Distillation continued

Continuous Distillation
 material is continuously fed into the distillation unit
 At steady operation condition amount of feed exactly
equal material removed yet vapour and liquid
concentration at any point in the unit remain constant.

Simple equilibrium distillation

v moles per hour

F. moles per hour

xf

L moles per hour x

The diagram above describes a continuous process in which a

single vaporization occurs under conditions where vapours
are in equilibrium with the liquid.

 A continuous single vaporisation of this type is known as

a simple equilibrium distillation
 Relationships between concentration and flow rates can
be obtained by using material balances: the total
number of moles per hour entering the system must
equal the total moles per hour leaving the system.
 F = V + L (all )are in moles

F = Feed V, L are vapour and liquid moles

Since the liquid and vapour mole fraction all refer to the
same component, a one component material balance
can be expressed as
Fx = Vy + Lx

Fx = Vy + (F-V) x. This equation can be used to determine

the rates at which the vapour and liquids should be
removed to obtain a predetermined product
composition from a given feed.

Rectification / fractionations

 If a series of simple distillations are performed whereby

the vapours at each step condensed and equilibrium
vapours are evolved from the condensate, much greater
separation is achieved.

 Heat evolved from the condensation of vapours is

employed to boil out new vapours from succeeding
steps
  Condensed vapours are returned in individual steps
achieve reflux. This is rectification or fractional
distillation

 Rectification is a single unit distillation operation in

which vaporization occurs in repeated steps to give a
much greater overall separation than could be obtained
by simple distillation

Distillation Columns

 Liquid vapour contact necessary for rectification is

achieved using Bubble cap plate tower which has series
of plates and a number of openings on each plate
 Each of the openings has an elevated cap on it so that
vapours are deflected by the cap into the liquid on the
plate to allow condensation and vaporisation
 Packed distillation columns consist of a hollow shell
filled with some material which offers large amounts of
exposed surface are
 Packing is ordinary constructed from a ceramic material
and consists of a large number of hollow cylinders with
outside diameter equal to height
 A still pot is located at the bottom of distillation column
and it heats the whole column
 Final vapours evolved from the top of the distillation
column are condensed part of the condensate is
 returned to the column as reflux and part is withdrawn
as product
 Original feed is introduced at an intermediate point in
the section of the distillation column about the point
where feed enters is called the enriching section and
portion below is called stripping section
Reflux ratio
It is moles of distillate returned to the top of distillation
column per unit time(L) divided by moles of distillate
withdrawn as product per unit time (D)

Reflux ratio =

 If no product is withdrawn and all top condensate is

returned to the column, the reflux ratio is infinite and
the column is being operated at total reflux.

Methods of calculation

 Size of distillation column required to give a certain

separation of a known mixture
 Size of unit depends on how many theoretical stages or
separate vaporizations are required to give the required
separation
 A theoretical plate (stage) is a single vaporization step in
which the liquid and vapours evolved are at equilibrium
  If six theoretical stages are inferred from calculations
then 5 or more plates e.g. bubble cap may be necessary
McCabe – Thiele method for calculating the number of
theoretical stages with binary component (two
component) mixtures
McCabe – Thiele devised a graphical method of
determining the number of theoretical stages basing on
material balances around certain parts of the column and
some basic assumptions

MCCABE-THIELE DIAGRAM

Before starting the construction and use of a McCabe–Thiele

diagram for the distillation of a binary feed, the vapor–liquid
equilibrium (VLE) data must be obtained for the lower-boiling
component of the feed.
 The first step is to draw equal sized vertical and
horizontal axes of a graph.
 The horizontal axis will be for the mole fraction
(denoted by x) of the lower-boiling feed component in
the liquid phase.
 The vertical axis will be for the mole fraction (denoted
by y) of the lower-boiling feed component in the vapor
phase.
 The next step is to draw a straight line from the origin of
the graph to the point where x and y both equal 1.0,
which is the x = y line in Figure 1.
 This 45 degree line is used simply as a graphical aid for
drawing the remaining lines.
 Then draw the equilibrium line using the VLE data points
of the lower boiling component, representing the
equilibrium vapor phase compositions for each value of
liquid phase composition.
 Also draw vertical lines from the horizontal axis up to
the x = y line for the feed and for the desired
compositions of the top distillate product and the
corresponding bottoms product (shown in red in Figure
1).
 The next step is to draw the operating line for the
rectifyingsection (the section above the feed inlet) of
the distillation column, (shown in green in Figure 1).
 Starting at the intersection of the distillate composition
line and the x = y line, draw the rectifying operating line
at a downward slope (Δy/Δx) of L / (D + L) where L is the
molar flow rate of reflux and D is the molar flow rate of
the distillate product. For example, in Figure 1, assuming
the molar flow rate of the reflux L is 1000 moles per
 hour and the molar flow rate of the distillate D is 590
moles per hour, then the downward slope of the
rectifying operating line is 1000 / (590 + 1000) = 0.63
which means that the y-coordinate of any point on the
line decreases 0.63 units for each unit that the x-
coordinate decreases.

