Transcript for Flash Calculation Video

1. A flash is a single equilibrium-stage distillation process in which a liquid feed is partially vaporised into a
vapour phase and a liquid phase. This operation is designed to produce a vapour that is richer in the more
volatile components compared with the feed. In situations where there is a wide difference in volatility
between components, flashing suffices to achieve the desired level of separation. More generally, flashing
is used to prepare liquid feed streams for distillation.

2. This diagram shows the basic elements of the flash process. Flashing of the liquid feed is achieved in two
ways. In the first approach, a pressurised liquid feed passes through a valve where it is flashed adiabatically
to a lower pressure. This results in the creation of vapour and liquid phases that are separated in a flash
drum. The term adiabatic is used here to mean that there is negligible heat transfer between the valve and
the surrounding environment. In view of the energy required to vaporise the liquid feed, an adiabatic flash
leads to cooling of the phases relative to the feed stream. This cooling effect is similar to that observed
when the contents of an aerosol spray are released into the air. Alternatively, the flash valve can be
omitted and partial vaporisation of the feed is achieved with a heater. For properly designed systems, the
streams leaving the flash drum are in equilibrium.

3. In a flash calculation, we seek to calculate the flowrates and compositions of the vapour and liquid
streams. Before solving this problem it is important to look at the number of process variables involved
and the number of equations that can be written to solve for the unknown variables. If there are C
components in the process, then there are 3C composition variables describing the 3 process streams.
There are 3 flowrates associated with the 3 process streams. Each stream is maintained at a certain T and
P, to give a total of 6 T and P variables. Finally, there is 1 heat transfer variable to describe the heat duty of
the heater. This yields a total of 3C + 10 process variables. There is also the option to include the 3
enthalpy variables. However, since these thermodynamic variables depend on T and P we can choose to
omit them from the total count of process variables.

4. This table lists the equations that apply to the flash process. The equalities of T and P in the vapour and
liquid phases are included to emphasise the need to assume thermal and mechanical equilibrium. There
are a maximum of C component material balances that can be written for the C components. Similarly, we
can write C equilibrium equations that relate the vapour and liquid compositions. This introduces another
process variable, the K-value or vapour-liquid equilibrium ratio for each component. There are 2
summation equations to ensure that vapour and liquid mole fractions sum to 1, as per the definition of
mole fraction. Finally, we can write an energy or enthalpy balance to determine the heat duty of the flash
process. As for the enthalpy variables, we can choose to omit the K-values from the total count of process
variables, since they are also functions of T, P and composition. The material balances, equilibrium ratios,
summations and the enthalpy balance are collectively known as the MESH equations.

5. The difference between the total number of process variables and the total number of equations that
can be written defines the degrees of freedom for the flash process. This quantity represents the number
of process variables that must be specified in order to arrive at a solution for the remaining process
variables. In doing this we seek to ensure that the number of equations is equal to the number of
unknowns in the flash calculation. In the present analysis, the maximum degrees of freedom are C+5. In
flash calculations, the feed is normally totally specified and this eliminates the following C+3 unknowns: C
compositions as well as the T, P and flowrate of the feed. The minimum degrees of freedom for the flash
process are therefore equal to 2.

6. As mentioned previously, in an adiabatic flash process, the pressurised liquid feed is flashed or expanded
through a valve to achieve partial vaporisation. This is achieved without the use of a heater and so the heat
duty (Q) is set to 0. The remaining process variable that is specified is the pressure in the flash drum, which
is always less than the pressure of the liquid feed. The temperature corresponding to this pressure is
determined from the energy balance.
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7. In an isothermal flash process, partial vaporisation of the liquid feed is achieved with the use of a heater.
The heat duty depends directly on the T and P conditions in the flash drum and so these 2 process variables
are generally specified in the flash calculation. In this presentation, we will only consider the isothermal
flash calculation. This type of calculation is rather complex because the component material balances are
nonlinear equations. Fortunately, the Rachford-Rice equation provides a convenient way to solve
multicomponent flash calculations and is widely used in process simulators.

8. In the Rachford-Rice equation, we introduce a new variable, the vaporised fraction, which is represented
by the Greek letter  (pronounced psi). The component material balance is the starting point for deriving
the Rachford-Rice equation. We can eliminate V and L from the component material balance by expressing
them in terms of  (V = F and L = (1 - )F). The vapour phase mole fraction can also be eliminated by
making use of the definition for the K-value (yi = Kixi). Upon rearrangement, we obtain an expression for
the liquid phase mole fraction in terms of  and the feed composition (zi). Further substitution of this
expression into the K-value equation provides a similar expression for the vapour phase mole fraction. We
next turn our attention to the summation equations. These can be combined into a single summation
equation as shown. Finally, substitution of the expressions for the vapour and liquid mole fractions into the
summation equation yields the Rachford-Rice equation. In the flash calculation procedure, we seek the
value of  that makes the Rachford-Rice function = 0. This is normally accomplished using an iterative (trial
and error) approach.

