Distillation in Design

Click to Terry A. Ring edit Master subtitle style ChE University of Utah
www.che.utah.edu/~ring

Use of Separation Units

Criteria for the Selection of a Separation Method

Mass Separation Agent (MSA) Energy Separation Agent (ESA)

Phase condition of feed Separation Factor Choice of MSA Additive Cost Separation Factor Regeneration of MSA I Cost C

SF =

C C

I 2

C1II

II 2

Phases I and II, Components 1 and 2 (light key and heavy key)

Distillation

Distillation

Plate Types

Bubble Cap Tray

Sieve Tray

Packed Towers

Random Packing

Structured Packing

Note: Importance of Distributor plate

Distillation
=KL/KH

Relative Volatility Equilibrium Line

Distillation

Rectifying Section

R= reflux ratio V=vapor flow rate VB= Boil-up ratio

Stripping Section

Feed Line

Minimum Reflux Ratio

McCabe-Thiele

Step Off Equilibrium Trays

What are you going to learn next year?

Column sizing

Diameter of Column Size of trays Height of packing

Column Costing Optimization of column with respect to cost to run (capital cost and operating cost) How to develop a distillation train. How to set up side streams in multi-component distillation.

Marginal Vapor Rate

Annualized Cost~ Marginal Vapor Rate Annualized Cost proportional to

Reboiler Duty (Operating Cost) Condenser Duty (Operating Cost) Reboiler Area (Capital Cost) Condenser Area (Capital Cost) Column Diameter (Capital Cost)

Vapor Rate is proportional to all of the above

Direct Distillation Sequence

Column Sequences

No. of Columns

Nc=P-1

P= No. of Products

No. of Possible Column Sequences

Ns=[2(P-1)]!/[P!(P-1)!]

P= No. of Products
No. of Possible Column Sequences Blows up!

P=3, Nc=2, Ns=2 P=4, Nc=3, Ns=5 P=5, Nc=4, Ns=14 P=6, Nc=5, Ns=42 P=7, Nc=6, Ns=132

How do I evaluate which is best sequence?

Marginal Vapor Rate

Annualized Cost~ Marginal Vapor Rate Annualized Cost proportional to

Reboiler Duty (Operating Cost) Reboiler Area (Capital Cost) Condenser Duty (Operating Cost) Condenser Area (Capital Cost) Diameter of Column (Capital Cost)

Vapor Rate is proportional to all of the above

Selecting Multiple Column Separation Trains

Minimum Cost for Separation Train will occur when you have a

Minimum of Total Vapor Flow Rate for all columns R= 1.2 Rmin V=D (R+1)

V= Vapor Flow Rate D= Distillate Flow Rate R=Recycle Ratio

Problem
Distillation Train

Reactor

Flash

After Flash to 100F @ 500 psia

Recycled Reactants

Simplified Marginal Vapor Flow Analysis

Liquid kmole/hr Hydrogen 2 Methane 18 Benzene 264 Toluene 115 Biphenyl 3 Total 402 Sequence Total Direct Sequence Distillate Flow Distillate Flow Column 1 Column 2 x x x x 284 399 115 Indirect Sequence Distillate Flow Distillate Flow Column 1 Column 2 x x x x 399 683 x x x

284

R assumed to be similar for all columns V~D

Column Design

Minimum Cost for Distillation Column will occur when you have a

Minimum of Total Vapor Flow Rate for column Occurs at

R ~ 1.2 Rmin @ N/Nmin=2 V= Vapor Flow Rate D= Distillate Flow Rate (=Production Rate) R=Reflux Ratio

V=D (R+1)

How To Determine the Column Pressure given coolant

Cooling Water Available at 90F Distillate Can be cooled to 120F min. Calculate the Bubble Pt. Pressure of Distillate Composition at 120F

equals Distillate Pressure Bottoms Pressure = Distillate Pressure +10 psia delta P

Compute the Bubble Pt. Temp for an estimate of the Bottoms Composition at Distillate Pressure
Gives Bottoms Temperature P > Atm, Pressure generated by system. For Vacuum, how is it that generated?

