918 INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY VOL. 32, NO.

7
reduction rates and smooth operation, the temperature of the
hot zone should not be less than 1300’ C.
The reduction of sulfur dioxide by means of carbon mon-
oxide or oxysulfide is fast with any kind of catalyzing surface
above 800’ C. At lower temperatures (250” to 500’ C.)
alumina in the slightly hydrated and acid-soluble form is an
efficient catalyst, and the reaction appears to be of the first
order.
Acknowledgment
The writer wishes to express his appreciation of the valuable
assistance rendered by R. M. B. Roome, J. Melville, G. S.
Ortner, and J. H. Salter in conducting the experimental work
upon which this paper is based.
Literature Cited
(1) Clement, Adams, and Haskins, U. S. Bur. Mines, BUZZ.7 (1911).
(2) Drakeley, T.J., J. SOC.Chem. Ind., 50, 319-30T (1931).
(3) Haslam, R. T.,Hitchcock, F. L., and Rudow, E. W., IND. ENG.
CHEM.,15, 119 (1923).
(4) Haalam, R. T., and Russell, R. P., “Fuels and Their Combus-
tion”, 1st ed., p. 338, New York, McGraw-Hill Book Co.,
1926.
(5) Ibid., p. 553.
( 6 ) Jones, J. H., King, J. G., and Sinnatt, F. S., Dept. Sci. Ind.
Research (Brit.), Fuel Res. Tech. Papers 22 and 25 (1929-30).
(7) Lepsoe, Robert, IND.ENG.CHEM.,30,92-100 (1938).
(8) Perrott, G . St. J., and Kinney, S. P.,Trans. Am. Inst. Mining
E w s . , 69,585 (1923).
(9) Riley, H.L.,Chemistry &Industry. 58, 391-8 (1939).
(10) Tu, C. M., Davis, H., and Hottel, H. C., IND.ENG.CHEM.,26,
756, Fig. 12 (1934).
...
Correction
In the previous paper on “Chemistry of Sulfur Dioxide Reac-
tions”, which appeared in the January, 1938, issue of INDUSTRIAL
AND ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY, some errors should be corrected :
Page 95, table under “Monoatomic Sulfur” in the fourth column,
the figure for /S/ should be 0.0085 instead of 0.085. Page 97,
Table 111, the last figure under /CO/ should be 0.000005 instead
of 0.055. Page 98, Table VI, the column headings “% CO” and
“% COZ” should be transposed.

MULTICOMPONENT RECTIFICATION
Optimum Feed-Plate Composition
E. R. GILLILAND
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass.

I N DESIGNIKG rectification
equipment for the continu-
ous separation of a given
mixture, the design engineer is
The composition of the feed plate giving
the fewest plates for a
‘Onsidered for three different
separation is
types Of feed-
might be set to have a fixed con-
centration of propane in the
bottoms and to recover a defi-
nite fraction of the n-butane in
often confronted with the prob- action* equations are the feed with the bottoms; in
lem of determining the plate on developed for these three cases, and they this case the key components
which the feed mixture should be serve as a method of estimating the opti- would be taken the same as be-
introduced into the rectifying mum feed-plate composition. fore, although the concentra-
column. In general, for given tion of the n-butane is not ab-
operating conditions the designer solutely fixed in the distillate,
desires to introduce the feed to a plate having a compo- since the distribution of the intermediate component, iso-
sition of the mixture to be separated, such that the total butane, would shift with the composition taken for the feed
number of plates required for the separation will be a mini- plate. I n general, little difficulty is found in selecting the
mum; this will reduce the costs of the rectifying column. The two key components, although occasionally the problem of
composition of the feed plate giving the fewest number of selection is somewhat involved but can usually be resolved
plates will be termed the “optimum feed-plate Composition”, if the designer will analyze the fundamental purpose of the
and a criterion of this composition will be of assistance to rectification in order to determine just what is fixed.
the design engineer. I n performing the stepwise plate-to-plate calculations,
The following derivations for the optimum feed-plate use is made of equilibrium data and of material balances
composition will be on the basis of the two key components, expressed as the operating lines. Above the feed plate the
where the “light key component” will be considered as the operating line1 is:
most volatile component whose concentration is fixed in the
bottoms, and the “heavy key component’’ will be considered
as the least volatile component whose concentration is fixed
in the overhead distillate. Thus, in the stabilization of a Below the feed the operating line is:
gasoline containing saturated hydrocarbons ranging from
methane UD to h e a w fractions. the design conditions mieht
be set so as to have a’ definite concentratik of DroDane in ;he 1 Badger and MoCabe, “Elements of Chemical Engineering”. 2nd
bottoms and of ,+butane in the distillate; in thi$ ed.. New York, McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1937; Robinson and Gilliland, “Ele-
propane menta of Fractional Distillation”, 3rd ed., McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1939:
be taken the light component and ” Walker, Lewia, MoAdams, and Gilliland. “Principles of Chemical Engineer-
the heavy key component. Alternately, the conditions ing”, 3rd ed., McGraw-Hill Book CO.. 1937.
JULY, 1940 INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY 919

