and (1 — f) = L/F as the fraction of the feed remaining as liquid and making a compo- nent i balance as in Eq. (11.3-6), the following is obtained: ae (117-9) where y; is the composition of component i in the vapor, which is in equilibrium with x, in the liquid after vaporization. Also, for equilibrium, y, = K,x, = Keax,, where a, K/Ke- Then Eq, (11.7-9) becomes ie y= Ken X) 117-26) t @ Solving for x, and summing for all components, Uxnad Bid 10 (7-11) *F(Kea— +1 ‘This equation is solved by trial and error by first assuming a temperature if the fraction f vaporized has been set. When the 5, x, values add up to 1.0, the proper temperature has been chosen. The composition of the vapor y; can be obtained from y; = Kea x; or by a ‘material balance. 11.7D_ Key Components in Multicomponent Distillation Fractionation of a multicomponent mixture in a distillation tower will allow separation only between two components. For a mixture of A, B, C, D, and so on, a separation in one tower can only be made between A and B, or B and C, and so on. The components separated are called the light key, which is the more volatile (identified by the subscript L), and the heavy key (H). The components more volatile than the light key are called light components and will be present in the bottoms in small amounts. The components less volatile than the heavy key are called heavy components and are present in the distillate in small amounts, The two key components are present in significant amounts in both the distillate and bottoms. 1L.7E Total Reflux for Multicomponent Distillation 1. Minimum stages for total reflux. Just as in binary distillation, the minimum number of theoretical stages or steps, N,,, can be determined for multicomponent distillation for total reffux. The Fenske equation (11.4-23) also applies to any two components in a multicomponent system. When applied to the heavy key H and the light key L, it becomes 10g (020 D/xu0 DXxuw Wixew WY) log (41, a) N, (17-12) Where x,» is mole fraction of light key in distillate, xy is mole fraction in bottoms, xyo is Mole fraction of heavy key in distillate, and xyyv is mofe fraction in bottoms. The average value of a, of the light key is calculated from thea,» at the top temperature (dew point) of the tower and ayy at the bottoms temperature. = Jano (L713) Note that the distillate dew-point and bottoms boiling-point estimation is partially trial and error, since the distribution of the other components in the distillate and bottoms is, not known and can affect these values. a Sec. 11.7 Distillation of Multicomponent Mixtures 683,