UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MARA

FAKULTI KEJURUTERAAN KIMIA

PROCESS SIMULATION LABORATORY (CPE613)

NAME

: MUHAMMAD AZIZI BIN MOHD ZULKIFLI

STUDENT ID.
GROUP

: 2014248582
: EH2415A

EXPERIMENT

: SPLIT RATIO AND DISTILLATION COLUMN

DATE PERFORMED : 14TH OCTOBER 2016

SEMESTER

:5

PROGRAM

: EH241

SUBMIT TO

: DR. SITI SHAWALLIAH BINTI IDRIS

No.

Title

1
2
3
4

Procedure
Process Flow Diagram(PFD)
Workbook
Questions & Discussion
TOTAL MARKS

Remarks:
Checked by :
--------------------------(
)
Date :

Allocated Marks
(%)
5
5
5
5
100

Marks

Objective :
Understand the usage of valve and distillation specification

Process :
The production of methanol is carried out in a moderate-pressure synthesis loop by
direct hydrogenation of carbon dioxide, which generates a liquid product that contains
a binary mixture of methanol and water in approximately equal proportions. To
provide commercial methanol that is nearly free of water, dehydration is achieved
commonly by distillation. The simulation considerate an equimolar mixture of 2700
kmol/h at 25 C and 5.2 bar. It is then split and fed to two distillation columns, one at
reduced pressure, with the design specification shown in the following table.
Condition
Pressure (bar)
Number of trays
Feed tray
Reflux ratio
Distillate to feed ratio
Count from the top of DC

DC1
5.2
16
12
1.26
0.96

DC2
1.01
13
9
0.834
0.96

Hint :
1. Use advanced peng-robinson property package
2. Split ratio is 0.5
3. Used total condenser for both DC

PROCEDURE
1.

Aspen HYSYS is opened and the new case is opened.

2.

Methanol and Water (H20) are selected from the component list as the
components involved.

3.

Advanced Peng-Robinson property package is selected as the fluid package basis.

4.

Simulation is clicked and the component such as splitter (TEE-100), valve (VLV100), and two distillation column (T-100 and T-101) is added from palette and
connected to each other as stated in the question.

5.

At the Splitter, the information data is inserted:

The streams of splitter is labeled, inlet stream as Feed, outlets are stream 1 and
stream 2.

The parameters for both stream 1 and 2 is set 0.5 respectively.

The composition is set 0.5 for methanol and 0.5 for H2O.

At the worksheet for feed, the data is inserted, molar flow 2700kg/hr, temperature
25 and pressure 5.2 bar.

For the stream 2 is connected with valve, at the valve, the information data is
inserted:
The stream of valve is labeled, inlet stream as stream 2 and the outlet stream as
stream 3.
The pressure at stream 3 is set as 1.01 bar.

7.

Two distillation columns is added as DC1 and DC2 which DC1 is connected with
stream 1 as the inlet and DC2 is connected with stream 3 as the inlet.

8.

At the DC1,the information data is inserted:

Pressure (bar) for condenser and reboiler : 5.2

Number of trays : 16
Feed of trays : 12
Reflux ratio : 1.26
Distillate to feed ratio : 0.96
9. Step 8 is repeated for the DC2. The information is given :
Pressure (bar) for condenser and reboiler : 1.01
Numbers of trays : 13

 Feed tray : 9
Reflux ratio : 0.834
Distillate to feed ratio : 0.96

10. The simulation process is run to obtain the result.

PROCESS FLOW DIAGRAM (PFD)

WORKBOOK

MANUAL CALCULATION IN DISTILLATION COLUMN

The molar flowrate before entering
Split ratio = split vent flowrate / column flowrate = 0.5
2700 kmol/hr (0.5) = 1350 kmol/hr each flow to the distillation column 1 and 2

Mass balance and component balance :

Feed, Xf = 0.5
Product XD = 0.521
Bottom XW = 0.479
Taking basis of 1350 kmol/hr of feed into the DC
F=D+W
1350 = D + W
W = 1350 D
F(XF) = D(XD) + W(XW)
1350(0.5) = (0.521)D +( 0.00001)W

FROM THE CALCULATION

D = 1295.58 kmol/hr
W = 54.41 kmol/hr
which both satisfy the calculation using iCon and manual.