Tim y m = 0 , C l xm+1 -w x w plate, and the upper operating lines would have to be used;
where 0 = moles of overflow thus by Equation 1,
V = moles of vapor
W= moles of bottoms from reboiler
D = moles of distillate (4)
x = mole fraction in liquid
y = mole fraction in vapor where yo = concentration in vapor from plate a when feed is
introduced on plate b
Subscripts yla = concentration of this vapor when feed is introduced
n = plate above feed on plate a
m = plate below feed
w = bottoms These vapor compositions, ya and yla, are usually approxi-
D = distillate mately the same but may be somewhat different in case the
feed contains a high percentage of components more volatile
In calculating plates in the lower portion of the column, than the light key component.
Equation 2 is used up to the feed plate and then Equation 1
is employed up to the condenser. The last plate on which
Equation 2 is used is the feed plate; and in general, except a t
the minimum reflux ratio, there is a range of plate com-
positions that can be used for making the feed plate step- c (f+ I)
i. e., the change from Equation 2 to Equation 1-and any
composition in this range will give an operable design. How-
ever, the optimum composition for the feed plate should be FEED
such that it will give the maximum increase in the ratio of c b (f)
the concentration of the light key component to the con-
centration of the heavy key component, since this will re-
quire the fewest number of plates for the operating conditions
chosen. a (f-I)

THIS optimum feed plate composition is a function of the

Ii
thermal condition of the feed and the type of feed-tray action
involyed. Although a large number of combinations of FIGURE1
these two factors are possible, a few of the most commonly
assumed design conditions are listed below:
If the composition of plate 6 is more desirable for the in-
C.4SE 1. The vapor entering the plate above the feed plate troduction of the feed than the composition of plate a, then
is of the same composition as the vapor that left the feed tray. ( Z b i k / Z b h k ) b should be greater than ( Z b l k / Z b h k ) a , Or
This type of action should be approximated by feeds that are all
liquid and by feeds containing vapor if the construction is such
that this feed vapor comes into intimate contact with the feed
plate liquor.
CASE2. The feed is part vapor, and the vapor portion mixes Although y. and y‘. may differ somewhat, in general,
physically with the vapor rising from the feed plate but does not
react with the liquid on this plate, whereas the liquid portion the ratio (y’,/y.) is nearly the same for both key components
of the feed mixes with the liquid on the feed plate. and is usually quite close to unity. Calling this ratio Q,
CASE3. The feed is a smerheated vmor and. uDon enterinn and assuming that it is the same for both key components,
the tower, mixes with the feed-plate vapor but ‘ddes not read Equation 5 can be rearranged as follows:
with the liquid on the plate.
I n general these three cases give optimum feed-plate com-
positions that are quite close and that usually do not differ
by more than the composition change produced by one y. can be eliminated by the use of Equation 2, and together
equilibrium plate. The criterion for the optimum feed-plate with the over-all material balance,
composition will be derived for case 1, and the result of similar
analyses will be given for the other two cases. Considering WX, + D X D= FZF
the schematic diagram (Figure 1) of a distillation tower with Equation 6 becomes:
the feed entering a t plate b, it is desired to determine whether
plate b is a more desirable tray for the introduction of the
feed than plates a or c. In this derivation it will be assumed
that the tower operates with theoretical plates; i. e., the
vapor entering any plate will be of the same composition
as the vapor in equilibrium with the liquid leaving the plate
where F moles of feed
=
below. z = average mole fraction
With the feed entering a t plate b, the ratio of the key Subscript F = feed
components can be obtained by the use of Equation 2,
Equation 7 then gives:
Vrn Yolk + WXwCk
h k b) v m Y o h k
(x b5 + WXwhk
(3)
where Zk = light key component
hk = heavy key component

