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: