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EXAMPLE: MULTICOMPONENT DISTILLATION WITH SHORTCUT METHODS

93

FIGURE 6.4 Block input information for DSTWU block.

Step 2 Figure 6.5 shows the solution with stream information. You can check parts of this
output. Look rst at the mole balances. Indeed, 99% of the propane and 1% of the i-butane
went out the top stream. The other components are heavier, and you would expect them to
be split in such a way that only a small fraction goes out through the overhead stream; this
is indeed the case. You also get the bubble points of the distillate and bottom product (not
shown): 82.0 F for the distillate and 200.9 F for the bottom product. These are close to the
values shown in Chapter 5, which should give you condence in the thermodynamics used
in the calculations.

FIGURE 6.5 Multicomponent distillation with DSTWU.

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THERMODYNAMICS AND SIMULATION OF MASS TRANSFER EQUIPMENT

FIGURE 6.6 Block results for DSTWU block.

Step 3 You also want to know the parameters of the distillation column, which are obtained
by choosing the block for the column and then clicking the Results tab, giving Figure 6.6.
Note that the minimum number of stages is 16, the minimum reux ratio is 3.14, the
actual reux ratio is 3.66, and the actual number of stages is 32. In this case, your guess
of 10 stages was too small and the program modied it for you. If you had entered 32
stages, the program would use exactly 32 stages. You could have specied the reux ratio
instead, and Aspen Plus would compute the number of stages. The feed is on the 16th stage
(from the top).
Note that the ratio of reux ratio to minimum reux ratio is 3.66/3.14 = 1.17, which is
a common and economical one. However, during the energy crisis in the 1970s, engineers
found that a ratio of 1.1 was more economical, although the distillation tower was harder to
control. This is one of the choices (number of stages or reux ratio) that you will make as
a chemical engineer that affects the economics of the process. The cost of the column and
the heating and cooling cost must be examined to nd the minimum cost. In this case, the
reboiler duty is 15.3 106 Btu/h and the condenser duty is 2.7 106 Btu/h. Since heating
is more expensive than cooling, the major operating cost is the cost of the steam to heat the
reboiler. If energy is selling for $6 per million Btu, you would have an operating cost for
this column of $61 per hour, or about $540,000 per year.
Your choice of thermodynamic model does make a difference. Table 6.5 shows results
from three simulations, all with exactly 26 stages, using different models. The results differ,
but since Aspen Plus recommends the ChaoSeader and RKSBM models, we choose them
rather than the RKSoave.
Difculties can arise. If you misidentify the light and heavy key (say reversing them),
you may get a negative number of stages. If you identify a light and heavy key that has
another component that boils between them, that other component will be split in some
way, which may not meet your desired specications. If the thermodynamics is nonideal
and the boiling points are not sufcient to guarantee the volatility (i.e., activity coefcients

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MULTICOMPONENT DISTILLATION WITH RIGOROUS PLATE-TO-PLATE METHODS

95

TABLE 6.5 Comparison of Different Thermodynamic Models

Thermodynamic Model
Minimum number of stages
Actual number of stages
Minimum reux ratio
Actual reux ratio

RKSoave

RKSBM

Renery/ChaoSeader

10.9
22
1.0
1.3

16
32
3.14
3.66

15.6
31
2.85
3.34

are important), then you may specify the light and heavy key correctly according to their
boiling points, but the simulation may act as if they were not specied correctly.

MULTICOMPONENT DISTILLATION WITH RIGOROUS

PLATE-TO-PLATE METHODS
The shortcut distillation method gives reasonable answers to straightforward problems, but
distillations can have multiple feed streams or multiple product streams. There might even be
azeotropes within the column. To handle complications like that, and to get better accuracy,
you will want to use a rigorous plate-to-plate method that takes a vapor stream and liquid
stream, equilibrates them, and sends off a vapor and liquid stream with different compositions. This is what happens on each plate, or tray, on the column. Such a method is a large
computational problem, and it requires specifying the number of plates, or trays, or stages,
in advance. A good starting point is the number of stages suggested by the shortcut method.
The next simulation is for the same column, but using the RadFrac block in Aspen Plus.
The feed is the same, the pressure is 138 psia, and the PENG-ROB property method is
used. This example uses 32 stages, and you run Aspen Plus to see what the split is. (Note
that you cannot easily set the split and nd the number of stages or reux ratio needed to
achieve it.) Set the reux ratio to 3.7 and enter the feed on the 13th stage.
The output is shown in Table 6.6, and only 62% of the propane goes out the top
stream; along with 5% of the i-butane. The condenser is at 99.5 F and has a heat duty of