 Pressure drop in valve

Cv of Methanol = 19.2
Q = 148.76 gal/min at stream 2
Specific gravity of Methanol at 25 C, G = 0.7866
Q = Cv
= (Q/Cv) ^2 x G
= (148.76 /19.2 )^2 x 0.7866
= 59.65 psi
411.27 kPa approximately equivalent to pressure drop calculate in iCon
manual.

QUESTION
1.What is the molar flow before entering DC1 and DC2?
The molar flow rate before entering DC1 is 1350kgmole/hr and DC2 is
1350kgmole/hr.
2.How to reduce pressure in DC2?

By using valve for stream 2 to reduce the pressure from 5.2 bar to 1.01 bar at
stream 3.
3.What is the temperature at the bottom of DC1 and DC2?
The temperature at the bottom of DC1 is 153 and DC2 99.65.
4.Did the process achieve a methanol that free from water? What is the purity of the
methanol? How to increase the purity?
Yes the process achieve a methanol that free from water. It achieves 100 percent
of pure methanol. There are few ways to increase the purity of the methanol
production which is by increasing the number of stages for the column, recycle
back the product to the distillation column, increasing reboilers number or build
the series of the distillation column so that the product can undergoes another
separation process and increasing the pressure of distillation columns.

DISTILLATION
Based on the objective, we need to simulate the DC with heat integration. The
objective was understanding the usage of valve and distillation specification. The
simulation was done by using HYSYS software. The process is production of
methanol is carried out in a moderate pressure synthesis loop by direct hydrogenation

of carbon dioxide, which generates a liquid product that contains a binary mixture of
methanol that is nearly free of water, dehydration is achieved commonly by
distillation. We use heat integration method to reduce the sizable energy costs.

The equipment used were splitter, valve, and distillation column. Component splitter
works as its name says: it redistributes each of the components present in the feed
stream in between the so called "overhead" and the "bottom" streams. Depending on
specified conditions of both outlet streams, you may need to include an energy stream
feeding the splitter as well. splitter segregates each and every component from the
feed stream based on the specified component split. The use of valve is a device used
to control the flow of liquids and gases. Distillation is one of the most common liquidliquid separation processes, and can be carried out in a continuous or batch system.
Distillation works by the application and removal of heat to exploit differences in
relative volatility. The heat causes components with lower boiling points and higher
volatility to be vaporized, leaving less volatile components as liquids. Mixtures with
high relative volatilities are easier to separate. This makes separations of close-boiling
and azeotropic feeds difficult, so special distillation techniques have to be used to
separate these mixtures. Distillation can be used to separate binary or multicomponent mixtures. Many variables, such as column pressure, temperature, size, and
diameter are determined by the properties of the feed and the desired products. Some
specialized columns perform other functions, such as reactive distillation columns,
which combine reaction and separation of products into a single unit.
The fluid packages used were Peng-Robinson model which is the most enhanced
model in Aspen HYSYS and has largest applicability range in terms of T and P. it is
also has special treatments for some key components and has the largest binary
interaction parameter database.
This experiment is using Peng-Robinson as fluid basis. The components of methanol
and water will enter as a feed in material stream. Then, it will enter the splitter where
it will split into 2 streams (stream1 and stream2). The component is equimolar where
0.5 for methanol and water respectively. The stream1 will enter to distillation column
1 where stream 2 will enter to the valve to reduce the pressure from 5.2 bar to 1.01
bar. The delta P is 4.19 bar. After that, the stream will enter to distillation column 2.

All equipment and data must insert. For reflux ratio of DC1 is 1.26 while for DC2 is
0.834. T
To heat integrated method, we should add adjust tool. The adjust tool was used where
the adjustment was done at the splitter until the heat duties of the condenser of DC1 is
same or nearly same with the second reboiler of DC2. That shown, the heat integrated
method will reduce the cost without disturbing the composition of the product at the
end of the process.
The recommendation for the experiment was we need to recycle the product again to
get the pure methanol. Next is increasing the number of valve and distillation column.