Up She Goes! Equilibrium-Stage Separation Operations in Chemical Engineering Ernest J. Henley Professor of Chemical Engineering University of Houston and J. D. Seader Professor of Chemical Engineering University of Utal | ‘IPARTIMENTO DI INGEGNERIA HIM .3804ondeisoktanie tite, 22 fe gh, wa ed into Oe ROCESS De MATENAL poston mons pec nthe EI Segundo seiner? of Sano Oi Ce of Salas California, Western Operations, Inc. The lift was one of the heaviest ever N Ei ‘Buono N. sont. wait rte Ha ey st Cea JOHN WILEY & SONS\ey “45 gag Ee Refer. 37, Na. 2, V8 (I95B)}, Colum akon wes designed by ene of the New York + Chichester - Brisbs authors.Copyright © 1981, by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. At rights reserved. Published simultaneously in Canada Reproduction or ansition of way part of this work beyond that permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the 1975 Unites States Copyright ‘Act without the permission ofthe copyright, ‘owner is unlawul. Requests for permission ‘or farther information should be adesse8 0 the Permissions Department, Jon Wiley & Sons. Library of Congress Cataloging in Pubcon Data Henley, Brest 3 Equiibrum-sageseparition operations in chemical engineering. Includes index. 1. Separation (Technology) 2. Chemical ‘equiiviom. 1. Seader, J.D. jot author Tae TpIs6SesHss — Go028 80-1393 ISBN O4T1-37108-4 Printed in the United States of America 39 29 25 27-26 25 24 23:22 Printed nad boon by Quinn - Wooing, Ine The literature abounds with information on all Phases, of distillation calculations and design. here has been such a bewildering flow of in- formation, dealing especiatly with the principles of stage calculations, that the engineer who is not a distitiation expert finds himself at a loss as to how to select the best procedures for solving his dis- tilation problems. James R. Fair and William L. Bolles, 1968PREFACE ical engineering has changed so dramatically in the past decade as that of design pracedures for separation aperations based an the ‘equilibriura-stage concept. Ten years ago, design of fractionators, absorbers, Strippers, and extractors was often dove by approximate calculation procedures: and reboiled absorbers and extractive distillation columns were often “guess- timated” from experience and pilot plant data. Today, accurate ther~ modynamics packages coupled with sufficiently rigorous computational al- gorithms enable engineers 10 solve rapidly on time-shared computer terminals, without leaving their desks, what were once considered perversely difficult problems. Commercially available computer programs for stagewise com- putations ate now so robust and reliable that one can say of them, as was once said of the army, that they were organized by geniuses fo be run by idiots. (One of the premises of this book is that what was once good for the army is not necessarily good for the engineering profession. The availability of commercial process simulation computing systems such as CONCEPT, DESIGN/2000, FLOWTRAN, GPS-II, and PROCESS has, in many instances, seduced the engineer to the status of an army private. Most often, his under- graduate training did not cover the modern algorithms used in these systems, the User's Manual contains only vague of unobtainable references to the exact computational techniques employed, and the Systems Manual may be pro- prictary, so the design exercise degenerates into what is often a “black-bo} operation, the user being left in the dark. The aim of this book is to bring a little light into the darkness. We made a careful study of all major publicly available computing systems, ran a fairly large number of industrially significant problems, and then used these problems as vehicles to bring the reader to an in-depth understanding of modern calculation procedures. This approach enabled us to trim the book by eliminating those techniques that are not widely used in practice or have litle instructional value.vit Preface Instead, we include topics dealing with sophisticated and realistic design prob Time, Indeed, we hope the terms “realistic” and “industrially significant” are (he refjetives that reviewers will use to characterize this book. We did our best 10 ‘tell it like i is. The material in the book deals with