Faculty of Chemical & Natural Resources Engineering

BKF3731
Unit operation lab
Sem. II - Session 2015/2016

Exp 1: Crystallizer
Exp 2: Thin Film Evaporator
Exp 3: Short Path Distillation
Exp 4: Sieve Tray Distillation
Exp 5: Solid Liquid Extractor Unit
Exp 6: Absorption Column Unit
Exp 7: Pressure Swing Adsorption
Instructor: Dr. Fatmawati Adam (coordinator), Mr. Syaiful Nizam Hassan, Mdm
Zatul Iffah Mohd Arshad, Mdm Siti Kholijah Abdul Mudalip, Dr. Noor Sabrina
Ahmad Mutamim, Dr Sunarti Abd Rahman, Izirwan Izhab, Mohd Najib Razali,
Mohd Zulkafli Mohd Noor
Teaching Engineer: Hairul Hisham Ismail, Mohd. Hafiz Abd. Latib, Mohd Faried
Abdullah, Zainal Giman, Zulhabri Khadisah

EXPERIMENT 4: SIEVE TRAY DISTILLATION

Fatmawati Adam/ Jolius Gimbun

OBJECTIVE
1. To determine the height equivalent theoretical plates (HETP) at total reflux.
2. To determine the effect of liquid and vapor loading on the HETP at total reflux.
INTRODUCTION
The principle for sieve tray distillation is the same as for normal distillation: when a
liquid mixture is heat so that it boils, the composition of the vapor above the liquid
differs from the liquid composition. If this vapor is then separated and condensed into
a liquid, it becomes richer in the lower boiling component(s) of the original mixture.
This is what happens in a sieve tray distillation column. A mixture is heated up, and
routed into the distillation column. On entering the column, the feed starts flowing down
but part of it, richer in lower boiling component(s), vaporizes and rises. However, as it
rises, it cools and while part of it continues up as vapor, some of it (enriched in the
less volatile component) begins to descend again.
Figure 1: shows a simple continuous fractional distillation tower for separating a feed
stream into two fractions, an overhead distillate product and a bottoms product. The
lightest products (those with the lowest boiling point or highest volatility) exit from the
top of the columns and the heaviest products (the bottoms, those with the highest
boiling point) exit from the bottom of the column. The overhead stream may be cooled
and condensed using a water-cooled or air-cooled condenser. The bottoms reboiler
may be a stream-heated or hot oil-heated heat exchanger, or even a gas or oil-fired
furnace. In a continuous distillation, the system is kept in a steady state or approximate
steady state. Steady state means that quantities related to the process do not change
as time passes during operation. Such constant quantities include feed input rate,
output stream rates, heat and cooling rates, reflux ratio, and temperatures, pressures,
and compositions at every point (location). Unless the process is disturbed due to
changes in feed, heating, ambient temperature, or condensing, steady state is
normally maintained. This is also the main attraction of sieve tray distillation, apart
from the minimum amount of (easily instrumentable) surveillance; if the feed rate and
feed composition are kept constant, product rate and quality are also constant. Even
when a variation in conditions occurs, modern process control methods are commonly
able to gradually return the sieve tray process to another steady state again.
EQUIPMENT/APPARATUS/MATERIAL
1. Sieve Tray Distillation Unit
2. Refractometer
3. 5L of binary mixture (ethanol-water)
4. Beakers
EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES
1. Prepare a set of mixtures containing ethanol and water within a specified range
of composition between pure water and pure ethanol. Determine refractive
index (RI) for each mixture using a refractometer.
2. Ensure all valves are closed.
3. Prepare a mixture of ethanol and water at desired composition (for instance 5
L mixture containing 3.5 L of ethanol and 1.5 L of water).
4. Record initial volume and refractive index of the liquid mixture.

Fatmawati Adam/ Jolius Gimbun

5. Open the charge port cap and charge the reboiler B1 with the ethanol-water
mixture. Close the charge port cap.
6. Make sure all the valves are properly closed except V15 and V14 for cooling
purposes.
7. Turn on the main power on the control panel.
8. Ensure the reflux control is 0 position (total reflux)
9. Switch on the heaters W1 and set the heater power regulator to 1.0 kW and
allow the reboiler temperature reach approximate 85C.
10. As the top column temperature sensor TT 112, reach steady state, record the
temperature.
11. Set the reflux control to position 1(Total distillate offtake). When the level in
phase separator reaches 100mL, start the timer. As distillate reach 200mL, stop
the timer and determine the flowrate of the distillate.
12. Open valve V9 and collect sample distillate using beaker. Close valve V9 and
set the reflux control to position 0 (Total reflux).
13. To collect bottom product sample, open valve V8 and V2 to collect 10 ml of
sample bottom product using beaker. Close valve V2 & V8.
14. Measure the refractive index of the samples and record the value into data
table.
15. For different liquid and vapor loading, adjust the heater power settings in W1
according table below:
Heater Power
(kW)
1.00
1.50
2.00
16. Wait for approximately 5 minutes and allow the distillation unit to achieve new
steady state. Repeat steps 9 to 13.
17. Switch off heater power and allow the system to cool down to ambient
temperature.

RESULT
Heater
W1, W2
Power
(kW)
1.00
1.50
2.00

Table 1: Data Collection for Distillate and Bottom Product

Distillation
Bottom Product
Temp
(C)

Refractive
Index

Fatmawati Adam/ Jolius Gimbun

Mole
Fraction

Temp
(C)

Refractive
Index

Mole
Fraction

HETP
(mm)