SEPARATION

PROCESSES
Prepared By:
ENGR. JESA M. UNDAY

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2. FLASH OR EQUILIBRIUM
DISTILLATION

- is a special operation within distillation,

where a liquid mixture is heated up and fed
(with constant flowrate) into a distillation
equipment
- The system is called “flash” distillation
because the vaporization is extremely rapid
after the feed enters the drum

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 What to know?
• Pressure and temperature of the flash drum
✓ The pressures must be chosen so that at the feed pressure, the feed is below its
boiling point and remains liquid.
• Size of the drum
• Liquid and vapor compositions and flowrates
• Pressure, temperature and flowrate of the feed entering the drum
✓ At the pressure of the flash drum, the feed is above its boiling point and some of it
vaporizes
✓ Drum pressure must be below the critical pressure for the mixture so that a liquid
phase can exist
• How much of the original feed has to be pressurized and heated

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 OVERALL MATERIAL BALANCE:
𝐹 =𝐿+𝑉
MORE VOLATILE COMPONENT
BALANCE:
𝐹𝑥𝐹 = 𝐿𝑥 + 𝑉𝑦

𝐹𝑥𝐹 (𝐹 − 𝑉)𝑥 𝑉𝑦
= +
𝐹 𝐹 𝐹
𝐹𝑥 𝑉𝑥 𝑉𝑦
𝑥𝐹 = − +
𝐹 𝐹 𝐹
𝑉 𝑉𝑦
𝑥𝐹 = (1 − )𝑥 +
𝐹 𝐹
𝑉 Where:
𝑥𝐹 = 1 − 𝑓 𝑥 + 𝑓𝑦 ; 𝑓=
𝐹
− 1−𝑓
= slope
− 1 − 𝑓 𝑥 𝑥𝐹 𝑓
𝑦=
𝑓
+
𝑓
of operating line

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 Vapor-Liquid
Equilibrium (VLE)
Diagram/ XY or
YX Diagram
- describes the distribution of a
chemical species between the vapor
phase and a liquid phase

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Phase Equilibrium Data for Benzene-Toluene

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Phase Equilibrium Data for Ethanol-Water

McCabe-Thiele diagram – a plot that shows both

the y vs. x diagram and operating lines

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Type of Feed
Material
Based on the phase diagrams, two types of
mixtures can be classified.
1. NON-AZEOTROPIC MIXTURES
- mixtures that consist of one component
that is more volatile than the other in the
entire concentration range
• Example: Benzene – Toluene

2. AZEOTROPIC MIXTURES
- mixtures that consist of one component
is more volatile than the other only at a
particular concentration range (as shown
in the figure)
• Example: Ethyl acetate – Ethanol
Chloroform - Acetone

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Type of Feed Material (cont.)

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 Homogeneous minimum boiling Homogeneous minimum boiling azeotrope Homogeneous maximum boiling
azeotrope in a system with miscibility gap azeotrope

Homogeneous maximum boiling Double azeotrope Heterogeneous azeotrope

azeotrope in a system with miscibility

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Example:

1. A mixture of 60 mol% A and 40 mol% B is subjected to

flash distillation at a separator pressure of 1 atm. The relative
volatility of A with respect to B is constant 3. What fraction
of the feed must be vaporized to have the composition of the
vapor leaving the separator be 75 mol% A.

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 2. An equimolal mixture of benzene
Example:
and toluene is subjected to flash
distillation at a separator pressure of
1 atm. If 40% of the charge is
vaporized, at what temperature will
the vapor and liquid separate?

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2. An equimolal mixture of benzene and toluene is subjected to
flash distillation at a separator pressure of 1 atm. If 40% of the
charge is vaporized, at what temperature will the vapor and liquid
separate?
Example:

3. A liquid mixture of n-pentane and n-hexane containing 40 mole % n-

pentane is fed continuously to a flash separator operating at 250°F (121.11
°C) and 80 psia. Determine
a. The quantity of vapor and liquid obtained from separator per mol of
feed.
b. The composition of both vapor and liquid leaving the separator.

Use the Antoine’s equation below:

ln P = A – B/(C+T); where T is in K and P is in mmHg
For pentane: A = 15.8333, B = 2477.07, C = -39.94 and
For hexane: A = 15.8366, B = 2697.55, C = -48.78.

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ASSIGNMENT:

Determine the boiling point, concentration of the other phase

and relative volatility of benzene-toluene system at
a. Liquid concentration: 50% mol Benzene
b. Vapor concentration: 25% mol Benzene
c. Vapor concentration: 75% mol Benzene

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ACTIVITY 2:
Plot the Txy and xy curves of the following mixtures and
determine the azeotrope for the following systems:
a. Acetone-Chloroform
b. Acetone-Water
c. Ethanol-Water
d. Ethyl acetate-Water

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