topics that are generally presented in undergraduate and graduate courses in equilibrium-stage processes, stazewise seeeration processes, mass transfer operations, separations processes, andlor eparation Processes oor ich Eva Ameen ‘rbot seme estar pot (aiocard ‘mecery taeee) e {sor ‘asian abate (aestanard Figure 13. Process for recovery of ight hydrocarbons frm asinghead eas. product, consisting of 99% hydrogen chloride with smal amounts of H 1,0, CO, and COs, requires no purification. Such simple commercial proc that cequie vo equinment for separation of chemical species ave very rare Some industrial chemical processes involve no chemical reactions but only operations for separating chemicals and phases together with auxiliary eauipy ‘ment. A typical process is shown in Fig. 13, where wet natural ga8 is con- tinuously separated into light paraffin hydracachoas by a train of separators including an absorber, a reboiled absorber,* and five distillation columns.” ‘though not shown, additional separation operations may be required to dehy. drate and sweeten the gas. Also, it is possible to remove nitrogen and helium, if desired Most industrial chemical processes involve at least one chemical reactor accompanied by a numberof chemical separators. An example isthe continuous direct hydration of ethylene to ethyl alcohol.‘ The heart of the process is a See Table 1.1, Industrial Chemical Processes 5 seme ketene Even hyravon "ined od cob vetor Etro ‘draoed Figure 14. Hypothetical proces oF hydration of ethylene to ethanol fixed-bed catalytic reactor operating at 2994C and 6.72 MPa (STOR and 975 psia) in which the reaction C:H,+H;0>CiH,OH takes place. Because of thermo- dynamic equilibrium fimitations, the conversion of ethylene is only 5% per ‘pass through the reactor. Accordinaly, o large recycle ratio is required to obtain essentially complete averall conversion of the ethylene fed to the process, If plire ethylene were available as a feedstock snd no side reactions occurred, the relatively simple process in Fig. 1.4 could be constructed. This process uses a reactor, a partial condenser for ethylene recovery, and distillation to produce aqueous ethyl alcohol of near-azeotropic composition. Unfortunately, as is the prevalent situation in industry, a number of factors combine to greatly increase the complexity of the process, particularly with respect to separation require- ments, These factors include impurities in the ethylene feed and side reactions involving both ethylene and feed impurities such as propylene. Consequently, the separation system must also handle diethyl ether, isopropyl alcohol, acetal- dehyde, and other products, The resulting industrial process is shown in Fig. 1.5 After the hydration reaction, a partial condenser and water absorber, operating at high pressure, recover ethylene for recycle. Vapor from the low-pressure flash is scrubbed with water to prevent alcohol loss. Crude concentrated ethanol containing diethyl ether and acetaldehyde is distilled overhead in the crude 4isilation column and catalytically hydrogenated in the vapor phase to convert acetaldehyde to ethanol. Diethyl ether is removed by distillation inthe light-ends tower snd scrubbed with water. The final product is prepared by distillation in the final purification tower, where 93% aqueous ethanol product is withdrawn several trays below the top tray, light ends are concentrated in the tray section above the product withdrawal tray and recycled to the catalytic hydrogenationproé that ‘oper men ‘inw inch Ath drat desis ‘acco direc See 6 ‘Separation Processes Exile oop tyne vert be tyleehyation "iedbed u os saul reter aster om i let eter amex tana ove portation soe (aotaint Faced cena cod Fire 15. Indust process for hydation of ethylene to ethanol reactor, and wastewater is removed from the bottom of the tower. Besides the separators shown, additional separators may be necessary to concentrate the ethylene feed (0 the process and remove potentiaf catalyst poisons. ‘The above examples serve to illustrate the great importance of separation operations in the majority of industrial chemical processes. Such operations are ‘employed not only to separate feed mixtures info their constituents, 10 recover solvents for recycle, and