Here subscript b outside of the parenthesis indicates that Equation 8 serves as a criterion of the proper concentration
the feed is introduced on plate b. However, if the feed for plate b for that plate to have a more desirable composition
were introduced on plate a, plate b would be above the feed for the feed plate than plate a.
920 INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
Likewise, if the composition of plate b is to be preferred
to the composition of plate c, then the ratio of the key com-
ponents on plate c when feeding plate b, which is
(9)
should be greater than the same ratio for feeding plate c:
where y ’ b = concentration of vapor from plate b if feed is intro-
duced on plate c
By rearranging in a manner similar t o that used for the
previous case, Equation 11 becomes:
where &‘ = Yb/Y’b
I n most cases & and &’ are approximately equal to unity,
and for that condition Equations 8 and 12 can be combined to
give :
T H E lines represented by the operating line Equations 1 and 2
have an intersection point that can be easily determined by
placing y m and y,, equal to v i , and xm+l and xn+l equal to xi
and solving the simultaneous equations. Such a solution
gives
Each component in the distillation mixture has this equa-
tion for the intersection of its operating lines, and by taking
the ratio of the two such equations for the key components, we
obtain :
The right side of this equation is the same as the middle por-
tion of Equation 13, and by combining the two,
xbhk xihk xchk
When the subscripts are changed to f for the feed plate,
(f +
1) for the plate above the feed, and cf - 1) for the plate
below the feed, we obtain
Equation 17 gives a simple criterion for the optimum
composition of the feed plate that is sufficiently accurate for
most design work; it states that the ratio of the concentra-
tion of the key components in the liquid on the feed plate
should be less than or equal to the iatio of the liquid con-
centrations given by the intersection of the operating lines
for the key components, and that the key-component ratio
on the plate above the feed should be greater than or equal to
VOL. 32, NO. 7
this intersection ratio. I n other words, the feed plate should
correspond to the step in the calculations that carries the
key ratio from less than to greater than the intersection ratio.
It should be emphasized, however, that for complex mixtures
the concentrations on the feed plate need not, and seldom are,
close to those given by the intersection of the operating lines;
and Equation 17 states that only the ratio of the concentra-
tions of the key components on the feed plate should be close
t o the intersection ratio.
Theoretical plates were considered in the above derivation,
but a review of this analysis indicates that the same result
would have been obtained for plates having other rectifying
efficiencies, provided that the efficiency for a tray containing a
liquid of a given composition is the same whether it is a feed
plate or a plate below the feed plate.
Similar analyses can be made for the other two cases:
CASE2. It is assumed that the vapor and liquid portions
of the feed are in equilibrium, and for this case a similar deriva-
tion gives:
where X F = concentration in liquid portion of feed
Equation 18 differs from Equation 16 in that the ratios of the
concentrations of the key components on the feed plate and the
plate above straddle the ratio of the concentrations of the key
components in the liquid portion of the feed and not the ratio as
given by the intersection of the operating lines, although in most
cases the difference between these two latter ratios is small.
Case 2 can be modified by introducing the feed such that the
liquid portion enters on the feed plate, but the vapor portion is
introduced into the vapor space below this plate, in which case
the criterion for the feed plate composition becomes that of case
1. However, it can be shown that this modification is thermo-
dynamically inferior from a separation view oint to the normal
case where the vapor portion is introduced aiove the feed plate.
For the case of an all saturated vapor feed, the X F ratio is calcu-
lated as the liquid that would be in equilibrium with the feed
vapor.
CASE3. With a superheated vapor feed that mixes physically
with the vapor from the feed plate but does not react with the
liquid on the plate, a similar analysis gives :
This indicates that the ratios of the concentrations of the key
components on the plate above the feed plate and the plate above
that should straddle the intersection ratio for the key components.
Or, if the nomenclature is changed such that the feed plate is the
first plate with which this feed vapor reacts (i. e., the plate
above) and not the plate into which it enters, then the criterion
becomes the same as in case 1.
Equations 16, 18, and 19 will take care of most cases, but
other special cases can be handled in an analogous manner.
The optimum feed-plate composition is useful not only for
determining the proper place to introduce the feed but also in
evaluating the limiting condition corresponding to the mini-
mum reflux ratio, which will be considered in a later paper.
Correction-Phase Equilibria in
Hydrocarbon Systems
In the article on “Joule-Thomson Coefficients for Gaseous
Mixtures of Methane and %-Butane”, in the March, 1940, num-
ber of INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY on page 384,
the word “isobutane” at the end of the first paragraph under
“Method” should have read “n-butane”. It is regretted that
this obvious error was overlooked in the manuscript.
W. N. LACEY