Distillation: An Introductory Process Description

Alyssa Fiorenza ENG 202 C Section 14 03/16/2012

Audience and Scope of Description

The purpose of this document is to provide the reader with an introductory understanding of how a distillation purification system works. It will consist of the some underlying theory of mass transfer techniques and how the distillation process separates a feed stream of several components. Once read, the audience will be able to recognize the main components of a distillation column and how they work together to produce a pure stream from a mixed feed stream. The intended audience of this description is college underclassmen in engineering who have had some background in basic thermodynamics but still need to become more familiar with mass transfer theory. The document could be used in a textbook among other methods of purification. Several concepts including vapor liquid equilibrium, vaporization, and liquid and vapor flow will be discussed; these concepts should be a review for the audience. Knowledge of this process will be valuable for students choosing between engineering majors so they can gain a preliminary example of the kinds of technology they would be exposed to in the area of chemical engineering.

Introduction to Process
The distillation process is a purification technique which is used in the production of most refined products such as alcoholic beverages, oil, drinking water, and specialty chemicals. It is one of the most common processes used industrially. The method employs the use of the vapor-liquid equilibrium properties of a given system; the physical separation is made possible by taking advantage of the distribution of components between the vapor and liquid phases. Distillation can be either a single or multiple staged process with the number of stages dependent on the extent of separation which can be obtained, or in other words the extent of equilibrium. The extent of equilibrium is theoretically described by Raoults Law, which can be applied to ideal systems. is the partial pressure of component A in the vapor, PA is the vapor pressure of pure A, and is the mole fraction in the liquid.

Since xA is a mole fraction and the system is binary (only components A and B are present) then + 1, and therefore + , where and are partial pressures, and is the total pressure. The fraction of A or B not in the liquid phase will be contained in the vapor phase as and .

However, only in a perfect world will all systems behave ideally; thus for those less than ideal systems data has been collected experimentally and depicted in graphs which are available in most simulation software. An example of this data is the XY diagram, which shows the relationship between and for one component of a binary system. An equilibrium plot can be found for virtually any system. The difficulty of the separation can usually be easily characterized from this plot. Generally, the closer the XY curve is to the 45 line, the harder the

XY or equilibrium diagram for Benzene/Toluene (ideal) system. Only points along the XY curve (blue) can be descriptive of the composition of the system at any stage in the distillation process.

Figure 1.

separation will become and more stages will have to be used.

Flash Distillation
Single equilibrium stage or flash distillation uses only one stage of heating and separating (Figure 2). The liquid mixture is partially vaporized at the boiling temperature of the most volatile or light component (the component with the lowest boiling point and with increasing temperature would boil first) and the vapor and liquid are collected separately. This process relies on only one chance for the liquid and vapor to equilibrate, and so some of both components may boil off at the same time, even if the system is operating at the boiling point of the light component. This will give a poor separation, as shown by Figure 3. If the mixture enters as a 50/50 mole % Benzene/Toluene mixture, then the

Figure 2. Flash Distillation (one

stage). The feed is heated via a heat exchange and poured into a separation drum where the vapor is taken off the liquid.

best separation that can be obtained with one stage would be a 70 mole % mixture of Benzene in the vapor phase.

Column Distillation
Column distillation is performed by a staged equilibrium process, where feed enters a tower operating at the boiling temperature of the light component. This component is usually most desired, and the entire process is dependent upon obtaining its highest possible purity. The desired component will begin to turn to a vapor and rise up the column, contacting the liquid feed which will run down the tower by gravity. The vapor and liquid will equilibrate, and the more volatile component will vaporize from the liquid and be carried upward by the rising vapor. The vapor will become more enriched in the more volatile component as it rises and

Figure 3. XY diagram of flash distillation.

If the feed enters at 50% Benzene, the most the vapor stream can be purified is to 70% Benzene with one stage.

continues to contact more liquid as it passes each stage; the liquid will be stripped of this component as it makes its way downward. The end result is two streams, one at the top of the tower consisting mostly of the light component, and one at the bottom mainly consisting of the other component. The distillation column is a multiple staged system, consisting of many equilibrium stages in series as shown in Figure 4. In the column, these stages are physically plates or trays. Upon entering, the lower boiling component boils off, leaving as vapor. As the liquid travels up through each tray, it contacts

with vapor at the boiling point if the desired low boiling component, sweeping up more of the component each time it passes a tray. The vapor will also take some of the undesired component with it; this amount will become less and less as the vapor makes its way past each stage. The extent of the equilibrium depends upon the amount of time that the vapor and liquid have in contact with one another. The longer this residence time is, the more complete the equilibrium

Several governing equations apply in order to quantitatively define the compositions of the streams at any point in the system. A total material balance over tray n is as follows: +1 + 1 +

A balance on only A is as follows: +1 +1 + 1 1 +

Figure 4. A simplified multiple

staged equilibrium process (column distillation). The vapor rises through each stage until it reaches the top, and the liquid flows down. Two product streams are collected.

Where V and L are the molar flows of vapor and liquid, and y and x are the mole fractions of A in the vapor and liquid respectively.

will occur.

The tower also has several other units which assist with the control of the liquid and vapor flows. A reboiler at the bottom of the tower collects liquid at the bottom of the tower and boils it so that the desired component returns to vapor and rises up the tower. The vapor flow is controlled by a pressure gradient within the

tower. The reboiler is kept at the highest pressure, and a pressure drop occurs nearer the top so that the vapor will move upward. Whatever liquid is not boiled is released as the bottoms or heavies stream (generally undesired). At the top of the tower, a condenser cools the vapor until it condenses into a liquid. At this point, this stream can be totally or partially recycled back into

Figure 5. A schematic of a distillation

the tower as reflux, or it can be released as distillate (desired), also called lights or top. column, including the condenser and reboiler, and distillate and bottom streams.

A multiple staged column composition diagram may look like Figure 6 for the case of total reflux (all distillate is refluxed back into the tower), a 94 mole % Benzene distillate stream, and a

3 mole % Benzene bottoms stream. The system would take 7 stages, or 6 trays and a reboiler. This diagram is also known as a McCabe-Thiele diagram, and is true only for the specific system and case as described.

Figure 6. A McCabe-Thiele diagram for a

benzene/toluene system. The diagram is only useful in molar units, since it is dependent on the assumption there exists an equimolar flow going up and down the tower at any time.

Construction of the Column

In the column, perforated trays represent the equilibrium stages. Each tray has holes in the middle which allow vapor to rise through, and

Figure 7. (Top Left) An industrial distillation

tower. Industrial towers can range in size from a few feet in diameter to several meters, and can have more than 50 trays. Figure 8. (Bottom Left)A schematic of the liquid and vapor activity across a tray. Figure 9. (Bottom Right) A tray used in industrial distillation processes. The tray is perforated in such a way as to allow the liquid to flow across without leaking through, and the vapor to come through in a manner in which is it practically spraying through the liquid in order to allow maximum mass transfer.

a plat e on the end called a weir which helps increase the residence time by keeping a depth of liquid on the tray at all times. The liquid flows across the tray, over the weir and onto the tray below it, and then flows in the opposite direction as shown in Figure 8.

Conclusion
Distillation is one of the most common processes used in chemical plants and industry. The entire process is dependent upon the distribution of the components to be separated between the vapor and liquid phases. If the liquid boils off into a vapor of identical composition, no separation will occur. The process consists of one or several equilibrium stages or trays which allow the liquid and vapor to contact and exchange components. Distillation via a column is generally the most efficient and the most implemented in industry. The result of the process is two streams, one containing a high purity of the light component, or the distillate, and another containing a high purity of the heavy component, or the bottoms.

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Figure 7
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