1

CLASS PROBLEM-1
On
Multicomponent Distillation

Prob 1 (Utilization of vap-liq equilibrium plot). 40% mole ethanol,

60% mole water mixture at 75◦C, 1atm is heated
a. At what temperature does it first begin to boil? What is the
composition of the first bubble of vapour?
b. At what temperature would it stop boiling (assume no material is
removed)? What is the composition of the last liquid droplet?
c. At 82 ◦C, what is the fraction of liquid?
d. When 80% has been vaporized, what is the temperature and what
are the liquid and vapour composition?

Prob 2 (Mccabe Thiele diagram): A stream of aqueous methanol having

45 mole% CH3OH is to be separated into a top product having 96mole %
methanol and a bottom liquid with 4 % methanol. A reflux ratio of 1.5 is
suggested. Feed is at bubble point and operating pressure is 101.3 kPa.
The equilibrium for methanol –water system is given in the table
(a) Determine the number of ideal trays and its feed location
(b) What is the number of real trays if tray efficiency is 40%?

x y
0.02 0.134
0.04 0.23
0.08 0.365
0.1 0.418
0.2 0.579
0.3 0.665
0.4 0.729
0.5 0.779
0.7 0.87
0.9 0.958
1 1.0