SEPARATION PROCESSES

Lecture 3
SIMPLE DISTILLATION &
AZEOTROPES

Dr. Ibrahim Suleiman

SIMPLE DISTILLATION

 C onsid er wha t hap pens when a

liquid o f c omp o siti on 𝑎 is
heated . It b oil s when the
temperature reac hes 𝑇 . Then the
liquid has com position 𝑎 .
 The va po ur (whic h i s pre sent onl y
as a trace) has com position 𝑎 .
 The vap our is ric her in the m ore
volatile co mp one nt A (the
com p onent with the l ower boiling
point).
 From the l oca tion of 𝑎 , we c an
sta te the vap ou r’s co mp ositi on at
the boiling point
 From the lo ca tion of the ti e line
joining 𝑎 and 𝑎 we c an read o f f
the b oiling tem perature ( 𝑇 ) o f
the original liquid mixtu re.
SIMPLE DISTILLATION

 In a simple distillation, the vapour is withdrawn and

condensed. This technique is used to separate a volatile
liquid from a non-volatile solute or solid.
 In fractional distillation, the boiling and condensation
cycle is repeated successively. This technique is used to
separate volatile liquids.
 If the first condensate of composition is reheated. The
phase diagram shows that this mixture boils at and
yields a vapour of composition , which is even richer in
the more volatile component.
 That vapour is drawn off, and the first drop condenses to
a liquid of composition . The cycle can then be
repeated until in due course almost pure A is obtained.
SIMPLE DISTILLATION

 The ef ficiency of a fractionating

column is expressed in terms of the
number of theoretical plates.
 Theoretical plates is the number of
effective vaporization and
condensation steps that are required
to achieve a condensate of given
composition from a given distillate.
 To achieve the degree of separation
shown in (a), the fractionating
column must correspond to three
theoretical plates.
 To achieve the same separation for
the system shown in (b), in which the
components have more similar
partial pressures, the fractionating
column must be designed to
correspond to five theoretical plates.
AZEOTROPES

 Usually the equilibrium curves do not have inflection

points.
 Due to some strong interactions (physical or
chemical) among the molecules in the mixtures, the
phase diagrams may have different shape.
 In some mixtures, there is a certain point on the
phase diagram at which the vapor and liquid
compositions are identical, preventing the separation
to continue without changing the pressure. These
mixtures are called Azeotropes.
AZEOTROPE

 Azeotropes could have:

1. Low (or minimum) boiling azeotrope (more
common)
2. High (or Maximum) boiling azeotrope
NON-IDEAL SYSTEM
MODIFIED RAOULT’S LAW
The modified Raoult’s Law is given by the expression:

Then
(A)

(B)

Where
is the fugacity coefficient
is the activity coefficient
FUGACIT Y COEFFICIENT

For a multi-component system

Where:
For multi component system:

Where
is the Wilson equation parameters
1. For ,
are always positive

and are the molar volumes at temperature T of pure liquids

j and i.
is a constant independent of composition and temperature.
THE END

Q&A