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Aspen Plus Tutorial 6:

Azeotropic/Extractive Distillation
This tutorial will guide you though the setup of an azeotropic distillation column using RADFRAC.

Residue and Miscibility

Before setting up the model, the tutorial will show how to use Aspen's ability to create residue
curves based on your chose models and the add to that a liquid-liquid miscibility curve.

Flowsheet

Start a new flowsheet in Aspen and add a FLASH3 unit and add stream FEED to the feed stream,
VAPOR to the vapor stream, 1-LIQUID to the first liquid stream and 2-LIQUID to the second liquid
stream.

Components and Properties

The components are vinyl acetate (VA, VINYL-ACETATE, C4H6O2-1), acetic acid (AA, ACETIC-
ACID, C2H4O2-1) and water (H2O, WATER, H2O). We will use the NRTL-RK property set.

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Feed Stream

We will set up Aspen to vary this stream a short bit later. For now define the feed stream as having
T=230F, P=65psi, VA = 1 lbmol/hr, H2O = 1 lbmol/hr. This will be the pressure at the top of the
column.

Flash3

Define the decanter as shown below. Here we have set the pressure to 0 denoting no pressure drop
and heat duty to zero denoting adiabatic phase separation. Thus this unit will have the same
conditions as the inlet stream. The key component (the majority component) in the 2nd liquid
stream will be water.

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Sensitivity Analysis

We can use Aspen to get an idea of how sensitive (how much our process changes) our process is to
a changing variable. We will use this feature to get a list of the liquid-liquid equilibria for a water-
VA-AA system. We will later put this on a ternary diagram.

To set the sensitivity, expand "Model Analysis Tools" and click on Sensitivity. Add a new object.
You will then need to add FORTRAN variables to calculate your data. Don't despair. We won't be
using any heavy duty FORTRAN and you shouldn't need much more than what is in this tutorial.
Just so you know, basic statements are much like any other programming language. y = 2 (2+ 2x -
sin(x)/2)x-1 would be written y = 2*(2+2*x-sin(x)/2)**(x-1). But again, you probably won't
need all of that.

We want to examine 6 variables, the mole fractions of each component in the 2 liquid streams. Select
new to enter in each of the variable definitions.

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etc...

You should have the following variables entered in the end:

Name Type Stream Substream Component

AA1 Mole-frac 1-LIQUID MIXED AA
VA1 Mole-frac 1-LIQUID MIXED VA
WA1 Mole-frac 1-LIQUID MIXED H2O
AA2 Mole-frac 2-LIQUID MIXED AA
VA2 Mole-frac 2-LIQUID MIXED VA
WA2 Mole-frac 2-LIQUID MIXED H2O

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So you know, Aspen uses an old FORTRAN convention of only having six letters for variable
names.

We will vary the flow of acetic acid. The system forms a two phase liquid up to about 33% acetic
acid. We will collect 21 data points varying acetic acid from 0-1lbol/hr.

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We will simply tabulate the variable we defined above.

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Run Simulation

Everything is in, so save and run the simulation. The results under Model Analysis
Tools\Sensitivity\S-1\Results will show you how your model reacted. You should notice that the
final sensitivity run does not have information for the second liquid. That point is outside of the
immiscibility region.

Ternary Diagram

We want to plot this data on a ternary diagram that Aspen will create. To do this, in the menu, go to
Tools|Analysis|Property|Residues. Components are VA, AA, H2O and the pressure should be
65psi. Valid phases should be Vapor-Liquid-Liquid. Click Go to make a plot.

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Now you can plot the data from the 3 phase flash sensitivity run on the plot (Print it out and do it by
hand).

RADFRAC Setup
Save that project and save as a new name again. This will be your RADFRAC file. Erase the unit
and the product streams and delete the sensitivity run.

Flowsheet

Set up the following flowsheet. Be sure that VA-RICH is in the liquid distillate port and the H2O-
RICH is in the 2nd liquid distillate port. Note that RADFRAC has the appropriate picture this time
(mainly for clarity).

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Feed Stream

The feed stream, like the column configuration, is taken from last year's project.

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RADFRAC Setup

Set up RADFRAC using the specifications on the following sheets. Some things of note:

z The valid phases are Vapor-Liquid-Liquid

z We will be extracting 2683 lbmol/hr from the bottom of the column, the same amount of AA
going in.
z VA-RICH should be 1st liquid, H2O-RICH should be 2nd liquid.
z Three phase calculations will happen on all stages.
z Water is the key component in the 2nd liquid stream.

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Run Simulation

Save and run.

Assignment
Plot a residue curve for the VA,AA,H2O system. On the curve show the liquid-liquid equilibrium
curve and tie lines for conditions at the top of the column (230F, 65psi). Draw in the Feed, VA-
Rich, Water-Rich, and Bottoms points on this diagram based on the azeotropic distillation from
RADFRAC. Also indicate the material balance point, and the distillate mixture point. Draw lines
between significant points. Turn this page and a printout of your stream summary in with your
group number and name.

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