = V' + B
[33]
More volatile component
balance gives:
xm L' = ym+1 V' + xBB
[34]
L'
B
y V' x V' x
Dividing [34] by V' and rearranging yields:
m 1

Figure 15

Dropping the subscripts "m+1" and "m" it

becomes:
L'
B

V'

xB

V'

[36]

Substituting V' = L' B from Equation (33), the

Equation (36)L'can be
written as:
B

L' B

xB

L' B

[37]

L'
the
stripping
L' B

The Equation (37) is called

operating line (SOL) which is a straight line with
slope
.
When x = xB, y = xB, the SOL passes through (xB,
xB ) on the 45o diagonal line

Determination of number of theoretical stage

Suppose a column is to be designed for the
separation of a binary mixture where:
the feed has a concentration of xF (mole fraction)
of the more volatile component;
a distillate having a concentration of xD of the
more volatile component;
and the bottoms having a desired concentration
of xB.
Once the three lines (ROL, SOL and q-line) are
drawn, the number of theoretical stages required
for a given separation is then the number of
triangles that can be drawn between these
operating lines and the equilibrium curve.

Figure 16: A typical representation of identifying number of

theoretical stages

Tray Efficiency
For the analysis of theoretical stage required for
the distillation, it is assumed that the vapor
leaving each tray is in equilibrium with the liquid
leaving the same tray and the trays are operating
at 100% efficiency.
In practice, the trays are not perfect; there are
deviations from ideal conditions.
The equilibrium with respect to temperature is
sometimes reasonable for exothermic chemical
reaction but the equilibrium with respect to mass
transfer is not often valid.
The deviation from the ideal condition may be due
to:
1. Insufficient time of contact

To achieve the same degree of desired

separation, more trays will have to be added to
compensate for the lack of perfect separability.
The concept of tray efficiency may be used to
adjust the actual number of trays required.

Overall Efficiency
Eo
The overall tray efficiency,
Eo

is defined as:

No. theoretic al trays

N[38]
o. of actual trays

It is applied for the whole column.

Every tray is assumed to have the same
efficiency.
The overall efficiency depends on the:
(i) geometry and design of the contacting
trays
(ii) flow rates and flow paths of vapour and
liquid streams
(iii)compositions and properties of vapour and

The overall efficiency can be calculated from the

following correlations:
The Drickamer-Bradford empirical correlation:
Eo 13.3 66.8 log

[39]

The corrrelation is valid for hydrocarbon mixtures

in the range of 342 K < T < 488.5 K, 1 atm < P <
25 atm and
0.066 < < 0.355 cP
The O'Connell correlation:
Eo 50.3

0.226

[40]

Murphree Efficiency
The efficiency of the tray can also be calculated
based on semi-theoretical models which can be
interpreted by the Murphree Tray Efficiency EM.
In this case it is assumed that the vapour and
liquid between trays are well-mixed and have
uniform composition.
It is defined for each tray according to the
separation achieved on each tray based on
either the liquid phase or the vapor phase.

y can
For a given component,
be expressed as:
y it

y y

Based on vapour phase:

MV

n
*

n 1

n 1

[41]

x x

EML

n
*

n 1

n 1

Based on liquid phase:

x x

Worked example
A liquid mixture of benzene-toluene is being distilled
in a fractionating column at 101.3 kPa pressure. The
feed of 100 kmole/h is liquid and it contains 45 mole
% benzene (A) and 55 mole% toluene (B) and enters
at 327.6K. A distillate containing 95 mole% benzene
and 5 mole% toluene and a bottoms containing 10
mole% benzene and 90 mole% toluene are to be
obtained. The amount of liquid fed back to the
column at the top is 4 times the distillate product.
The average heat capacity of the feed is 159 kJ/kg
mole.K and the average latent heat 32099 kJ/kg
mole. Take the boiling point of the mixture to be 366.7 K
Calculate
i. The kg moles per hour distillate, kg mole per hour
bottoms
ii. Number of theoretical stages at the operating
reflux.

The equilibrium data:

SOLUTION:

F=D+B
100 = D + B
xFF = xDD + xBB
0.45 (100) = 0.95D + 0.1B
Therefore, D = 41.2 kg mole/h, B = 58.8 kg
mole/h
equation for ROL
R = L/D =4/1=4

Determination

of q value:
Since the feed enters as liquid mixture;
TB = 366.7K, and TF = 327.6K ( inlet feed
temp)
Therefore q = 1.194

1
q
x
xF
q

1
q

1
is:

The q- line equation

Therefore the slope of q line = 6.15

From

the graph (Figure P1),

Total no of theoretical
stages is 8 at operating
reflux (Red color)
From the graph (Figure P1),
Total no of theoretical
stages is 6 at total reflux
(Black color)
Overall efficiency at
operating conditions,
Eo(Operating)
Overall efficiency at total
reflux conditions, Eo (total
relux)

Figure P1

Extractive Distillation
Extractive distillation is a vapor-liquid process
operation that uses a third component, or solvent,
to effect a chemical separation
The extractive agent creates or enhances the
volatility difference between the components to
be separated.
The extractive agent and the less volatile
component flow to the bottom of the distillation
column, where the
extracted component is recovered by a
subsequent distillation
The non-extracted species are distilled to the top
of the extractive distillation tower.

Extractive Distillation Configuration

Choice of Solvent
Should enhance significantly the natural
relative volatility of the key component.
Should not require an excessive ratio of
solvent to non-solvent(because of cost of
handling in the column and auxiliary equipment.
Should remain soluble in the feed components
and should not lead to the formation of two
phase.
Should be easily separable from the bottom
product.
Should be inexpensive and readily available.
Should be stable at the temperature of the
distillation and solvent separation.
Should be non reactive with the components in
the feed mixture.
Should have a low latent heat.