Not Near Critical Point for mixture

Steam Ejector Generates the Vacuum.

High Pressure High Velocity Steam Velocity > Mach 1

Bernoullis Equation Vacuum

Design Issues

Packing vs Trays Column Diameter from flooding consideration

Trays, DT=[(4G)/((f Uflood (1-Adown/AT)G)]1/2 14.11

eq.

Uflood= f(dimensionless density difference), f = 0.75-0.85 eq. 14.12

Packed, DT =[(4G)/((f Uflood G)]1/2

eq. 14.14
eq. 14.15

Uflood= f(flow ratio), f = 0.75-0.85

Column Height

Nmin=log[(dLK/bLK)(bHK/dHK)]/log[LK,HK] N=Nmin/

eq. 14.1

Tray Height = N*Htray Packed Height = Neq*HETP

HETP(height equivalent of theoretical plate) HETPrandom = 1.5 ft/in*Dp eq. 14.9

Tray Efficiency, = f(viscosityliquid * LK,HK) 14.3 Pressure Drop

Fig

Tray, P=Lg hL-wier N

Tray Efficiency

L * LK,HK

Costing

Column Costs

Column Material of Construction gives metal

Pressure Vessel Cp= FMCv(W)+CPlatform

Reboiler CB AreaHX Condenser CB AreaHX Pumping Costs feed, reflux, reboiler

Work = Q*P Surge tank before column, reboiler accumulator (sometimes longer (empty) tower), condensate accumulator

Tanks

Problem

Methanol-Water Distillation Feed

10 gal/min 50/50 (mole) mixture High Purity MeOH in D Pure Water in B

Desired to get

Simulator Methods - Aspen

Start with simple distillation method

DSTWU Winn-Underwood-Gilliland Method

Min # stages, Rmin Fenske-Underwood Min # stages vs R - Gilliland

Distil short cut Edmister Method

Then go to more complicated one for sizing purposes

RadFrac rigorous method Sizing in RadFrac

Figure 1
Polar

Eric Carlsons Recommendations

Non-electrolyte
E?

See Figure 2

Electrolyte Real
R?

All Non-polar
Polarity
R ? P ? E ?

Real or pseudocomponents Pressure Electrolytes

Pseudo & Real

P?

Electrolyte NRTL Or Pizer Peng-Robinson, Redlich-Kwong-Soave Lee-Kesler-Plocker Chao-Seader, Grayson-Streed or Braun K-10 Braun K-10 or ideal

Vacuum

Yes

Figure 2
P < 10 bar (See also Figure 3) Polar Non-electrolytes
P ?

Yes
ij?

NRTL, UNIQUAC and their variances WILSON, NRTL, UNIQUAC and their variances UNIFAC LLE

LL ?

No Yes

No

LL ?

No Yes P > 10 bar

ij?

UNIFAC and its extensions

L L ? P ? i j ?

Liquid/Liquid Pressure

Schwartentruber-Renon PR or SRK with WS PR or SRK with MHV2 PSRK PR or SRK with MHV2

Interaction Parameters Available

No

Figure 3
Yes

Hexamers
DP ?

Wilson, NRTL, UNIQUAC, or UNIFAC with special EOS for Hexamers Wilson, NRTL, UNIQUAC, UNIFAC with Hayden OConnell or Northnagel EOS Wilson, NRTL, UNIQUAC, or UNIFAC* with ideal Gas or RK EOS

Dimers Wilson NRTL UNIQUAC UNIFAC

V A P D ? P ?

V A P No ?

Vapor Phase Association Degrees of Polymerizatiom

UNIFAC* and its Extensions

Distillation Problems

Multi-component Distillation

Selection of Column Sequences Selection of tray for side stream Overcoming it to get pure products Decreasing the cost of separations

Azeotropy

Heat Integration