BITS Pilani

Pilani Campus

Module 4: Design of Separation Systems

Lecture-15
Design of Distillation columns
Course: Process Plant Design CE 1705/1701

Nandana Chakinala
Department of Chemical Engineering
Contd..
• The splits that can be made in the 14 alternatives
for a five-component mixture

2
Contd..

Table 7.3-1 Number of alternatives

Number of Sequences( N S ) =
(2 N − 2)!
N!(N − 1)!
where, N is the number of components
3
Identifying the Best
Sequences using Heuristics
1. Separations in which R.V is 1, or mixtures which exhibit
azeotropic behavior should be performed in absence of
non key components – Do difficult separations in the last
2. Favor sequences removing final products one-by-one as
distillates (the direct sequence).
3. A component comprising of large fraction of feed should
be removed first. In other words, separations with highest
% recovery should be done last
4. Favor near equimolar splits between top and bottom
products in individual columns.

4
Heuristics

Case to case basis varies

All heuristics may not be applied
All heuristics are qualitative
All heuristics restricted to simple columns with no heat
integration – means all reboilers and condensers are
serviced by utilities
Arrangement of sequence should be such that the cost of
separation reduces, as the separation proceeds.
Difficulties arise when heuristics conflict with each other

5
Case study: 5 component
mixture

H1: Do B/C split last, as lowest R.V

H2: Favour direct sequence, A/BCDE
H3: Remove most plentiful first, ABCD/E
H4: Favour near equimolar split between top and bottom
ABC/DE
6
Case study: 5 component
mixture
1. 4 heuristics recommend 4 different sequences which are in
conflict which each other
2. Apply the other constraints based on other practical
constraints
3. Start with 1 decision here, that we favour direct sequence
4. Although you can arrive at few good sequences, but it is
difficult to devise the single best sequence
5. More skill is needed in application of these heuristics and
they could be ranked in order of importance
6. However, the rank order might change from process to
process depending on components of the process and
nature of process. Therefore, we need a more general and
quantitative method for deciding between the column
sequences

7
Contd..
Vapour flow rate can be good measure of capital and operating
cost
Choose column that has minimum vapour flow rate
• 4 columns in each sequence
• Use multicomponent form of Underwood equation to calculate
min. vapour flow rate

8
 Vapour flow rate calculation
for single column in sequence
1. Assume feed condition, q is fixed (Initially q= 1, saturated liquid)
2. Eq. 1 can be written for all NC components of feed and solved
for the values of Θ. There are NC-1 real values of Θ and each
lie b/w α of different components
3. Among different values of Θ, the one that lie b/w α values of
light and heavy key is considered
4. For this value of Θ, eq.2 is solved for Rmin and predetermined
value of xD,I
5. Having computed Vmin, the maximum vapour load can be
calculated from simple mass balance at top of column

Rigorous method, iterative calculations. Vmin is just a guideline for

deciding sequence
9
Porter and Momoh- Explicit
method
Basic relation V,D,R is V = D(1+R)
Define a ratio RF = R/Rmin ; V = D(1+RFRmin)
Rmin calculated from Underwood equation

Assuming distillate contains lighter components than light key

and bottom containing heavier components than HK (Sharp
separation) and complete recovery of LK in distillate

10
Porter and Momoh- Explicit
method
• Vapour flowrate in the column can be written in terms of
molar flow rates of each individual components
• Α is the R.V b/w key components

• Explicit expression for vapor rate in a single column in terms

of feed to the column. To use this to screen column
sequences, vapour rates in each column is calculated and
individual rates summed

11
Porter and Momoh- Explicit
method
• This method over predicts the vapour load than those
predicted by Underwood eqn
• Porter and Momoh demonstrated that rank order of total
vapour load follows rank order of total cost
• Whatever method is used, exclusive attention cannot be
given to lowest vapour load or lowest total cost. Other
considerations such as heat integration, safety also affect
decision

Screening of sequences should result in short listing of few

best sequences rather than a single best sequence

12
Columns with more than two
products
3 component mixture separated using 2 simple columns
Under certain circumstances, it is possible to draw more
than two products from single column
Designs are feasible and cost effective

13
Case A

• Feed dominated by middle product

• Heaviest product in small quantities
• Heavy product goes down the column past
side stream
• Unless the heavy product has small flow
rate and middle product has large flow
rate, a reasonably pure middle product
cannot be achieved. The side stream is
taken off as a vapour product so as to get
the desired purity.

