Exercises for Lecture 2

Dr Colin Hare
Chemical Engineering
School of Process, Environmental and Materials Engineering
University of Leeds
Tel. 32407
e-mail c.l.hare@leeds.ac.uk
1. Batch Distillation
A 100-g-mole liquid mixture containing 50 mole% n-heptane and 50 mole%
n-octane at 30
o
C is to be subjected to a differential distillation at
atmospheric pressure. The process is stopped when the mole fraction of
MVC in the still reaches 0.33.
Determine the amount of composited distillate collected and its mole fraction, (i.e.
y
ave
).
Equilibrium data for n-heptane and n-octane is given in the Table below (in mole
fractions n-heptane in vapour and liquid):
Solution to Example 1 (A)
This is a problem of determining (n) from known values (either given in the problem
statement or can be calculated from the information given) of n
o
, x
0
and x . In this
case, n
o
= 100 g-moles, x
o
= 0.50 (n-heptane, the MVC) and x = 0.33. The Rayleigh
equation gives






The key is to integrate the right hand side, how?
}

=
(

o
x
x
o
dx
x y n
n
Ln
1
}

=
(

5 . 0
33 . 0
1 100
dx
x y n
Ln
Solution to Example 1 (B)
The RHS = the area under the curve 1/(y-x) bounded
between x
o
and x
2
is 0.916. Thus, the LHS = ln (100/n) =
0.916. Solving for n
2
:
n = 40.0 g-mole
}

=
(

5 . 0
33 . 0
1 100
dx
x y n
Ln
Solution to Example 1 (C)
Mass balance
This gives y
ave
=0.614
ave o o
y n n nx x n ) (
0
+ =
2. Flash Distillation
An equimolar mixture of benzene and toluene is subjected to flash distillation at a
pressure of 1 bar in the separator. Determine the compositions (in mole fraction
benzene) of the liquid and vapour leaving the separator when the feed is 25%
vaporized.
(1) Estimate the temperature in the separator. Equilibrium data for benzene-toluene system at
1 bar is given in the table below
(2) What are the concentrations in
the vapour and liquid, and the
separator temperature the feed is:
(a) 0% vapourised? (b) 50%
vapourised? (c) 75%
vapourised? and (d) 100%
vapourised ?
Plot the operating lines for each of
these cases and discuss how the
operating lines change as f changes.
Solution to Example 2 (A)
The operating line equation is as follows, with f = 0.25 (25% of feed is vapourised) and
x
F
= 0.50 (equimolar mixture, MVC = benzene)




Locate the first point ( x=x
F
= 0.50, y=x
F
= 0.50 ) on the 45
o
diagonal.
Locate the second point using the
operating line equation.
Plot the operating line by joining
the 2 points. Intersection between
the operating line and equilibrium
curve gives the solution for x
B
and y
D
.
Solution to Example 2 (B)
From graph - this is shown as
case (b) - we have:
x
B
= 0.44, y
D
= 0.66
The separator temperature
can be estimate by
interpolation or determined
from the equilibrium phase
diagram. As shown in the
Figure, this is ~92.4
o
C.
Same calculations can be
repeated for the other
scenarios; see the table.