and 0 < q < 1 for vapor/liquid mixture.

For the latter ' three cases, the value of

q can be determined as de-scribed in Ref. (17)
Eq. (1) and (2) form a system of two equations in two unknowns with a
common point of intersection. While there are several very elegant numerical
techniques to determine this intersection point, a rapid solution can usually be
obtained simply by programming the two equations into a calculator and
selecting values of X until the values of Y calculated by both equations are
sufficiently close.
b) Calculate the slope of the operating line, using the following equation:

Where YD = XD = distillate product composition at intersection of the Y = X

line; YE = vapor composition at intersection of feed line with equilibrium line,
and XE = liquid composition at intersection of feed line with equilibrium line.
6. Calculate the minimum reflux by the following equation:
7. To determine the pinch point that is tangent to the equilibrium line (Fig. , 1),
the equation for the equilibrium curve developed in Step 3 must he
differentiated. This will permit the evaluation of the slope at any point along
the equilibrium curve. (A polynomial-form equation was selected in Step 3 to
simplify this differentiation.) Eq. (1) is differentiated by the relationship:

To give the equation for the slope:

8. The operating line is described by an equation of the general form:

Where S = slope of operating line and B = intercept of operating line at X = 0.
To determine the equation: (a) at a given value of X, calculate. Y from Eq. (1);
(b) at the same value of X, calculate S from Eq. (6); and (c) calculate the
intercept B by:
9. By substituting Y = X into Eq. (7), the intercept of the operating line with the
Y = X line can be determined by:
10. Check to see whether the value of XD calculated by Eq. (9) agrees with the
XD specified for the separation. If it does not, return to Step 8 with a new value
of X until the X1, specification is met. When the XD calculated in Step 9 equals
the XD specified for the separation, the current, value of S = (L/V) min Then
determine the (LI by Eq. (4).
The procedure can be set up on a programmable calculator to evaluate Eqs.
(1), (6), (8), (9) and (4) in a very few minutes.
Example

It is desired to separate a mixture of acetone and water that is 0.10 mole

fraction acetone at 100F into a distillate product of 0.95 mole fraction acetone
and a bottoms product of 0.99 mole fraction water. At 760 mm Hg pressure, the
feed is a subcooled liquid with a q value of 1.10. Determine the minimum reflux
ratio for the stripping and rectifying sections.
Step 1. The X-Y equilibrium curve illustrated in Fig. 5 on the previous page is
constructed using the values in the table above. For this problem, a UNIQUAC
vapor/ liquid equilibrium model [18] was used to obtain these data.
Step 2. The, values of X B; = 0.01, Xf= 0.10 and XD= 0.95 are indicated on Fig.
5.
Step 3. The equilibrium curve data between X = 0:15 and 1.0 are fitted to the
following 6th-order, polynomial equation:
(For this equation, the residual sum of squares is 1.07669 x 10-6, the variance
is 3.98773 x 10-8 and the standard deviation is 1.99693 x 10-4.)
. Step 4. The equation for the feed line is:
At X = 0.1615, the Y value for the feed line is 0.77650 and the Y value from the
equilibrium curve is 0.77655.
Step 5. The slope of the stripping-section operating line is:
Step 6. The minimum reflux in the stripping section is:
The negative sigh arises because the point of reference for the line is the
intersection of the feed line and the equilibrium line.
Step 7. The polynomial determined in Step 3 is differentiated to give the 5 thorder polynomial:
Step 8
Step 9
Step 10. The minimum reflux for the rectifying section where the operating line
is tangent to the equilibrium line is: