Relevance of Heat & Mass Transfer

• These two play an important role in many engineering application including process /chemical engineering

– Driving force for temperature

• temperature gradient provide the driving potential for heat transfer

– Driving force for mass transfer

• species concentration differences in a mixture
• here mass transfer does not constitute the motion of a fluid
• in process/chemical engineering the term is to describe the relative motion of species in a mixture
due to presence of concentration gradient
– good example is dispersion (spreading) of oxides of sulphur from Selebe-Pikwe mine
 Distillation Process
• In process/chemical engineering we are interested in separation of substance (species)
from a liquid or vapour mixture

– one of the method used is distillation process by the application or removal of heat.
hence the study of heat and mass transfer subject in our programme

– typical engineering application is petroleum processing plant

– the process is based on the fact that vapour of a boiling mixture will be richer in the
components of lower boiling points (volatile components)
 Simple Basic Distillation Process

Remaining mixture
contains less volatile components Cooled vapour contain more
volatile components

Application of heat
 Distillation Con
• Process of vaporizing a liquid, condensing the vapor and collecting the
condensate in a another container.

• Liquid Vapor : Vapor Liquid

• Liquid and vapor always in equilibrium

• Liquid vapor
 Distillation
• If your compound is pure and single compound
– Temperature remains constant during distillation process so long as both vapor
and liquid are present
• If you have mixture or impure compound
– Temperature increases throughout process because composite of vapor changes
continuously
– Composition of vapor in equilibrium with the heated solution is different from
the composition of the solution.
 Application
• To separate liquids with different boiling point especially in petroleum
refineries
• To purify liquid samples
– Alcohol beverages distillation
– Chemical factories
 Types of Distillation
• Simple distillation
• Fractional distillation
• Vacuum distillation
• Steam distillation
 Simple Distillation

• Simple vaporization – condensation cycle of a mixture that process a

distillate that is always impure at any temperature range, between the
range of boiling point of the components.
• Therefore it is impossible to completely separate the components in a
mixture with simple distillation.
• Ideally a distillation with efficiently separate liquids in the order of
increasing boiling point.
• Actually incomplete separations (with sample overlap) often occur
especially with liquids of similar boiling point and/or physical
apparatus of lesser fractionating capacity.
 Factors Affecting Distillation

• Type of mixture: the greater the difference in the boiling point of two
compounds the easer it is to separate them by distillation.
• Physical set-up: not only does the set-up enclose and direct the
migration of vapors, it provides an internal surface to promote
vapor/liquid equilibrium helping establish a temperature gradient.
• Temperature Control: more defined vapor/liquid equilibrium and
temperature gradient can be established if heat is not applied too
quickly and insulation is used to minimize temperature fluctuations.
 How to Achieve Distillation at Industrial Scale

• the use of distillation columns

– types of columns

• batch columns

• continues columns
 Distillation Principles

• Liquid mixture via distillation depends on the differences in boiling points of the individual
components, as such distillation depends on the vapour pressure characteristics of a liquid
mixture
Typical boiling point diagram of a liquid mixture (binary mixture)

B.P of 100% A
B.P of 100% B
A is the more volatile
Less volatile component
component
 The Importance of Relative Volatility Index
It indicate how easy or difficult a particular separation will be
yi
xi
It is a ratio (defined as)
 ij 
yj
xj
Yi = mole fraction of component “i” in the vapour

Xi = mole fraction of component “i” in the liquid

It range between 0 and 1

If the value is close to unit (1) it is an indication that the two components have similar vapour pressure
characteristics, hence very difficult to separate the two components using distillation technique.
 Factors Influencing Distillation Columns Design

• In distillation columns design the most important feature is the column height.

• To determine column height you need data on vapour-liquid equilibrium curve for the mixture (s).

• Vapour-liquid equilibrium data is obtained from boiling point diagrams

 Typical Vapour-Liquid Equilibrium Curve

Simple describes the composition of

mixture to be separated

x = mole fraction of components a or b

in liquid
y = mole fraction of components a or b
in vapour

100% COMPONENT B 100% COMPONENT A

This particular (vle) shows a binary mixture that has a uniform (vpe) and easy to separate.

USE THIS EXAMPLE TO EVALUATE RELATIVE VOLATILITY INDIX

 Typical vle for azeotropic systems

An azeotropic is a liquid mixture which when vaporised, produces the same composition as the
liquid
Basic Distillation Equipment

vertical shell: where separation of

liquid components occurs

column internals: such as trays/plates

and/ or packing's (these enhance
components separations.

reboiler: to provide necessary

vaporation for the distillation process

condenser: to cool and condense the

vapour leaving the top of the column

reflux drum: to hold the condenser vapour

from the top column so that liquid (reflux)
can be recycled back to the column

there are two main products from the

distillation process

top product (distillate)

bottom product (bottoms)

Basic Distillation Equipment
 One of Our Main Objective Today

• To look at the number of trays/plates on the performance of distillation columns

• The position of the feed tray on the performance of distillation columns

 Effects of the number of trays

• The number of trays used in distillation column will influence the degree of separation. (how?)
 consider 10-stage column

feed is a binary mixture that

has a composition of 0.5-mole
fraction in terms of the more
volatile component

feed is introduced at stage 5

at stage 1 (top tray) the terminal

compositions of 0.65 is observed
(top product)

at stage 10 (bottom tray) the

terminal composition of 0.1 is
observed (bottom product)
CONSIDER 8-STAGE COLUMN DESIGN

KEEP FEED AT MIDDLE STAGE

OBSERVATIONS:

BOTTOM COMPOSITION HAS

INCREASED

TOP COMPOSITION HAS DECREASE

 consider 12-stage column design

once again feed at middle column

(stage 6)

observations

distillate (top product) is much

richer in the more volatile
component

the bottom product has less

volatile component

indicating better separation

conclusion: increasing the number of stages will improve separation

 Effects of Feed Tray Position

• The position of the feed tray affects separation efficiency (how ?)

 OBSERVE THE COMPOSITION AT TOP
AND BOTTOM

COMPOSITION PROFILE FOR 20 STAGES, FEED AT STAGE 5

COMPOSITION PROFILE: 20 STAGES, FEED AT STAGE 10 THIS TIME
 Composition profile: 20 stages,
feed at stage 15

Based on the previous slide and this one, it is clear that as the feed stages is moved lower down the column, the top composition
becomes less rich in the more volatile component. The bottoms contains more of the more volatile component. But the change in the
top composition is not as marked as the bottoms composition.