DESIGN OF THE DISTILLATION COLUMN : RECTIFICATION SECTION

We now design the top section of the rectification section or the top part of the distillation tower. We take
general values for weir height, plate thickness, plate hole diameter see if all the conditions are satisfied by
those values.
If all those values satisfy the conditions our design is correct and we just have to check for economics. If
at least one of the conditions do not match we have to change the design. In reality we have to repeat the
procedure several times till all the conditions are satisfied by the values assumed by us. Here in the report
we show only the values which satisfied all the necessary conditions.
Here also similar to Stripping section, all the values remain same except for hole area of the plate is only
5% of Active area(or bubbling area) and height of weir is 50 mm.
A
h
= 5% of A
a
= 0.01226 m
2
h
w
= 50 mm.
We have the following data for our top section:
Maximum liquid flow rate = 0.6306 Kg/s = 1.122 x 10
-3
m
3
/s.
Minimum liquid flow rate = 0.4661 Kg/s = 0.83 x 10
-3
m
3
/s.
Maximum h
ow
= 750

= 750

= 13.084 mm liq NH
3
.
Where L
w
= Liquid flow rate in Kg/s.

l
=Density of the liquid in Kg/m
3
.
l
w
= Length of weir in m.
Minimum h
ow
= 750

= 750

= 10.695 mm liq NH
3
.
Maximum (h
ow
+ h
w
) = (50 + 13.084) = 63.084 mm.
Minimum (h
ow
+ h
w
) = (50 + 10.695) = 60.695 mm.
Weeping Check:
From Fig. 11.30 for Minimum (h
ow
+ h
w
) we get K
2
= 30.4
Minimum design vapor velocity:
h
=

)
(

=
()
()

= 3.3625 m/s.
Minimum vapor actual vapor velocity = u
vap
=
(


)

= 0.0587/0.01226 m/s = 4.786 m/s.

So weeping check is done as u
vap
>
h
.
Plate Pressure Drop:
Maximum vapor velocity through holes = u
h
= (0.074/0.01226) m/s = 6.476m/s.
A
h
/A
a
= 5% A
h
/A
p
; Plate thickness/hole diameter = 1.2 gives C
o
= 0.85 from figure.
Total Pressure Drop is given by:
h
t
= h
d
+ (h
w
+ h
ow
) + h
r

Where h
d
= dry pressure drop
h
d
= 51

= 51

) = 67.5 mm liq
C
o
= Orifice coefficient
h
r
= residual head
h
r
=

= 22.25 mm liq
Maximum h
t
= h
d
+ (h
w
+ h
ow
)
max
+ h
r
= 67.5 + 63.084 + 22.25 = 152.88 mm liq NH
3
.
This amount of plate pressure drop is allowable for a 6mm thick plate made of carbon steel.
So Plate pressure drop condition is achieved.
Downcomer Liquid Backup:
h
ap
= h
w
-10 = 50 -10 = 40 mm
A
ap
= l
w
x h
ap
= 0.487 x 40 x 10
-3
= 0.01948 m
2

A
d
= 0.12 A
c
= 0.03872 m
2

h
dc
= 166

= 166

= 0.551 mm 1 mm
Where h
dc
: head loss in the downcomer, mm.
L
wd
: liquid flow rate in downcomer, kg/s,
A
m
: either the downcomer area A
d
or the clearance area under the downcomer A
ap
; whichever is the
smaller, m
2
.

h
b
= (h
w
+ h
ow
)
max
+ h
t
+ h
dc

Where h
b
: downcomer back-up, measured from plate surface, mm.
Thus, h
b
= 63.084 + 152.88 + 1 = 216.964 mm
Condition here is : h
b
< 0.5(l
t
+ h
w
) which is satisfied because:
216.964 mm < 0.5(500 + 50) = 275 mm.
So we move on to the last condition to check which is
Downcomer residence time:
A time of at least 3 seconds is recommended.
The downcomer residence time is given by:
t
r
=

= 3.77 sec > 3sec.

So the residence time condition is satisfied too.
Entrainment:
Entrainment should not exceed 0.1.
u
v
= (0.0794 m
3
/s)/(0.284 m
2
) = 0.2796 m/s.
% flooding = (u
v
/top u
f
) x 100 = (0.2796/0.545) x 100 = 51.3 %
F
LV top
= 0.09365
From fig 11.29, = 7 x 10
-3
< 0.1.
Plate specifications:
No. of holes in the plate = A
h
/Area of each hole =

= 624 holes.
Efficiency of plates can be assumed to be 47%
E
mv
= 0.47
Overall efficiency of column E
0
=

= 49.8966% 50%
Therefore, Actual no. of stages = (3.5/(0.5) + 1) = 8 steps
Feed is at 4
th
tray from the top.
Total Height of tower = (8 x 0.5) + 1(allowances) = 5 m
Tower diameter = 0.66m OD.
Net Pressure drop in tower = 5 trays of H
2
O + 3 trays of NH
3

= (5 x 154.38mm H
2
O) + (3 x 152.88 mm NH
3
)
= (5 x 154.38/10336) + (3 x 152.88/18393.75)
= 0.0996 atm 0.1 atm