14
 Case B
• Feed dominated by middle product
• Lightest product in small quantities
• Light product goes up the column past side
stream
• Pure product achieved if the light product
has small flow rate and middle product has
large flow rate.
• The side product is taken off as a liquid
product so as to get the desired purity.

Summary: Single column side stream

arrangements are attractive when middle
component is in excess and one of the other
components (HK/LK) is present in minor
quantities
15
Distributed distillation or
sloppy distillation
Lightest and heaviest components are chosen to be key
separation in the first column

16
 Prefractionator arrangement

• 2nd and 3rd columns can be simply

connected and B drawn as side
product
• Prefractionator has partial
condenser and reboiler
• Prefractionator save about 30% of
the energy than the conventional
arrangement for the same duty

17
How Prefractionator is
efficient
Higher efficiency of Prefractionator can be explained on the
basis of composition profiles for middle product

18
Contd..
• Crude split as B is distributed
• Both top and bottom sections of Prefractionator removes only one
component. Also true for all four sections of main column
• No remixing effects
• Losses occur in distillation due to mismatches b/w feed composition and
composition of feed tray
• So, as pre fractionators distributes component B between top and bottom,
greater flexibility is achieved to match the feed composition with 1 of the
trays in the column to reduce the mixing losses

19
Thermal coupling- direct sequence

• Simple columns have a reboiler and total condenser

• Material flow in the column can be used to provide some
necessary heat transfer by direct contact. This heat
transfer by direct contact is thermal coupling
• Direct sequence thermal coupling
• Direct coupling
• Side rectifier arrangements

20
A: Liquid from bottom of 1st column to 2nd column as done before
vapour required by 1st column supplied by 2nd column instead of reboiler
B: Side rectifier draws vapour stream from main column and returns liquid
to main column
Not easy to split vapour flow. To overcome, side rectifier constructed in
single shell with a partition wall that is insulated

21
 Thermal coupling-Indirect sequence

Reflux liquid required for the 1st column is given by the 2nd column while the
vapour from the 1st column goes into the 2nd column.
side stripper takes reflux liquid from the main column and then returns vapour to
the main column. Here, the middle product B is taken off as a bottom
product. So, this particular arrangement is called as a side stripper because
the middle product is taken off as a bottom product.
22
Advantages and disadvantages
of thermal coupling
• Among possible configuration, the side stripper arrangement is
common in petroleum industry. However, fully thermally coupled
arrangements are not very attractive to designers
• If the heat integration of sequence is considered it is observed that
sequence with higher total heat load occurred simultaneously with
more extreme levels of temperatures.
• In the conventional arrangement there is freedom to choose the
pressure of the 2 columns independently. Thus the temperature of
the 2 condensers and re-boilers can be also varied independently.
• No such freedom exists for thermally coupled arrangements. The
thermally coupled columns might have lower heat duties, but the
heat duties are at wider T difference
• Smaller heat duties work to benefit of heat integration, but more
wider T difference b/w condenser and reboiler offset this advantage

23
Advantages and disadvantages
of thermal coupling
• With thermal coupling, the energy consumption of a single column
reduces, but the column becomes more misfit for total integration
• Recommended that the thermal coupling be considered only when
full heat integration context has been understood.
• Consider thermal coupling only when you have the complete data
and you have complete heat integration.
• As a first pass through the design or at initial levels, thermal
coupling should not be considered because it is going to severely
cut down your degrees of freedom in the design
• Simple designs to be used until the first overall design is established

24