to remove wastes, but also, when used in conjunction with chemical reactors, to purify reactor feed, recover reactant(s) from reactor ‘effluent for recycle, recover by-product(s), and recover and purify product(s) to meet certain product specifications. Sometimes a separation operation, such as ‘SO, absorption in limestone slurry, may be accompanied simultaneously by a ‘chemical reaction that serves to facilitate the separation, 1.2. Interphase Mass Transfer Separation Operations Uf the mixture to be separated is @ homogeneous single-phase solution (gas, liquid, or solid), a second phase must generally be developed before separation of 4.2. Interphase Mass Transfer Separation Operations 7 chemical species can be achieved economically. This second phase can be treated by an energy separating agent (ESA) ot by a mass separating agent (MSA) such as a solvent or absorbent. in some separations, both types of agents may be employed. Application of an ESA involves heat transfer and/or work transfer to or from the mixture to be separated. Alternatively, a second phase may be created by reducing the pressure. ‘An MSA may be partially immiscible with one or more of the species in the mixture. In this ease, the MSA is frequently the constituent of highest concentration in the second phase. Alternatively, the MSA may be completely miscible with the mixture but may selectively alter species volatilities to facilitate a more ‘complete separation between certain species when used in conjunction with an ESA, as in extractive distilation, in order to achieve a separation of chemical species, a potential must exist for the different species to partition between the two phases to different extents, This potential is governed by equilibrium thermodynamics, and the rate of approach to the equilibrium composition is controlled by interphase mass transfer, By intimately mixing the two phases, we enhance mass transfer rates, and the maximum degree of partitioning is more quickly approached. After sufficient phase contact, the separation operation is completed by employing gravity and/or a mechanical technique to disengage the two phases. Table 1.1 is a list of the commonly used continuous separation operations based on interphase mass transfer. Symbols for the operations that are suitable for process flow diagrams are included in the table. Entering and exit vapor and liquid and/or solid phases are designated hy V, L, and S, respectively. Design procedures have become fairly well standardized for the operations marked by the superscript letter 4 ia Table Lt These are ow described qualita- tively, and they are treated in considerable detail in subsequent chapters of this book. Batchwise versions of these operations are considered only briefly. ‘When the mixture to be separated includes species that differ widely in their tendency to vaporize and condense, flash vaporization or partial condensation ‘operations, (1) and (2) in Table 1.1, may be adequate to achieve the desired separation. In the former operation, liquid feed is partially vaporized by reducing the pressure (€.g., with a vaive), while in the fatter vapor feed is partially ‘condensed by removing heat. In both operations, after partitioning of species by interphase mass transfer has occurred, the vapor phase is enriched with respect to the species that are most volatile, while the liquid phase is enriched with respect to the least volatile species. After this single contact, the two phases, which are of different density, are separated, generally by gravity ‘Often, the degree of species separation achieved by flash vaporization or partial condensation is inadequate because volatility differences ate not sufficiently large. In that case, it may still be possible to achieve the desiredTable 1.1 Continuous separation operstions based on interphase mass transfor Initia Developed Unit or Food or Added Separating Industetat Operation Symbol” Phase Phase Agents) Example® Flach 2 ina Vapor Pressure reduction Recovery of water fom seawater ‘apoticatont (Wot. 22,p. 20) wy 7 Partial . Vapor igi Heat tanser (ESA) Recovery of Hy sid No fom condensation’ fH ‘emionia by partial cendensation 2 nd bigh-pressute phase A Separation (Vt, 2 99, 282-283) Distlaton® Vapor anor Vapor and Heat transfer (ESA) and Stabilization of natural gasoline by o Tigi Tui ‘sometimes Work distillation to remove sobutsne : cmaester nd lower molecular weight rs Inydrocarbons (Vol 13:7. 