Complete short cut design

Material balance considerations ...

• The two key components are benzene and
Toluene . Distillate and bottoms conditions
based on the estimated product distributions
for nonkey components

• material balances are made for each

component, with component benzene (B)
being the light key (L) and Toluene (C) the
heavy key (H). For the overall balance,

• components lighter than the Light Key (LK) will

end up completely in the overheads

• components heavier than the Heavy Key (HK)

will end up completely in the bottoms
•
• For the first trial, it is assumed that no
component D (heavier than the heavy key C) is
in the distillate and no light A in the bottoms.
 Equilibrium data ( relative to C in A+B+C)
• Ideal - Raoult’s law:

calculate The vapor pressure by Antoine equation that

describes the relation between vapour pressure and
temperature for pure components

Let K- Toluene in a mixture of A, B, C, and D is selected as the reference component

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 BP and DP trial-and-error calculations

• BP of liquid and vapor composition – At T, the following must hold:

– Liquid composition specified: Assume T, get values for i from Ki values

– Calculate KC from above, compare T corresponding to this value vs. actual

• DP of vapor and liquid composition – At T, the following must hold:

– Vapor composition specified: follow same procedure

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 Shortcut Methods:
Gilliland, Fenske , Underwood Method
• It is an empirical method for calculating number of stages in
Multi-component distillation.
• I t is composed of 3 equations to work with.
1- Gilliland equation (Has graph.): Used to calculate N stages
(In this equation min. reflux ratio and min. number of stages is
need)

2- Fenske equation: Used to calculate (N stages )min

3- Underwood equation: Used to calculate minimum reflux ratio

 Shortcut Methods
Gilliland, Fenske , Underwood Method
1- Gilliland equation:
𝑁 − 𝑁𝑚𝑖𝑛 𝑅 − 𝑅𝑚𝑖𝑛 0.567 ]
= 0.75[1 −
𝑁+1 𝑅+1

2- Fenske equation:
𝑥𝐷𝐿𝐾 𝑥𝑊𝐻𝐾
ln( )
𝑥𝐷𝐻𝐾 𝑥𝑊𝐿𝐾
𝑁𝑚𝑖𝑛 =
ln(𝛼𝐿𝐾,𝐻𝐾 )𝑎𝑣𝑔

3- Underwood equation:
𝛼𝑖 𝑥𝑓𝑖 𝛼𝑖 𝑥𝐷𝑖
1−𝑞 =σ 𝑅𝑚𝑖𝑛 + 1 = σ q: (Hv-hf)/ (Hv-hL)
𝛼𝑖 −𝜃 𝛼𝑖 −𝜃

Where θ: is a relative volatility lies between the relative volatility of light

and heavy components.
 Key components - # of ideal
stages
• Fenske equation still holds for L/H split:

• Other components:

• Combining information thus far, we can determine:

– Feed T if given P (or P if given T)
– Top (D) and bottom (W) T or P
– Distribution of other products (i’s) in D and W

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 Shortcut methods

(1) Minimum reflux ratio (Rm) – Underwood’s method:

–  value is between L,av and H,av (or 1), solved by trial-and-error

– All components (i) are included (*need F and D compositions)
– Solve 1-q equation first to obtain 
• If feed is at BP, LHS (1-q) = 0

– Use  to obtain Rm
• If feed is at BP, LHS (1-q) = 0

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 Shortcut methods

(2) # of ideal stages (N) at R – Erbar and Maddox or Gilliland correlations:

– Nm from Fenske equation
– Rm from Underwood method

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 Shortcut Methods
Kirkbride’s method
Feed tray location – Kirkbride’s method:

– Feed tray is Ne from top (i.e. Ne trays above, Ns trays below)

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