TABLE 6.6 Stream Table for Multicomponent Distillation with RadFrac,

Reux Ratio = 3.7

Temperature ( F)
Pressure (psia)
Vapor fraction
Mole ow (lb mol/h)
Mass ow (lb/h)
Volume ow (cuft/h)
Enthalpy (MM Btu/h)
Mole ow (lb mol/h)
Propane
i-Butane
n-Butane
i-Pentane
n-Pentane

75
138
0
1800
110232.9
3051.494
120.833

99.5
138
0
100
4937.957
157.948
5.67

174.2
138
0
1700
105294.9
3303.065
108.691

100
300
500
400
500

62.336
14.829
3.064
19.771
0

37.664
285.171
496.936
380.229
500

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THERMODYNAMICS AND SIMULATION OF MASS TRANSFER EQUIPMENT

(a)

(b)

FIGURE 6.7 Multicomponent distillation with RadFrac, reux ratio = 3.7. (a) Condenser results;
(b) reboiler results.

3.3 106 Btu/h, and the reboiler is at 174.2 F and has a heat duty of 9.8 106 Btu/h
(see Figure 6.7). To see the ow rates on each stage, choose the block, then Proles. Above
the feed, the liquid ow rate varies between 330 and 470 lb mol/h, and below it, the ow
rate varies between 2920 and 2940 lb mol/h. Although DSTWU assumes the same number
of moles on each plate or tray, RadFrac calculates what actually occurs.
Since the desired separation is not achieved, you must run the problem again with more
stages (40) and a higher reux ratio (11). The results are in Table 6.7. The separation
is slightly better than required (99.2%). This, of course, changes the temperatures of the
condenser and reboiler because they are at the bubble points of the mixtures, and these
change with composition. The condenser is at 77 F with a heat duty of 7.0 106 Btu/h,
and the reboiler is at 177 F and with a heat duty of 14.3 106 Btu/h. Above the feed
stream, the liquid ow rate varies between 920 and 1200 lb mol/h, and below it the ow
rate is about 3520 lb mol/h.

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EXAMPLE: PACKED BED ABSORPTION

97

TABLE 6.7 Multicomponent Distillation with RadFrac, Reux Ratio = 11

Temperature ( F)
Pressure (psia)
Vapor fraction
Mole ow (lb mol/h)
Mass ow (lb/h)
Volume ow (cuft/h)
Enthalpy (MM Btu/h)
Mole ow (lb mol/h)
Propane
i-Butane
n-Butane
i-Pentane
n-Pentane

75
138
0
1800
110232.9
3051.494
120.833

77.3
138
0
100
4421.785
143.763
5.206

177
138
0
1700
105811.1
3327.539
109.003

100
300
500
400
500

99.135
0.363
0.018
0.484
0

0.865
299.637
499.982
399.516
500

EXAMPLE: PACKED BED ABSORPTION

If a gas contains a contaminant you would like to remove, one way is to bring the gas
into contact with a liquid that can absorb it; this is often done in an absorption column, as
illustrated in Figure 6.8. Here, you take an air stream containing acetone at a concentration
of 2%; you want to lower its concentration to 0.4% by using water in a column. In Aspen

ADSORB
6

FIGURE 6.8 Absorption column.

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THERMODYNAMICS AND SIMULATION OF MASS TRANSFER EQUIPMENT

Plus, you can use RadFrac. To get this form of the picture for RadFrac, open up the options
for the RadFrac block by click on the downward pointing arrow. The only difference from
distillation towers is that you will not have a condenser or reboiler, and there are two
inputs, one at each end. Before making that model, you have to decide on an appropriate
thermodynamic model. Figure 6.9 shows experimental data, along with the predictions of
Aspen Plus using the WILS-2 thermodynamic model, which is Wilson with an ideal gas.

(a)

(b)

FIGURE 6.9 Vaporliquid diagram for acetonewater: (a) experimental data at 1.01 105 Pa
(Othmer and Morley, 1946); (b) calculations at 1 atm using WILS-2 thermodynamics.

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EXAMPLE: PACKED BED ABSORPTION

99

(b)

(a)

FIGURE 6.10 Absorption column parameters in Aspen Plus. (a) Feed streams; (b) product streams.

