Assignment # 01

Separation Process
State and prove different laws of partial pressure and develop a relation of
mole fraction and partial pressures of a volatile component

Dalton's law of Partial Pressure

Key points:
 The pressure exerted by an individual gas in a mixture is known as its partial
pressure
 Assuming we have a mixture of ideal gases, we can use the ideal gas law to
solve problems involving gases in a mixture
 Dalton's law of partial pressures states that the total pressure of a mixture
of gases is equal to the sum of the partial pressures of the component
gases:

 The Law of Partial Pressures is commonly applied in looking at the pressure

of a closed container of gas and water
 Based on Dalton's law, the pressure of the gas collected can be calculated
by subtracting the pressure of the water vapor from the total pressure

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If the ratio of partial pressure to the mole fraction in liquid is defined as the
volatility, then consider a binary mixture:

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Relation between relative volatility and partial pressures:

Relative Volatility
In order to separate a binary mixture using distillation process, there must be a
differences in volatilities of the components. The greater the difference, the
easier it is to do so. A measure for this is termed the relative volatility.
We define volatility of component-i as: partial pressure of component-i divide by
mole fraction component-i in liquid.
Volatility of A = pA / xA
Volatility of B = pB / xB
where p is the partial pressure of the component and x is the liquid mole fraction.
Relative volatility is the ratio of volatility of A (MVC) over volatility of B (LVC).
For a binary mixture of A and B, therefore:

The effect of temperature and pressure on relative volatilities:

An increase in pressure has a significant effect on the relative volatility of the
components in a liquid mixture. Since an increase in the pressure requires an
increase in the temperature, then an increase in temperature also effects the
relative volatility.

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