Ch 6

Distillation
(flash)
 Basic method of flash distillation
• It is one of the simplest separation processes
ever used. In this process, part of liquid feed
vaporizes in a flash chamber or part of a vapor
feed condenses, where vapor and liquid in
equilibrium with each other are seperated.

• An excellent example of flash distillation: The

desalination of seawater
• The system is called « flash » distillation
because the vaporization is extremely rapid
after the feed enters the drum.
The fluid is pressurized and heated and then
pass through a nozzle into the flash drum.
The large drop in pressure makes a part of
the fluid vaporizes.

The vapor is taken off at the top of the drum

while the liquid drains to the bottom. The
demister is used to prevent liquid droplets
from being entrained in the vapor.
• The system in the flash chamber is very close
to an equilibrium stage because of the
intimate contact between liquid and vapor.

• Pf should be chosen in a way that the feed is

below its boiling point to remain liquid.
• Pdrum should be in such way that a liquid phase
can exist in the chamber
 Equilibrium data
• In principle, wa can always experimentally
determine the VLE (vapor liquid equilibrium) data
we need. Simply, we can fill a bottle with different
chemicals at different T & P, after sufficient time,
the liquid and the vapor reach the equilibrium and
samples could be then analyzed and data would be
obtained.

• In reality, measurement is quiete difficult

(concentrations could be calculated from P&T data,
but calculation is very complex).
Ex: A binary mixture of ethanol and water at 1 atm.
We can observe that we have always:
xeth+xw=1 and yeth+yw=1

In general, the mole fraction of the more volatile is

given (ethanol in this case).

It is clear that the mole fraction depends on T&P

• That is why if T & P are set, it will be one possible
vapor composition yeth and one liquid composition
for ethanol xeth .
 Gibbs’ equation
• The number of the degrees of freedom F is
determined by this equation (phase rule):
F= C – P + 2
(for intensive variables: P, T, x…)
With:
C: number of components
P: number of phases
In our case, what would be F ???
Graphical representation of Binary VLE

• Binary VLE can be represented graphically

in different forms:
–Temperature Vs composition
– y Vs x
–Enthalpy Vs composition…
and can be converted from one form to
another
Ex: y Vs x

Azeotrope: mixture that have same composition in liquid

and vapour phase and boil at constant temperature (not
possible to separate components by fractional distillation)
Same data of the previous curve can be
plotted in a different form:
Here, the result is
actually two graphs:
Superheated
one for liquid and
vapor
one for vapor.
Liquid
+
vapour
These curves
are called:
« saturated
liquid/vapor
Subcooled lines »
liquid
 Binary flash distillation
• In order to develop graphical and analytical
procedures to solve mass balance, energy balance and
equilibrium equations, binary equilibrium data is used.

The overall mass balance is :

The partial mass balance for

the more volatile is:
• The energy mass balance is:

with hF, Hv, and hL are the enthalpies of the feed, vapor,
and liquid streams. Usually Qflash = 0, since the flash drum
is insulated and the flash is considered to be adiabatic.

So, we need to know the enthalpies. In general, for

binary systems, they could be found graphically
(enthalpy-composition diagram).
For ideal mixtures, heat capacities and latent heat
are needed:

where xA and yA are mole fractions of component A in

liquid and vapor, respectively. CP is the molar heat
capacity, Tref is the chosen reference temperature, and λ is
the latent heat of vaporization at Tref.
For binary systems: xB = 1 − xA, and yB = 1 − yA.
If one of the equilibrium conditions: y, x, or Tdrum is
specified, then the other two can be found from equations
or from the graphical representation of equilibrium data.

In the mass balances Eqs., the only unknowns

are L and V
Thus, we can use this form of equation:
« the operating line ».
 Another form of the same equation:
Where q is the V/F
(vaporized fraction)
The slopes of these lines are:

And the intercept (x=0):

Now, the plot of y vs x showing both equilibrium and

operating lines is called McCabe-Thiele diagram.
The intersection between these two lines is the simultaneous
solution of the mass balances and the equilibrium. It gives the
vapor and liquid compositions leaving the flash drum
Let’s take the example of ethanol and water
McCabe-Thiele diagram

Important!!
The intersection of the
operating line and the y
= x line is at the feed
composition. So:

this graphical technique

can be used if y, x, or
Tdrum is specified

This fig. shows three different operating lines as V/F varies from 0
(line a) to (line c) to 1.0 (line b).
Example: Flash separator for ethanol and water
A flash distillation chamber operating at 101.3 kPa is separating an
ethanol-water mixture. The feed mixture is 40 mol% ethanol and F =
100 kmol/h.

(1) What is the maximum vapor composition and what is the minimum
liquid composition that can be obtained if V/F is allowed to vary?

(2) If V/F = 2/3, what are the liquid and vapor compositions?

(3) Repeat step 2, given that F is specified as 1000 kmol/h.

Analysing the problem
We wish to analyze the performance of a flash separator at 1 atm to:
Find ymax.
Find xmin.
Find y and x for V/F = 2/3.
Note that pdrum = 101.3 kPa = 1 atm. Thus we must use data at this
pressure.

Mass balance and

Sketch the Y vs x operating line calculate the
problem diagram Knowing that needed info
0 ≤ V/F ≤ 1.0
Solution:

Mass Balances:
F=V+L
Fz = Vy + Lx
Solve for y:

From the overall balance, L = F – V. Thus

when V/F = 0.0, V = 0, L = F, and L/V = F/0 = ∞
when V/F = 2/3, V = (2/3)F, L = (1/3)F, and L/V = (1/3)F/[(2/3)F] = 1/2
when V/F = 1.0, V = F, L = 0, and L/V = 0/F = 0
Thus the slopes (–L/V) are –∞, –1/2, and –0.
If we solve for the y = x interception, we find it at y = x = z = 0.4 for all cases. Thus we can plot
three operating lines through y = x = z = 0.4, with slopes of –∞, –1/2 and –0. These operating
lines were shown in the previous Figure.
a. Highest y is for V/F = 0: y = 0.61 [x = 0.4]
b. Lowest x is for V/F = 1.0: x = 0.075 [y = 0.4]
c. When V/F is 2/3, y = 0.52 and x = 0.17
d. When F = 1000 with V/F = 2/3, no changes in compositions (feed rate does affect heat
requirement and equipment diameters.)