24) Extractive Vapor andlor Vepor and Liquid Solvent (MSA) ard Separation of toluene from clost- Distilation? wud tial Heat transfer (ESA) oiling nonaromatic compounds @ by using pheno as a solvent to improve ihe separability. Val 2p. S41) Reboiled Vapor andlor Vapor and Liquid absorbent (MSA) Removal of ethane and lower shaoetion iui Tig nd bext ances (ESA) molecular Went Hydoearbns o from the mai fractiontor loverbead ofa catalytic cracking plant (Vol. 15, pp 25-26) Absorption! Vapor Lig Liquid absorbent (MSA) Separation of carbon dioxide trom o ‘ombustion prodoets by ‘absorption with agueous Solutions of an thanalyine (Wel 4,» 58,362) ‘Sirippine Lava Vapor Stippiog vapor (MSA) Steam striping of naphia, a kerosene, and ga ol side cuts Irom = erude disiltion uit remove light ends Wal. 15, pp 8) Reflux stripping Vapor andlor ‘Vapor and Sting vapor (MSA) —_Disttation a reduced exute ait (steam g tigi guid fand heat transfer (ESA) under vacuum using steam as Aistifation? = ripping agent (Vol. 15. $8) ® Reboiled i Liguie Vapor Heat transfer (ESA) Removal of light ends from 2 strppine? c ‘pha cit Voh45, 9.19) o aweropic = ‘Vapor andlor Vapor and Liquid entraner (MSAy, Separation of acetic aid from ‘distin "hee, gui Tid heat transfer (ESA) water Using a-butl acetate as an aa ee ntainer to Form 32 szeotone sith water (Vol 2p 851), Liqui.guie 4 Liquid Liquid Ligud solvent MSA} Use af propane a a saver to ‘extraction = easphalt a reduced crud oi ap (ot 2,77)u Table 13 @onts tna Developed unit or Feed or Added Separating lndustal Operation Phase Agents) Example i ui Ligid Two ghd sents ‘Use of propane andere aid “Secon = “Nisa an MSAD Ss sleet to seperte prfine tester ftom amas to pte: rs (Wa. Ie 5758 setcegey Uda ten Vapor Gas MSA) andor test Remo of water fom pli eR transfer ®3A) “hone win oti a oary Shyer (Wal hep. 35378) on ; : v Meat antes ESA) Evaporation of wate fom a oo Mew a ‘solution of urea and water (Vol. a i, 3p.50) Cnptalization ° Liguid Solid (and Heat transfer (ESA) Ceystalization of p-xylene from 8 om 3. = from gu contaiting Ns. Os, COs, CO, H.0, and other organic T compounds by condensation to the Solid sate (Val. 1, p41) Desatinaton a sou Met Taser {SA)——Racvey of phn aide ‘ aE Leaching ac Sib sigsis guid slvent (MSA) Aqueous leaching of sme 19 on aa) Tecover copper sulfate (VoL 6, “ 167 ‘Aatsorgtion yee Waporertiquid Said Slid adsorbent (MSA) Removal af water fom ai by a8) ‘sdeorplion on activated alin (ol p 40) * Design proceduras aro fairy wel standardized * Trays ae shown for columns, but alternatively packing can be used, Mutinte feeds and side streams are often used and may be added to the symbol (see example (9 Fig. 17h. "Cations reer 10 volume and pages) of Kirk-Othmer Encyclonedia of Chemical Technology 2nd e4., John Wiley and Sons, New York 196-1960,2 Separation Processes chemical separation without introducing an MSA, by employing distillation (3), the most widely utilized industrial separation method. Di mutiple contacts between liquid and vapor phases. Each contact consists of mixing the two phases for partitioning of species, followed by a phase separa- tion. The contacts are often made on horizontal trays (usually referred to ac stages) arranged in a vertical column as shown schematically in the symbol for distillation in Table 1.1.* Vapor, while proceeding to the top of the column, ig increasingly enriched with respect to the more volatile species. Correspondingly, liquid, while fowing to the bottom of the column, is increasingly enriched with respect to the less volatile species. Feed to the distillation column enters on 4 tray somewhere between the top tray and the bottom tray: the portion of the column above the feed is the enriching section and that below is the stripping section. Feed vapor passes up the column; feed liquid passes down. Liquid ic required for making contacts with vapor above the feed tray and vapor is required for making contacts with liquid below the feed tray. Often, vapor from the top of the column is condensed to provide contacting liquid, called refer, Similarly