9. This diagram shows the typical behaviour of the Rachford-Rice function in response to changes in the
vaporised fraction. In general, f() increases as the vaporised fraction increases from 0 to 1. In this
example, the required value of  is 0.15 or 15% and this result confirms that we have a 2-phase mixture in
the flash drum. However, if we specify a T in the flash drum that is too high, the volatilities or K-values of
the components may increase to the point where the feed mixture forms a superheated vapour, which is a
single-phase mixture. Conversely, if the T is too low then a subcooled liquid will form. Before a flash
calculation is carried out, the existence of a valid root (0    1) must be checked by confirming that the
end points of the Rachford-Rice function (f(0) and f(1)) have opposite signs. Furthermore, it is a necessary
condition that f(0) is negative while f(1) is positive, as shown in this example.

10. The most widely employed procedure for solving the Rachford-Rice equation is Newton's method.
Starting with an initial estimate of the root of the function (n), Newton's method locates a new estimate
(n+1) that is closer to the real root using Equation 1. The subscript n is the iteration index and is set to 1 on
the first iteration. It is common practice to set  = 0.5 on the first iteration. The first derivative of the
Rachford-Rice function is given by Equation 2. On the second iteration, we update the iteration index to a
value of 2. The new estimate of the root for n = 1 is used as the initial estimate of the root for n = 2 and the
whole procedure is repeated. The iteration is terminated by setting a tolerance on the absolute relative
deviation with respect to , as shown in Equation 3. Convergence is normally very rapid and only requires
a few iterations.

11. This slide summarises the procedure for the isothermal flash calculation. Steps 1 and 2 are
implemented to confirm thermal and mechanical equilibrium between the phases. Before carrying out
Step 3 we check that the Rachford-Rice equation has opposite signs for f(0) and f(1). The equation is then
solved to yield the required value of the vaporised fraction. In step 3, we also need K-values for each of the
components at the conditions of T and P in the flash drum. The vapour and liquid flowrates are then
calculated in Step 4. In steps 5 and 6, we calculate the vapour and liquid compositions. In the last step, we
determine the heat duty for the flash process. If the T and/or P of the feed are not specified then the heat
duty is not calculated, since the enthalpy of the feed stream is unknown.

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12. The K-value of a component in a multicomponent mixture is generally a function of T, P and
composition. However, mixtures of light hydrocarbons tend to form nearly ideal solutions. In this
situation, the effect of composition on the K-value is small and so K-values can be correlated as a function
of T and P only, as shown in this nomograph. To locate the K-value of a component, a straight line is first
drawn between the points that locate the specified T and P of the mixture. Consider a mixture of light
hydrocarbons at T = 200F (93C) and P = 100 psia (6.9 bar). The K-value of a component can be read from
the point of intersection between the dashed line and the relevant K-value line. For example, the K-value
for propane is around 4.3 while the K-value for n-hexane is 0.35. Recall that the K-value is a measure of the
volatility of a component. When K is greater than unity, the component exhibits a higher concentration in
the vapour phase and is considered to be a light component. When K is less than unity, the component
concentrates in the liquid phase and is described as heavy.

13. The principles of the isothermal flash calculation are now considered in the following example. The
feed consists of a mixture of light hydrocarbons that enters a distillation column operating 200F and 100
psia. It is implied here that the mixture enters the column at the feed plate. The feed plate itself acts as
the flash drum to produce the vapour and liquid phases. In this example, the feed composition is specified,
but not the T and P, so the calculation of the heat duty is omitted. Our goal is to calculate the vapour and
liquid flowrates and compositions.

14. Before solving the Rachford-Rice equation, we need to obtain K-values for all of the components at the
specified T and P. This is shown in the diagram where the required values are circled. Propane and n-
butane have K-values greater than 1, while the values for n-pentane and n-hexane are less than 1. We can
therefore expect that the vapour phase from the flash process will be rich with respect to propane and n-
butane, the light components.

15. This table illustrates the procedure for solving the Rachford-Rice equation. We first check that f(0) < 0
and f(1) > 0. The results confirm the existence of a valid root. On the first iteration, where n = 1, we set 
= 0.5. Going across the table, the new estimate of the root is calculated as 0.1281. This value is then used
as the initial estimate of the root on the second iteration. Four iterations are required to achieve the
tolerance on the absolute relative deviation with respect to . The final value of the vaporised fraction is
0.1510 or 15%.

16. We now have all of the information required to calculate the vapour and liquid flowrates and
compositions. Starting with a feed flowrate of 100 kmol/h, the flash process produces 15.1 kmol/h of
vapour and 84.9 kmol/h of liquid. Recall that the feed contains 30 mol% of the light components, propane
and n-butane. The vapour phase from the flash process contains in excess of 60 mol% of the light
components. The heavy components are concentrated in the liquid phase as expected but the overall
composition is very similar to the feed. Finally, we note that the mole fractions in the vapour and liquid
phases sum to 1 as required.