SILVER OAK UNIVERSITY

College of Technology (01)

Bachelor of Technology in Chemical Engineering
Course Name: Separation Techniques
Course Code: 1010023316
Semester: 5th

Prerequisite:
1. Basics of fluid dynamics, heat transfer, mass transfer and thermodynamics

Objectives:
1. The objective of this course is to study the different separation technologies and their
applications in purification processes in the chemical industry.
2. This course is intended to explain detailed fundamentals of various separation techniques
such as distillation, humidification, drying, leaching, crystallization etc. and its application
for in depth study and for solving problems pertaining to some mass transfer operations in
detail.
3. This course also enables the students to understand the principal and working of equipment
like distillation columns, extractors, cooling towers etc.

Teaching and Examination Scheme:

Teaching Scheme Evaluation Scheme Total

Marks
L T P Contact Credits Theory Practical
Hours
CIE ESE CIE ESE
(TH) (TH) (PR) (PR)

3 0 2 5 4 40 60 20 30 150

Content:

Unit Teaching Weightage

Contents
No. Hours %

1 Distillation: 28 47

Introduction, T-x-y diagram, P-x-y diagram, Raoult’s Law and

Ideality, Non – ideal solutions and Azeotrope, Concept of
 relative volatility, Dependency of relative volatility on
temperature and pressure, Bubble point and Dew point
calculation, Continuous distillation of binary systems,
Equilibrium Stage, Operating lines for rectifying and stripping
sections, Types of feed for distillation, q – value and feed line,
Determination of number of stages by McCabe – Thiele
method and Ponchon Savarit method, Reflux and its cases,
Condition of minimum and total reflux, Effect of pressure on
distillation operation, Advantages of increasing the pressure,
Rayleigh distillation, Equilibrium/Flash distillation,
Azeotropic distillation, Extractive distillation, Condenser and
Reboiler, Tray efficiency, Types of trays, Tray stability
diagram, An introduction to multicomponent distillation

2 Humidification: 09 15

Introduction, Ways of expressing moisture content of air –

Absolute Humidity, Percentage Relative Humidity and
Percentage Humidity, Dry Bulb Temperature (DBT), Dew
Point Temperature (DPT), Humid Heat, Humid Volume,
Humid Enthalpy, Concept of Wet Bulb Temperature (WBT),
Adiabatic Saturation Temperature (AST), Evaporative
cooling, Psychrometric Chart, Cooling tower and its types

3 Drying: 07 12

Introduction, Various types of moisture in drying, Drying

equilibrium curve, Calculation of drying time, Batch &
continuous drying equipment – Tray dryer, Tunnel dryer,
Rotary dryers, Spray dryers, etc.

4 Leaching: 08 13

Introduction, Preparation of solids for leaching, Temperature

of leaching, Steady state and unsteady state leaching
operations, Single stage and Multi stage leaching, Equilibrium
diagram for Leaching, Leaching equipment – Bollman
extractor, Rotocel extractor and Kennedy extractor
 5 Adsorption and Ion Exchange: 08 13

Introduction, Types of adsorption, Nature of adsorbents,

Adsorption equilibria for single gases and vapors, Effect of
temperature, Material balance and Freundlich equation and its
application for single stage operation, Ion – Exchange
Principles, Applications, Equilibria and Rate of ion exchange

Course Outcome:

Sr. No. CO statement Unit No

CO-1 To learn about distillation operation and various types of distillation 1

carried out in industries

CO-2 To learn terminologies regarding humidification operation and analyze the 2

psychrometric chart

CO-3 To understand the terminologies of moisture content with respect to drying 3

and learn about various drying equipment

CO-4 To learn about leaching operation and equipment used for leaching 4
process

CO-5 To understand the adsorption operation and analyze the Freundlich 5

equation for various cases of adsorption and learn about basic principles
and application of ion exchange

Teaching and Learning Mode:

1. Practical sessions for developing lab technique and exemplifying the theoretical concepts
covered in lectures
2. Lectures with discussions, question and answer sessions, informal quizzes
3. E - Resources for the virtual learning environment
4. Model based learning

List of Experiments/Tutorials:

1. To determine the efficiency of single stage leaching operation for leaching of NaOH
aqueous solution & CaCO3
 2. To determine the stage efficiency and the overall recovery of NaOH for multistage cross
current leaching operation for leaching NaOH from mixture of NaOH and CaCO3 using
water as a solvent
3. To study the humidification operation using Air-Water system
4. To carry out differential distillation for acetic acid and water solution and also verify
Rayleigh equation
5. To purify Benzene from a benzene oil system by Steam distillation
6. To determine the vapor-liquid equilibrium composition at different temperatures at fixed
condition of pressure
7. To plot Freundlich adsorption isotherm for a system of oxalic acid and activated charcoal
8. To Study the drying of we material and to calculate rate of drying in Tray Dryer
9. To determine the HETP for given packed column using methanol-water system

Major Equipment/ Instrument (Software/Hardware):

1. Distillation Column
2. Tray Dryer
3. Fractional Distillation Column
4. Steam Distillation Apparatus

Books Recommended:
1. Unit Operations of Chemical Engineering, McCabe W L, Smith J C, Harriott P, Mc Graw
Hill Publication, 7th Edition 2005
2. R. E. Treybal, Mass transfer operations, 3 rd edition, Mc-Graw Hill international, New
Delhi, 1983
3. C. J. Geankoplis, Transport processes and unit operations, 3rd edition, Prentice Hall of
India, 1993.
4. Binay K. Dutta, Principles of mass transfer and separation processes, 2 nd edition, Prentice
Hall of India, 2007

List of Open Source Software/learning website:

 https://nptel.ac.in/
 https://swayam.gov.in/
 https://www.coursera.org/
 https://www.vlab.co.in/