2.1.

2 METHOD OF DESIGN AND ASSUMPTIONS

Multicomponent Tray Distillation Column

Process Decription

FEED DISTILLATE
Pressure: 106.3 kPa Pressure: 101.3 kPa
Temperature: 70°C Temperature: 80.95 °C
Mass Flow: 1639X10^7 kg/h Mass Flow: 9949210 kg/h

BOTTOM
Pressure: 111.3 kPa
Temperature: 164 °C
Mass Flow: 6445190 kg/h

Figure 2.9: Distillation Column T-100

Distillation Column (T-100) is designed to separate cyclohexane from

cyclohexanol,cyclohexanone,caproic acid and valeric acid.. The feed to this
column is a mixture of cyclohexane, cyclohexanol,cyclohexanone,caproic acid
and valeric acid from a heat exchanger. T-100 operates at 111.3 kPa at reboiler
and 101.3kPa at condenser with the operating temperature of 164oC and
80.95oC at reboiler and condenser respectively.

The light key cyclohexane will be the top product and the rest of the
component which is the heavy key will be the bottom product. There are 16
overall trays in the column to achieve the desired product quality. The height of
the column is 11m and the outer diameter is 2.33m. Stainless steel (Type 304
18Cr/8 Ni) is chosen as the design material as it has high corrosion resistance,
high ductility and good strength. The distillation process is chosen to be
conducted in trayed towers (plate columns). A trayed tower is a vertical,
cylindrical pressure vessel in which vapor and liquid, which flow counter
currently, are contacted on a series of metal trays or plates. The type of tray
selected is sieve tray with a tray spacing of 0.45m.

Design Methodology

1. Selection of distillation column parameters – type of column, tray, reboiler,

condenser

2. Determination of column operating condition – bottom bubble point, feed

bubble point, and distillate dew point

3. Preliminary process design for determination of the reflux ratio and

number of trays using shortcut procedures referred as Fenske-
Underwood- Gilliland method.

4. Optimization of distillation column reflux ratio and number of trays with

respect to the operating to decide on the optimum column operating
condition.

5. Determination of column operating region from liquid and gas loading to

prevent upset inside column such as flooding, weeping and entrainment.

6. Plate Hydrodynamic Design - Sizing of column internal from.

7. Mechanical design of Distillation Column (T-100).

Method of Design

Fenske Underwood Gilliland,(FUG) method is applied to conduct the design

calculation. Following are the basic assumptions for the method

1. The system is ideal.

2. Constant molar overflow (as in the McCabe Thiele method for binary
mixtures).

3. The separation is essentially taking place between the light key component
and the heavy key component. The light key (lk) is the lightest component
appearing in the bottom and the heavy key (hk) is the heaviest component
appearing in the top.

In the FUG method:

1. Fenske’s equation is used to calculate the minimum number of trays, Nmin.

2. Underwood’s equation is used to estimate the minimum reSux, Rmin.

3. Gilliland’s correlation is used to calculate the actual number of trays, N (for any
R given), or the reSux ratio, R, (for any N given) in terms of previous limiting
values Nmin and Rmin.