Company

LOGO

Distillation Column
Design
 Distillation

• Distillation is defined as a process in which

liquid or vapor mixture of two or more
substances is separated into its component
fractions of desired purity, by the application
and removal of heat.
 Types of Distillation

• Batch distillation
• Continuous distillation
• Steam distillation
• Azeotropic distillation
• Extractive distillation
 Open Steam Distillation

 Live steam is in direct contact with fluids

being distilled.
 Mostly used in petroleum and petrochemical
industries.
 Why Open Steam Distillation?

• Aqueous solution is distilled to give non-

aqueous solute as distillate and water is
removed as bottom product.
• Heat required for this process is provided by
the use of open steam.
 Continued…….

• Use of open steam for these process is more

economical.
• No need of reboiler at the bottom of the
column which reduces cost.
 Column selection

 Two types of columns

• Plate column
• Packed column
 Plate Columns

• Handle large liquid rates.

• Less chances of flooding.
• More reliable design.
• High liquid holdup.
• Suitable for fouling services.
• Low cost.
• Predictable hydraulic and mass
transfer behavior.
 Packed Column
• Low pressure drop/ smaller diameter.
• Low to moderate cost for random
packing, high cost for structured packing.
• Not suitable for fouling services.
• Suitable for foaming fluids.
• Liquid holdup is less.
• Less pressure drop .
 Selection Criteria of Column

• Liquid flowrate is high.

• steam is corrosive.
• Liquid is non-foaming.
So I selected plate column for my process
 Design Steps

• Designation of design basis

• Selection of operating conditions.
• Selection of key components
• Feed Bubble point and dew point calculations.
• Top Tray Temp Calculation .
• Bottom product temperature calculation.
 Continue…

• Calculation of steam flowrate.

• Calculation of Rmin and optimum reflux ratio.
• Calculation of Nmin and theoratical no of plates.
• Location of feed point.
• Calculation of column diameter.
• Calculation of column efficiency.
• Calculation of column height.
Feed and Product Specifications

Components Feed Bottom product Top product

Ethyl Chloride 6.75 0.75 6

Water 3007 3007
Acetaldehyde 1002.40 1000 2.5
Acetic Acid 9.83 9.8
Crotonaldehyde 5.7 5.7

Chloro Ethanol 16.8599 16.8

Total(kg/hr) 4048.588 4040.05 8.5
 Design Variables

 Operating Pressure
• High pressure reflects an increase in condenser
and reboiler duties and decrease in latent heat of
vapourization.
• Lower limit is set to avoid vaccum distillation.
• Operating pressure should be selected so that the
buble point of top product is 5 to 10⁰C above
summer cooling water temperature.
Continued…

• So I select operating pressure of column

3 Atmosphere.
 The steam entering in the column is saturated
At pressure 60 kgf/cm2
 Key components

 Light key ( Ethyl Chloride)

Most volatile component in bottom product.
 Heavy key (Acetaldehyde)
Least volatile component in top product
Feed Bubble Point And Dew Point

 Calculated by iterative procedure by this

formula
• Bubble point Σyi= Σ (ki* xi)=1
• Dew point Σxi= Σ (yi / ki)=1
• Bubble point is 372 K
• Dew point is 400 K
• Top tray temperature = 313 k
• Bottom product temperature = 380 k
 Steam flowrate
• Steam flowrate is calculated from this
formula
Q  m f cp  T  m 1  1  m s  s
• By putting all above values steam flowrate
rae is calculated as
 Minimum reflux ratio
• For this q and θ should be calculated first.
cp  T
q  (1  )

q  1.12
• Using underwood’s equation
 i x if
1 q   
i

  1 .4
 Actual Reflux Ratio

• Using equation of minimum reflux

i xiD
Rmin 1  
i 
Rmin  1 .14
• Actual reflux ratio is 1.2 - 1.5 of minimum reflux
ratio so
R  1 . 2 R min
R  1 . 372
 Minimum no of stages
• According to fenske’s equation

  x LK , D   x HK ,W 
 x  x LK ,W 
N min  log   HK , D   
  LK , avg 
 
 
• αLK,avg is volatility of light key in top and
bottom product and calculated from the formula

LK,avg  LDLW
N min  13
 Theoratical no of stages
• Using Gilliland’s correlation

R  R min
 0 . 09 R min  1 . 14
R 1 R  1 . 37
• From Graph

N  N min
 0 .4 N min  13
N 1

N  22
 Column Efficiency

• O’Connell’s correlation gives

E O  51  32 . 5 log(  LK  avg )
• αLK is average relative volatility of light key.
• μavg is molar average liquid viscosity (mNs/m2)
 LK  1 . 8
 avg  0 . 377
• Calculated value is
E O  55 . 95
 Actual no of stages
• Actaul no of stgaes are related to column
efficiency as

Nact  N
EO
• Efficiency is 55.95% , and theoratical stages are
13 so
N act  36
 Location Of Feed Tray
• kirkbide correlation gives approximate method
for estimating feed plate location.
Ne   x HF  W  x LW  
log  0 . 206 log      
Ns   x LF  D  x HW  
• Ne is number of stages above feed plate and Ns
is number of stages below feed plate.
• Above equation gives

Ne N e  20
 0 . 779
Ns
N e  N s  N act  36 N s  16
 Column Diameter
• Flow parameter
.5
FLV  L  V 
V   L 
• Assuming tray spacing = 18 inch from graph
č = .28
.5
 V 
U    
  L  V
VN

• UVN is flooding velocity.
 Actual no of stages
• Actaul no of stgaes are related to column
efficiency as

Nact  N
EO
• Efficiency is 55.95% , and theoratical stages are
13 so
N act  36
 Actual no of stages
• Actaul no of stgaes are related to column
efficiency as

Nact  N
EO
• Efficiency is 55.95% , and theoratical stages are
13 so
N act  36
 Actual no of stages
• Actaul no of stgaes are related to column
efficiency as

Nact  N
EO
• Efficiency is 55.95% , and theoratical stages are
13 so
N act  36
 Actual no of stages
• Actaul no of stgaes are related to column
efficiency as

Nact  N
EO
• Efficiency is 55.95% , and theoratical stages are
13 so
N act  36
 Actual no of stages
• Actaul no of stgaes are related to column
efficiency as

Nact  N
EO
• Efficiency is 55.95% , and theoratical stages are
13 so
N act  36
 Actual no of stages
• Actaul no of stgaes are related to column
efficiency as

Nact  N
EO
• Efficiency is 55.95% , and theoratical stages are
13 so
N act  36
 Actual no of stages
• Actaul no of stgaes are related to column
efficiency as

Nact  N
EO
• Efficiency is 55.95% , and theoratical stages are
13 so
N act  36