SETK 3323 / SETG 3473 Assoc Prof Dr.

Nadia Adrus

Student’s Name: _________________

Part 7

(26 Marks) – From Final Exam 2019 (SKTB 3323)

A feed of 25% liquid and 75% vapor at 1 atm is fed at a rate of 200 mol/h to a distillation tower. The
overall composition of the feed is A (25%), B (20%), C (15%) and E (40%). The feed is distilled so
that 95% of B is recovered in the distillate, and 90% of C in the bottoms. The values of relative volatility
are given in Table 1.

Table 1: relative volatility of compounds at different temperatures

Compound A B C E

iD at top temperature (Ttop) 6.7 2.5 1.00 0.392

iW at bottom temperature (Tbottom) 5.3 2.3 1.00 0.487
i at T = 0.5(Ttop+Tbottom) 5.9590 2.3979 1.00 0.4369

(a) Estimate the amounts of distillate (D) and bottoms (W) and their composition
(6 Marks)

(b) Estimate the number of stages at total reflux and the distribution of other compounds
(8 Marks)

(c) Estimate minimum reflux ratio, number of stages at R=1.25Rm, and the feed tray location.
(8 Marks)

(d) Explain why in actual practice, the number of actual stages used will be higher than the value
calculated in (c)? (4 Marks)