Mass Transfer Fundamentals

(ChE-206)
Lecture No. 16

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Distillation with Reflux

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Important Features
• Series of stages/trays arranged in a way that vapor and liquid flow
counter current to each other.
• Liquid flows downwards
• Vapor flows upwards.
• Vapor and liquid are in equilibrium with each other.
• Stages are known as trays or plates.
• Moving upward will increase the concentration of more volatile
component.
• Over head vapors are condensed and its portion is taken as distillate
while a part of it is returned to top plate as Reflux.
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Number of plates required in a distillation
column
• Lewis-Sorel Method
• The method of McCabe and Thiele
• Fenske’s Method
• Ponchon and Savarit Method

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Important Aspects
• Heat and material balance over the trays, the condenser and the
reboiler
• Thermodynamic data are required to establish equilibrium between
the streams leaving each tray
• The diameter of the column will depend upon:
• The desired flow rates
• To operate within the available pressure drop
• Desired degree of mixing of streams on each plate

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Material balance over a plate
• Four streams are involved:
• Ln+1
• Vn-1
• Ln
• Vn
• Objective of the plate is to provide mixing to achieve
equilibrium between liquid, Ln (xn) and vapor Vn (yn)
• The streams Ln+1 and Vn-1 cannot be in equilibrium,
during exchange process some of the more volatile
component is vaporized from Ln+1 decreasing its conc.
to xn and some of the less volatile component is
condensed fromVn-1 increasing the vapor conc. to yn .
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Heat balance over a plate
• 
= Enthalpy per mole of the liquid on plate n
= Enthalpy per mole of vapor rising from plate n
• Assumptions to make equation simpler:
• Heat losses will be small and may be neglected.
• For an ideal system heat of mixing is zero.
• Molar heat of vaporization will be constant and independent of
composition, (condensation of one mole of liberates heat which
vaporizes one mole of ), hence .
• Temperature change from one plate to other will be small so,
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•  Hence equation will be simplified to
• For rectifying section and are constant
• For stripping section and are constant.

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 Lewis-Sorel Method
•  Overall Material balance across section I

• Material balance with respect to MVC

Thus

Also according to constant liquid molar

overflow

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•  Overall Material balance across section II

• Material balance with respect to MVC

Thus

• Equations of operating lines in the rectifying and stripping section.

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Example 11.7 (Benzene-Toluene Mixture)
• Feed = 40% benzene
• Product purity = 90% benzene at top
10% benzene at bottom
• Feed enters at boiling point
• Reflux Ratio = 3 kmol/kmol product
• Find:
• Number of plates
• Position of feed entry

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 𝑅𝑒𝑓𝑙𝑢𝑥 𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜 = 𝐿𝑛
𝐷

Top operating line equation 12

Bottom operating line equation

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• Starting from top
• Xd = 0.9
• Since all the vapors from the column are condensed, hence the
composition of the vapor yt from the top plate must be equal to that
of product xd and liquid returned as reflux xr.
• Composition of liquid xt at the top plate, from equilibrium curve will
be:

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• Calculate composition of vapor on next plate using equation (i)
• Liquid composition from equilibrium data.
• Continue till feed composition.

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• Below the feed point switch to equation (i), rest of the procedure will
remain same.

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• Continue till the composition of bottom product is obtained.
• There will be seven plates.

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McCabe-Thiele Method
• A graphical method for determining the trade-off b/w reflux and
minimum no of stages is known as McCabe-Thiele Method.
• It also determines the optimal feed-stage location.

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Assumptions
• Equimolar flow rates through tower b/w;
Feed inlet & top tray
Feed inlet & bottom tray
• The two components have equal & constant molar enthalpies of
vaporization (latent heats).
• Sensible enthalpy changes of component are negligible.
• The pressure is uniform throughout the column (no ∆P).

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Top Operating Line

  𝐿𝑛 𝐷
𝑦 𝑛= 𝑥 + 𝑥
𝑉 𝑛 𝑛 +1 𝑉 𝑛 𝑑

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Bottom operating line

  𝐿𝑚 𝑊
𝑦 𝑚= 𝑥 − 𝑥
𝑉 𝑚 𝑚+1 𝑉 𝑚 𝑤

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Self Study
• Example 11.8

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