How to ce a MeCabe-Thiele Plot You're given a feed of two compounds to be separated, and you don't know how, so you're not elated Just take a second and see how volatile they are, and if you see a big difference you're not all that far If you know a little about chemical props You know in a column that one of them rises while the other drops ‘You now have a feed and a column to use, but you need a good design or your boss won't approve So start with the basics where it is easy, and look to a plot by McCabe and ole Thiele Just plot the equilibrium data and the line y equals x, and then you must decide on a rate of reflux, Now take the reflux rate and divide it by itself plus one, this gives you the top operating line slope, isn't this fun! Draw a line of that slop intersecting y equals x at the distillate composition that you would expect. Now this brings us to the line for the feed, if its saturated vapor, its slope is zero indeed, If ts saturated liquid its straight up and down, and anything else requires energy data to be laying around, Draw a line with the feed slope through y equals x at the feed composition that you are supposed to gets. ‘Then connect the intersection of the feed and the top to the bottoms composition where y equals x will drop ‘Your ready to determine the number of stages, So just step right on down but don't collect your wages, because a real column is not this efficient, and more analysis must be done for your design to be sufficient.