Examples of q-line slopes

 The next step is to draw the blue q-line (seen in Figure

1) from the x = y line so that it intersects the rectifying
operating line.
 The parameter q is the mole fraction of liquid in the
feed and the slope of the q-line is q / (q – 1). For
example, if the feed is a saturated liquid it has no vapor,
thus q = 1 and the slope of the q-line is infinite which
means the line is vertical. As another example, if the
feed is all saturated vapor, q = 0 and the slope of the q-
line is 0 which means that the line is horizontal.
  Some example q-line slopes are presented in Figure 2.
As can be seen now, the typical McCabe-Thiele diagram
in Figure 1 uses a q-line representing a partially
vaporized feed.
 Next, as shown in Figure 1, draw the purple operating
line for the stripping section of the distillation column
(i.e., the section below the feed inlet).
 Starting at the intersection of the red bottoms
composition line and the x = y line, draw the stripping
section operating line up to the point where the blue q-
line intersects the green operating line of the rectifying
section operating line.
 Finally, as exemplified in Figure 1, draw the steps
between operating lines and the equilibrium line and
then count them. Those steps represent the theoretical
plates (or equilibrium stages). The required number of
theoretical plates is 6 for the binary distillation depicted
in Figure 1.
Note that using colored lines is not required and only used here to make the
methodology easier to describe.

In continuous distillation with varying reflux ratio, the mole

fraction of the lighter component in the top part of the
distillation column will decrease as the reflux ratio decreases.
Each new reflux ratio will alter the slope of the rectifying
section operating line.

When the assumption of constant molar overflow is not

valid, the operating lines will not be straight.
 Assumption: there must be an equimolal overflow
throughout the distillation column between any points
where fresh feed is added and product removed.
For a ten plate column = feed introduced on the fourth.
This assumption mean the same number of moles of liquid
reflux per unit time are flowing onto the tenth tray as ore
flowing onto all other trays above the fourth one
Vn moles per unit time Vapour

Reflux Ln
Moles per unit time
Plate n-1
plate n
Vn
Ln

yn+1 xn plate n+1

Feed F
Plate m-1 Distillate D
moles
Plate m moles per
Vm Lm
unit time
ym+1 xm+1

Vm
Lm
Bottom
products B
Additional Information moles per
xf = mole fraction of the volatile component in feed unit time
xD = mole fraction of the volatile component in the distillate
xB = mole fraction of the volatile component in the bottom product

Equimolal assumption implies

1) Sensible heat changes throughout the distillation
column are negligible in comparison with the heat of
vaporization of the components being separated
 2) Heat of vaporization per mole is equal for all
components
3) The heat of mixing of the components is negligible
4) Heat losses from the distillation column are negligible
The Enriching Section
Material balance
Moles of feed entering per unit time equal sum of moles of
distillate and bottom product leaving per unit time
F = D + B. This gives Vn =Ln + D in enriching section
Material balance on the more volatile component over
section 1 give VnYn+1 = LnXn + DxD

The above equation Imply that Yn+1 =

But R = (reflux ratio)

This means that Yn+1 =

This is a relationship between the composition of vapours

rising into plate n and liquid composition leaving plate n

 The equation applies to the entire enriching section and

is known as the equation for the enriching operating line
 The number of theoretical stages required in the enriching
section of distillation can be obtained graphically by
plotting y against x and plotting Yn + 1 against Xn
The stripping section
 Material balances
Vm = Lm - B

Vapour liquid extracted bottom product

– BxB

This is the Equation of the

– –
stripping operating line

Effects of feed conditions

 Condition of the entering feed determines the
relationship between the vapour rate in the enriching
section Vn and the vapour rate in the stripping section
Vm as well as Ln and Lm
 If feed is introduced at a temperature below boiling
point there will be more moles of liquid running down
the stripping section per unit time than down the
enriching section hence Lm will be greater than Ln
 Condition of feed q = total heat required to vaporize one mole of feed
Heat required to vaporize mole of the liquid feed at its boiling
point

 If feed enters at its boiling temperature q=1

 If feed is introduced as saturated vapour q=0 and same
number of moles of liquid per unit time will flow in both
the enriching and stripping sections
 Lm = Ln + qF This implies that Vm = Vn + (q-1) F

The enriching operating line and the stripping operating line

should intersect on a line of equation Y =
equation for the q line

a plot of y against x for y = is always found to be:

y = x = xF