liquid at the bottom of the column passes through a reboiler to provide contacting vapor, called boilup. ‘When volatility differences between species to be separated are so small as to necessitate very large numbers of trays in a distillation operation, extractive distillation (4) may be considered. Here, an MSA is used to increase volatility differences between selected species of the feed and, thereby, reduce the ‘umber of required trays to a reasonable value. Generally, the MSA is less Volatile than any species in the feed mixture and is introduced near the top of the column. Reflux to the top tray is also utilized to minimize MSA content in the top product. If condensation of vapor leaving the top of a distillation column is not readily accomplished, a liquid MSA called an absorbent may be introduced to the top tray in place of reflux. The resulting operation is called reboiled absorption (or fractionating absorption) (5). If the feed is all vapor and the stripping section of the column is not needed to achieve the desired separation, the operation is referred to as absorption (6). This procedure may not require an ESA and is frequently conducted at ambient temperature and high pressure Constituents of the vapor feed dissolve in the absorbent to varying extents depending on their solubilities. Vaporization of a small fraction of the absorbent also generally occurs. ‘The inverse of absorption is stripping (7). Here, a liquid mixture is separated, generally at elevated temperature and ambient pressure, by contacting liquid feed with an MSA called a stripping vapor. The MSA eliminates the need ite internat construction of sisilation, absorption, and extraction eavipment is described in Chapter 2. ‘1.2 Interphase Mass Transfer Separation Operations. a to reboll the liquid at the bottom of the column, which is important if the liquid is not thermally stable. If contacting trays are also needed above the feed tray in ‘der to achieve the desired separation, a refluxed stripper (8) may be employed If the bottoms product from a stripper is thermally stable, it may be rebered without using an MSA. In that case, the column is called a reboiled stripper (9) The formation of minimum-boiling mixtures makes azeotropic distillation » useful tool in those cases where separation by fractional distillation is. not feasible. In the example cited for separation operation (10) in Table 1.1, n-butyl acetate, which forms a heterogeneous minimum-boiling azeotrope with water, 1s used to facilitate the separation of acetic acid from water. ‘The azeotrope is taken overhead, the acetate and water layers are decanted, and the MSA. is recirculated (Hauid~Liquid Extraction (11) and (12) using one or two solvents is a widely used separation technique and takes so many different forms in industri! practice that its description will be covered in detail in later Chapters. ‘Since many chemicals are processed wet and sold dry, one of the more Common manufacturing steps is a drying operation (13) which involves removel id by vaporization of the liquid. Although the only basic requirement in drying is that the vapor pressure of the liquid to be evaporated be higher than its partial pressure in the gas stream, the design and operation of dryers represents a complex problem in heat transfer, fluid flow, and mace transfer. In addition to the effect of such external conditions as temperature, ‘humidity, air fow, and state of subdivision on drying rate, the effect of internal Conditions of liquid diffusion, capillary flow, equilibrium moisture content, and heat sensitivity must be considered. Although drying is a multiphase mass transfer process, equipment design procedures differ from those of any of the other processes discussed in this chapter because the thermodynamic concepts of equilibrium are dificult to apply {o typical drying situations, where concentration of vapor in the gas is so fay from saturation and concentration gradients in the solid are such that mace transfer driving forces are undefined. Also, heat transfer rather than mace {ransfer may well be the limiting rate process. The typical dryer design pro, Gedure is for the process engineer to send a few tons of representative, wet, sample material for pilot plant tests