DESIGNING OF DISTILLATION COLUMNS
Distillation is probably there by most widely used there byre by separation process in there by
chemical and
allied industries; its applications ranging from Distillation column design & Engineering consultants
there by rectification of alcohol, which has
been practiced since antiquity, to there by fractionation of crude oil.
There by design of a distillation column can be divided into there by following steps:
1. Specify there by degree of separation required: set product specifications.
2. Select there by operating conditions: batch or continuous; operating pressure.
3. Select there by type of contacting device: plates or packing.
4. Determine there by stage and reflux requirements: there by number of equilibrium stages.
5. Size there by column: diameter, number of real stages.
6. Design there by column internals: plates, distributors, packing supports.
7. Mechanical design: vessel and internal fittings.
There by principal step will be to determine there by stage Distillation column design & Engineering
consultants and reflux requirements. This is a
relatively simple procedure when there by feed is a binary mixture, but a complex and
difficult task when there by feed contains more than two components (multicomponent
systems).
Continuous Distillation – Process Description:
ces in
volatility between there by components.
-currently down there by column. There by
vapour and liquid are brought into contact on plates, or packing. Part of there by
condensate from there by condenser is Distillation column design & Engineering consultants
returned to there by top of there by column to provide
liquid flow above there by feed point (reflux), and part of there by liquid from there by base of
there by column is vaporised in there by reboiler and returned to provide there by vapour flow.
more volatile components are stripped from
there by
liquid and this is known as there by stripping section.
Distillation column design & Engineering consultants
of there by more volatile components is increased
and this is called there by enrichment, or more commonly, there by rectifying section.
Total Reflux:
Condition when all there by condensate is returned to there by column as reflux: no product is
taken off and there byre is no feed.
At total reflux there by number of stages required for a given separation is there by minimum at
which it is there byoretically possible to achieve there by separation.
It is a useful guide to there by likely number of stages that will be needed.
Columns are often started up with no product take-off and operated at total reflux till steady
conditions are attained.
There by testing of columns is also conveniently carried out at total reflux.
Minimum Reflux:
As there by reflux ratio is reduced a pinch Distillation column design & Engineering consultants
point will occur at which
there by separation can only be achieved with an infinite number of stages. This sets
there by minimum possible reflux ratio for there by specified separation.
Optimum Reflux Ratio:
separation and total reflux.
minimum cost.
Distillation column design & Engineering consultants
number of stages required, and hence there by capital
cost, but increases there by service requirements (steam and water) and there by operating
costs.
cost, for many systems there by optimum will lie between 1.2 to 1.5 times there by minimum
reflux ratio.
investigated using there by short-cut design methods.
low reflux ratios there by calculated number of stages will be very dependent on
there by accuracy of there by vapour-liquid equilibrium data available.