This is one of the recommended models suggested by Aspen using the Tools/Property
Method Selection Assistant . . . for Specify component type and chemical system, not
high pressure. The experimental data were obtained by choosing the blue and red NIST
TDE button and looking at Txy data. The one plotted is VLE036 due to Othmer and Morley
(1946), and reasonable agreement exists for this very nonlinear system.
Use a 12-stage column and have the air stream enter on stage 12 and the water stream
enters on stage 1, as shown in Figure 6.10. (The stages are numbered from the top.) The
feed streams are both taken as 80 F and 14.7 psia. Table 6.8 shows the feed rates of the air
and water stream.
Acetone has been transferred from the air stream to the water stream, and the mole
fraction of the air stream leaving is 0.406%. Note also that the air, which was dry entering,
is now wet, with water vapor forming about 3.5% of the gas stream. A small amount of air
is dissolved in the water, too. In a complete system, of course, the water efuent is taken
to another column where the acetone is removed and the water is recycled. Then the water
stream is saturated with air and contains some acetone as well.
Absorber/stripper combinations are used to remove a chemical from a stream. For
example, carbon dioxide is often absorbed into monoethanolamine (MEA); the steam then
is sent to a stripping column at a different pressure and the carbon dioxide is removed out
the top. The MEA is sent back to the absorber to be used again. Such units are ubiquitous
in reneries, but they are difcult to simulate because of the recycle and the fact that the

TABLE 6.8 Acetone Removal Stream Table

Substream: Mixed
Mole ow (lb mol/h)
Acetone
Water
Air
Total ow (lb mol/h)
Total ow (lb/h)
Total ow (cuft/h)
Temperature ( F)
Pressure (psia)
Vapor fraction
Liquid fraction

3.527396
0
172.8424
176.3698
5208.816
69485.12
80
14.7
1
0

0
176.3698
0
176.3698
3177.352
51.28876
80
14.7
0
1

0.7288636
6.117179
172.596
179.4421
5149.347
70657.21
79.70766
14.7
1
0

2.798533
170.2526
0.2463896
173.2976
3236.821
52.37885
59.21119
14.7
0
3

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THERMODYNAMICS AND SIMULATION OF MASS TRANSFER EQUIPMENT

absorber itself may not converge. Examples are given in Aspen Examples (see Appendix
C), and most of the absorbers using amines involve rate-based versions of RadFrac. A good
strategy is to not connect the recycle stream, but adjust conditions so that the output from
the stripper is about equal to the absorber amine input stream.

EXAMPLE: GAS PLANT PRODUCT SEPARATION

Consider the gas plant product separation process described in Figure 5.4. The pressures
in the units have been chosen so the overhead streams can be cooled with cooling water at
80 F. Thus, the designer looked at the vapor pressure of each component before xing the
pressures. The temperatures of the reboilers are basically at the bubble point of the bottom
stream, and this will be an output of the computer program.
Use Aspen Plus and model each distillation column using the DSTWU model as shown
in Figure 6.11. First, specify the split of key components: for the light component you
want 99% out the top and for the heavy component you want 1% out the top. The other
components will be split according to the shortcut method [The Fenske equation, Eq. (6.3)
on the book website.]
Choose the thermodynamic property method as Renery/ChaoSeader. Choose the pressures of the columns to agree with the gas plant in Figure 5.4. Each column has 26 stages,
and the temperatures shown in Table 6.9 are the result of thermodynamics predicted with
Aspen Plus. These are very close to those listed in Figure 5.4.
Aspen Plus also gives information such as the number of stages, minimum reux ratio, and heat duties in the reboiler and condenser. With the information shown engineers
can calculate the capital cost of the equipment (sometimes using rules of thumb to account for instrumentation, pumps, valves, etc.). You can also calculate at least some of
the operating cost, the raw material cost and product value, and the cooling and heating
cost. For distillation towers at normal temperatures, the heating cost per unit of energy
is about 10 times the cooling cost when using cooling water. If refrigeration is used
to cool the condensers, that energy cost is even more expensive that the cost of steam.
Experienced designers know that, and that is why the pressures are chosen so that cooling water can be used in the condensers. The conditions of the columns are given in
Table 6.10.

B1

B3

B2

B4

1
2

FIGURE 6.11 Gas plant separation in a distillation train.