Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Example: A liquid-liquid ternary phase diagram for isopropyl alcohol (IPA), toluene, and
water at 25oC is shown in the next figure. Feed flow rate is 100 kg/hr, and feed
compositions 40 weight percent IPA and 60 weight percent toluene. Fresh solvent
is pure water at a flow rate of 100 kg/hr. Determine the number of equilibrium
stages required to produce a raffinate stream that contains 3 weight percent IPA.
Liquid-Liquid Extraction
Solution:
In this system, water is the solvent and IPA is the solute that we wish to
extract from the toluene-IPA feed mixture.
The raffinate stream leaving the extractor will be mostly toluene.
Firstly, the points F and So are plotted, and a straight line is drawn
joining them.
Then the point M is determined as follows:
The composition of the solvent phase leaving the first stage is read off
the graph: 27.5 % IPA and 70 % water.
Two straight lines are drown to locate point. The first line pass through
F and S1, the second through RN and S0. The intersection of the two lines
occurs at .
An LLE tie line is then followed from S1 down to R1 on the solubility
curve. This line represent the first stage.
The composition of the raffinate phase leaving the first stage is 21 % IPA
and 2 % water.
F
S1
R1 1 .
M
S2
2 S0
RN = R
2
.
Liquid-Liquid Extraction
The intersection of this straight line with the straight line through the
points S0 and RN gives the minimum (min).
can lie either to the left or to the right of the phase diagram.
The point S1min is found on straight line from the feed point to min, and a
straight line is drown from it to the point RN which has been specified.
Liquid-Liquid Extraction
The point Mmin is then given by the intersection of this line with the
straight connecting the point F and S0.
S0min can then be calculated from equations (13), (14) using the known
compositions x1min and x3min of Mmin:
M F S0 (13)
(15)
Liquid-Liquid Extraction
DESIGN PROCEDURE
The summarized specific sequence of steps to design a
countercurrent liquid-liquid extractor for a ternary system are as follow:
1. Parameters specified.
(b) Composition of solute in the raffinate stream leaving the last stage
(x1RN).
(d) Economic ratio of actual to minimum solvent flow rates (S0/ S0min).
6. Locate the point by drawing two lines, one through S0 and RN and one through
the other through S1 and F.
7. Step off stages, alternately using the LLE tie-lines and the A point, as follows:
S1 LLE
R1
S 2 LLE
R2
S3
...
Liquid-Liquid Extraction
Example: Design a countercurrent liquid-liquid extractor to separate acetone
from methyl isobutyl ketone (MIK) using water as a solvent. The column is
to operate at 25C. The organic feed rate is 10,000 kg/h, and the
composition is 45 weight percent acetone and 55 weight percent ketone.
The fresh solvent is pure water, and twice the minimum solvent rate is to
be used. The concentration of acetone in the organic raffinate leaving the
top of the extractor is to be 2.5 weight percent acetone.
Solution:
acetone is the solute to be separated from MIK using water as the solvent. Thus,
component 1 is acetone and component 3 is water.
The point RN is plotted on the solubility curve at x1RN = 2.5 weight percent acetone.
The point S0 is plotted at the right lower comer of the diagram, since x3So = 100
weight percent water. The point F is plotted on the vertical axis at z1 = 45 weight
percent acetone.
Liquid-Liquid Extraction
The LLE tie-line that passes through F is used to determine the points min and
S1min.
The intersection of these lines is the point Mmin, giving a composition x1min = 24
weight percent acetone.
The minimum solvent flow rate is calculated from equation (15):
Liquid-Liquid Extraction
S min
1
Mmin
x1min
RN
Liquid-Liquid Extraction
Thus, 97.6 percent of the acetone fed to the unit is captured by the solvent.
Liquid-Liquid Extraction
R1
1
X1=16.4
R2
R3
2 .
M
S1
S2
3
R4 S3
4
RN=R5
5
S5
S4
.
S0