by one or two reliable dryer manufacturers and to purchase the equipment that produces a satisfactorily dried product at the synonymous in the scientific sense; however, usage of the word humidification or dehumidification implies that one is intentionally adding or removing vapor to or from a gas. ‘The major application of evaporation is humidification, the conditioning of14 Separation Processes and cooling of water. Annual sales of water cooling towers afone exceed $200 million. Design procedures similar to those used in absorption and distillation can be applied. Crystallization (1S) is a unit operation carried out in many organic and almost all inorganic chemical manufacturing plants where the product is sold as, 4 finely divided solid. Since crystallization is essentially a purification step, the conditions in the crystallizer must be such that impurities remain in solution while the desired product precipitates. There is a great deal of art in adjusting the temperature and level of agitation in a crystallizer in such a way that proper particle sizes and putities are achieved. Sublimation is the transfer of a substance from the solid to the gaseous state without formation of an intermediate liquid phase, usually at a relatively high vacuum. Major applications have been in the removal of a volatile com- ponent from an essentially nonvalatite one: separation of sulfur front impurities, Purification of benzoic acid, and freeze drying of foods, for example. The Feverse process, desublimation (16), is also practiced, for example in the reco- very of phthalic anhydride from reactor effluent. The most common application (of sublimation in everyday life is the use of dry ice as a refrigerant for storing ice cream, vegetables and other perishables. The sublimed gas, unlike water, does not puddle and spoil the frozen materials. Solid-tiquid extraction is widely used in the metallurgical, natural product, and food industries. Leaching (17} is done under batch, semibatch, or coatinuows operating conditions in stagewise or contimuous-contact equipment. The major problem in leaching is to promote diffusion of the solute out of the solid and into the liquid. The most effective way of doing this is to reduce the solid to the smallest size feasible. For large-scale applications, in the metallurgical industries in particular, Jarge, open tanks are used in countercurrent operation. The major difference between solid-liquid and liquid-liquid systems centers about the difficulty of transporting the solid, or the solid slurry, from stage to stage. For this reason, the solid is often left in the same tank and only the fiquid is transferred from tank to tank. In the pharmaceutical, food, and natural product industries, countercurrent solid transport is often provided by fairly complicated ‘mechanical devices. Pictures and descriptions of commercial machinery can be found in Perry's handbook.’ Unii) very recently, the use of adsorption systems (18) was generally limited to the removal of components present only in low concentrations, Recent progress in materials and engineering techniques has greatly extended the applications, as attested by Table 1.2, which fists only those applications that have been commercialized. Adsorbents used in effecting these separations are activated carbon, aluminum oxide, silica gel, and synthetic sodium or calcium aluminosilicate zeolite adsorbents (molecular sieves). The sieves differ from the 4.2. Interphase Mass Transfer Separation Operations 8 ‘Table 1.2 Important commercial adsorptive separations Miscellaneous Separations and Dehydration Processes Purlications Gases Liquids ‘Materiel Adsorbed Materia) Treated Acetylene Acetone Acetylene Liquid oxysen ae ‘Avetoirite Ammonia Cracked Argon Acrylonitrile ‘Ammonia Reformer hydrogen carbon dioxide Allyl chloride 2utene Tsoprene Chlorine Benzene Carbon dioxide Ethylene Cracked gas Butadiene Carbon dioxide aie Ethylene Butane Carbon oxide Inert gases Helium Butene Carbon monoxide, Hydrogen methane Hydrogen Butyl acetate Hydrogen chlotide Carbon tetachloride Compressor oil Many kinds of enses Hydrogen sulde —Cyotohexane {Cycle hydrocarhons —Naphthenes and purfis Natural pas Dichloroethylene thane! Diethyl ether Nitrogen Dimethy sulfoxide