Distillation

Introduction to tray column

• Distillation :
It is a method of separating mixtures based on differences in volatilities of
components in a boiling liquid mixture.

Batch distillation, batch distillation with reflux: dependant on time. Small

volumes,
Continuous distillation : Independent of time, large volumes can be
handled.

Types of column: tray columns or packed columns.

Continuous distillation: tray column

Product purity, reflux ratio,(Rmin., Rtot.) feed, vapor flow rate, liquid flow
rate, bubble point, dew point, relative volatility, Calculation of no. of ideal
stages.
 Calculation of no. of plates
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• Distillation column design methods:
Binary mixture multi component
Mc-Cabe Thiele method Lewis Matheson
Ponchan savit method thiele-geddes
Gilliland method relaxation method

Overall efficiency: no. of ideal stages / No. of real stages

Types of plates:
Sieve plate: The mass transfer between phases takes place in stages on a
series of plates or trays or in the vicinity of either. Simplest design and
cheapest. Weeping occurs at very low vapor flow rates.

Bubble cap: The area of the plate or tray b/n the inlet and exit weirs is
provided with a large number of holes over which cylindrical risers or
chimneys are placed. It is the oldest of the cross flow types. Bubble caps
have positive liquid seal and therefore can operate efficiently at lowest
vapor flowrates too. pressure drop is very high. The cost is very high
• Valve trays:
• These are similar to the sieve tray, but are provided valve like flap, the
valve adjusts its position according to the vapor flow rate. This enables
valve tray to be used even at lower vapor flow rates.
• High tray efficiency, low pressure drop, higher turndown ratio (flow rate
can be reduced to 1/5th of the design value) while maintaining the same
efficiency.
Turn down ratio: ratio of highest to the lowest flow rate

bubble cap valve tray

• To have higher tray efficiencies , large gas-liquid contact time should be
ensured. Therefore, high turbulence to ensure high mass transfer coefficient
and surface area must be made large.
• Hence great depth of liquid as well as vapor flow rate are essential here.

• Inefficient operating conditions:

• Entrainment: at high gas velocities, the K.E of vapor is sufficient to lift
small liquid droplets as the gas disengages from it. This gas-borne-liquid
droplets are carried to the next tray sufficiently decreasing the efficiency.
• Flooding: high vapor and liquid flow rates. During flooding we have least
tray efficiency.
• Coning: It’s a mechanical problem. When the liquid velocity is too low.
The gas raising through the tray openings shoves away the liquid where
uopn much of the gas escapes with out gas-liquid contact.
• Weeping: if the gas flow rate is relatively too low, the tray liquid may force
through the perforations meant for gas passage.
• Dumping: if the gas flow rate is too low, none of the liquid may cross the
weir to fall through the downcomer, instead the fall through the tray
openings.
• Sieve plate performance diagram:
• Other Components of distillation column:
Weirs and down comers.
 Plate column versus packed column.
Plate column
• Wide range of liquid and gas flow
rates.
• Plate efficiency can be predicted
more easily
• Cooling arrangement can be
provided in plate column
• Cooling coils easily installed in
plate columns.
• Side streams can be easily drawn
from plate column.
• Plate column are easier to clean
compare to packed column
Packed column
• More suitable for low capacities
• Packed columns are not suitable
for low flow rates.
• Corrosive fluids are preferred in
packed columns
• Small size packed column
preferred
• Pressure drop is less in packed
column.
• For separating heat sensitive
materials packed columns useful
because the liquid holdup s low.
Design considerations
• Design considerations of plate:

• Plate efficiency:
Murphee plate efficiency:
Emv = y n  y n  1
y n*  y n  1
Overall plate efficiency:
Eo= no. of ideal trays/no. of real stages

Weir height: most significant on pate efficiency.

Increasing the weir height will increase the efficiency on expense of
increase in pressure drop and entrainment.

Approximate column sizing: size of the column.

Plate spacing: overall height of the column depends on the plate spacing.
Plate spacing from 0.15 m to 1 m are normally used.
For columns of diameter greater than 1m, plate spacing of 0.3 to 0.6m is will
be normally used. 0.5 m can be taken as initial estimate.
• Column diameter:
The principal factor that determines the column diameter is the vapor flow
rate. The vapor velocity must be below that which would cause excessive
entrainment or high pressure drop.
Column diameter, Dc

Where,

Plate contactors: generally we have cross flow pattern on each plate.

Sieve plate:
Bubble cap:
Valve plates: floating cap and fixed cap.
• Plate hydraulic design:
• Basic requirement:
Provide good vapor-liquid contact
Provide sufficient liq. Hold up for good mass transfer
Have sufficient area and spacing to keep the entrainment and pressure drop
within acceptable limts
Have sufficient down comer area for the liquid to flow freely from plate to
plate.
Operating ranges:
• Plate design procedure:
• A trial and error approach is necessary in plate design.

• Plate areas:
Ac = total column cross-sectional area
Ad = cross-sectional area of downcomer.
An = Ac – Ad (for a single pass), net area available for vapor-liquid
disengagement,
Aa = active, or bubbling area, Ac-2Ad
Ah = hole area, the total area of all active holes.
Ap = perforated area (including blanked areas)
Aap = the clearance area under the down comer area.= hap * lw
hap = height of the lower edge of the apron above the plate,m
lw = weir length, 0.76 times of Dc (column diameter).
• Typical cross flow pates:

• Diameter:
Flooding condition fixes the upper limit of vapor velocity. For design, a
value of 80 to 85% of the flooding velocity should be used

uf= flooding vapor velocity, m/sec, based on An, K1 is constant

• The liquid-vapor flow factor FLV is given by:

• Lw is liquid mass flow rate, kg/s

• Vw is vapor mass flow rate, kg/s

Flooding velocity, sieve plates

• Conditions required to use the graph:
1. Hole size less than 6.5 mm. Entrainment may be greater with larger hole
sizes.
2. Weir height less than 15 per cent of the plate spacing.
3. Non-foaming systems.
4. Hole: active area ratio greater than 0.10; for other ratios apply the following
corrections:
hole: active area multiply K1 by
0.10 1.0
0.08 0.9
0.06 0.8
5. Liquid surface tension 0.02 N/m, for other surface tensions σ multiply the
value of K1 by    0 .2

 0 . 02 
• To calculate the column diameter an estimate of net area is requied.
first trail, take down comer area as 12% of the total, assume hole active
area as 10%.
What will happen of we blank few holes?
Changes in liq. Rate can be allowed for by adjusting the liq. downcomer areas.

Liquid flow arrangement:

Single pass, multiple pass, reverse

Selection of liq. Flow arrangement

• Down comer design:
how + hw is head of clear liquid on the plate
how is weir crest
hw is height of weir