Gasoline components Natural gas Oxyeen Ethanot rydrogen sue Reformer hydrogen Ethylene ditromige ‘Hydrogen sulfide SelluehersBaccide Ethylene dichloride Hydrogen sulle No. fue oil Krypton ydrozen mHeptane Mercaptans Propane Berane ‘Methars jet eter Troprene ‘Methylene cMoride Refeigerant 114 Tnopropanet Nivogen| ydrosen Tet foe NO, NO,, N.0 Nitrogen Liguetes Oil vapor Compressed gases petroleum gas Methyl chloe onyeen ‘Arron Mined ethyl ketone Unsaturates Diethyl ether Others (Color, oor. and Vegetable and ania! taste forme ‘ls, suger yrens, ‘tser and 20 04 vitae Fermentation mixes “Turbidity formers Beet, wines ‘Source. FJ, Henley and H. K. Safin, Stagewise Process Design. John Wiley & Sons, lc., New “York, 1963, 50- ‘Separation Processes other adsorbents in that they are crystalline and have pore openings of fixed dimensions. ‘Adsorption units range from the very simple to the very complex. A simple Sevice consists of litle more than a cylindrical vessel packed with adsorbent through which the gas or liquid flows. Regeneration is accomplished by passing a hot gas through the adsorbent, usually in the opposite direction, Normally two or ‘more vessels are used, one vessel desorbing while the other(s) adsorb(s). If the vessel is arranged vertically, itis usually advantageous to employ downward Slow to prevent bed lift, which causes particle attrition and a resulting increase pressure drop and loss of material. However, for liquid flow, better dis- tribution is achieved by upward flow. Although regeneration is usually ac- complished by thermal cycle, other methods such as pressure cycles (desorption by decompression), purge-gas cycles (desorption by partial pressure lowering), and displacement cycies (addition of a third component) are also used. In contrast to most separation operations, which predate recorded history, the principles of ion exchange were not known until the 1800s. Today ion exchange is a ‘major industrial operation, largely because ofits wide-scale use in water softening. Numerous other ion-exchange processes are also in use. A few of these are listed in Table 13. fon exchange resembles gas adsorption and liquid-liquid extraction in that, im all these processes, an inert carrier is employed and the reagent used to remove a component selectively must be regenerated. in 3 typical ion-exchange application, water softening, an organic or inorganic polymer in its sodium form removes calcium jons by exchanging calcium for sodium, After prolonged use Table 1.3 Applications of lon exchange Process Material Exchanged Purpose Water teatment Calcium ions Remoeal Water deattyfization Dicartonate Removal Aluminum anodization bath Aluiotm. Removal Pating baths Meta Recovery ‘Rayon wastes Coppee Recovery Giycerine Sodan chioride Removal ‘Wood pulping Recovery Formaldehyde manufacture Recovery Ethylene glycol (rom oxide) Canty ‘Sugar solution Removal Grapefruit processing Recovery ecortamination Removal ‘Source. BJ. Henley and H, K. Safin, Stagewise Process Desig, John Wiley '& Sons, Inc, New York, 1983, 3 Interphase Mass Transter Separation Operations 7 the (spent) polymer. which is now stturated with calcium, is regenerated by contact with a concentrated brine, the law of mass action governing the degree ‘of regeneration. Among the muny factors entering into the design of industrial exchangers are the problems of: 1. Channeling. The problems of nonuniform flow distribution and subsequent bypass is generic to all low operations. 2. Loss of resins, Ultimately, the exchange capacity of the resin will diminish to the point where it is no longer effective. In arsystem where resin is recirculated, loss by attrition is superimposed on the other losses, Which also include cracking of the resin by osmotic pressure. 3, Resin viiliration. This is the ratio of the quantity of ions removed during treatment to the total capacity of the resin; it must be maximized, id, the limiting rate step is often 4. Pressure drop. Because ion exchange is r diffusion info the resin. To overcome this diffusional resistance, resin size must be reduced and liquid flow rate increased. Both of these measures result in an increased bed pressure drop and increased pumping costs. Fe tenn et wi \ Figure 1.6, Dorreo Hydto-softene fr water.