Distillation IV

McCabe thiele method (2)

Mass Transfer for 4th Year
Chemical Engineering Department
Faculty of Engineering
Cairo University

Today isA

Special cases of binary

systems distillation using
McCabe Thiele method.

The Simple Case

Only one feed
Consisting of two sections
Condenser and Reboiler
No side products
xD
Steps:
R min 1
xD
1. q-line
R 1
2. Rmin
3. Rop and Top section
oper. Line
4. Bottom section oper.
line

(XD,XD)

(XW,X
XW
W)

XF

XD

Other Cases
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Enriching Section
Stripping Section
Complex Feed or Multiple feeds
Open Steam
Top Side Product
Bottom Side Product

NOTE: q-line NOT ONLY represents feed,

but it represents any stream that
changes the flow rates inside the
column.

1- Enriching Section
Used in case when its
needed to recover light
component
from
feed
containing little amount of it.
Feed composition is near that
of the bottom product (xF is
very small)
Feed is usually saturated
vapour
No reboiler is used.

1- Enriching Section
Steps:
Feed
is
saturated
vapour
No. of stages in bottom
section =0
Get point of intersection
of bottom section and
q-line directly
Draw the top section
operating line.

(XD,XD)

XW

XF

XD

2- Stripping Section
Used in case when its
needed to recover heavy
component
from
feed
containing little amount of it.
Feed composition is near that
of the top product (xF is very
big)
Feed is usually saturated
liquid
No reflux is needed.

2- Stripping Section
Steps:
Feed is saturated liqiud
No. of stages in top
section =0
Get point of
intersection of top
section and
q-line directly
Draw the bottom
section operating line.
XW

XF

XD

3- Multiple Feeds
Generally F1 is saturated liquid,
and F2 is saturated vapour.
The column can now be divided
into THREE section: Enriching,
Stripping and Middle section.
Both operating lines of the top
and bottom sections will not be
changed.
Only we will need to get the
middle section line.

3- Multiple Feeds
Since we assumed constant molar
flow rates in the column, we can
say that:
L=L+F1
V=V
And
L=L
V=V+F2
To draw the middle section
operating line we have to calculate
its slope from the above relations

3- Multiple Feeds
Given information:
F1, xf1, F2, xf2, xD, xW, R
F1 is saturated liqiud
F2 is saturated vapour

(XD,XD)

xD
R 1

Steps:
Top section operating
line as it is

(XW,X
W)

XW

XF2

XF1

XD

3- Multiple Feeds
Middle line starts
from the end of the
top section and ends
at the beginning of
the bottom section.
So point of
intersection of top
section and first qxD
line is on the middle R 1
section line.
We need another
point or a slope to
draw the middle line.

(XD,XD)

(XW,X
W)

XW

XF2

XF1

XD

3- Multiple Feeds
The slope of any
operating line is L/V in
the section it
represents.
So in the middle
section slope is L/V
As we know
xD
L=F1+L and V=V
R 1
Where
L=D*R and
V=L+D=(R+1)D
So we can now get L/V
and draw its line

(XD,XD)

L/V

(XW,X
W)

XW

XF2

XF1

XD

4- Upper Side Product

Any side product is withdrawn as
saturated liquid.
As this side product will change the
flow rates inside the column, there
will be a q-line representing the side
product.
The column will be divided into
3 section: Top, middle and bottom
Still the top section not affected, and
we want to draw the middle section
line.

4- Upper Side Product

To get Operating line of the middle
section do MB on the loop:
V=L+S+D
V.yn+1=L.xn+S.xS+D.xD
(equation of st. line as S,D,xS,xD are
constants)
This line starts at the intersection of
the top section with the q-line of side
product

4- Upper Side Product

Steps:
1. Side product is
saturated liquid.
2. Feed q-line is drawn
whatever its state
3. Draw the top section
line
We need to use the x D
equation of the middle R 1
section to draw its
operating line.

(XD,XD)

(XW,X
W)

XW

XF

XS

XD

4- Upper Side Product

Back to equations:
V=L+S+D V-L=S+D
V.yn+1=L.xn+S.xS+D.xD
We know a point on the
line and need to get
another point to draw it
The easy point is on 45
line
xD
V.x=L.x+S.xS+D.xD
R 1
(V-L).x=S.xS+D.xD
(S+D).x=S.x
S .x S+D.x
D.x D

x y

SD

(XD,XD)

x=y

(XW,X
W)

XW

XF

XS

XD

5- Bottom Side Product

The column will be divided
into 3 section: Top, middle
and bottom
Still the top section not
affected, and we want to
draw the middle section line.
We will derive the middle
section operating line
equation (as in previous case)

5- Bottom Side Product

To get Operating line of the middle
section do MB on the loop:
L=V+S+W
L.xm+1=V.ym+S.xS+W.xW
(equation of st. line as S,W,xS,xw are
constants)
This line ends at the intersection of
the bottom section with the q-line of
side product

5- Bottom Side Product

Steps:
1. Side product is
saturated liquid.
2. Feed q-line is drawn
whatever its state
3. Draw the top section
line

(XD,XD)

xD
R 1

We need to use the

equation of the middle
section to draw its
operating line.

(XW,X
W)

XW

XS

XF

XD

5- Bottom Side Product

Back to equations:
L=V+S+W LV=S+W
L.xm+1=V.ym+S.xS+W.
xw
We know a point on the
line and need to get
another point to draw it x D
R 1
The easy point is on 45
line
L.x=V.x+S.xS+W.xW
S .xS S+W.x
W .xWW
(L-V).x=S.x
x y
(S+W).x=S.x
S S+W.x
W W

(XD,XD)

x=y
(XW,X
W)

XW

XS

XF

XD

6- Open Steam
Used in cases when the feed
contains water, so heat is
added to column in the form
of direct heating by steam
instead of reboiler.
The bottom section operating
line will change as the
equations will be changed.
Still the intersection of the
top section line and the q-line
is on the bottom section line.

6- Open Steam
Operating line of bottom section:
L+S=V+W L-V=W-S
L.xm+1+S.yS=V.ym+W.xW
To draw this line we need
another point, try 45o line
L.x=V.x+W.xW
(L-V)x=W.xW
(W-S)x=W.xW

W .xW
x y
W S

6- Open Steam
Steps:
1. Draw the top section
line
2. Draw the q-line
3. Locate the point
derived on the 45o line
4. Draw the bottom
xD
section line.
R 1
Here the bottom section
will end at a point (xw,0)
Usually S needed to be
calculated.

(XD,XD)

W .xW
W S
XW(XW,ys
)

XF

XD

4- 100 Kgmol/hr of saturated liquid containing 70 mol

% benzene enters a stripping tower at 1 atm. The
bottom product flow rate is 15 Kgmol/hr containing
only 10% benzene. Saturated steam at 4
atmospheres is available for the reboiler duty.
(Hv=2740 KJ/Kg, hL=610 KJ/Kg).
Calculate:
a- The overhead product flow rate and its
composition.
b- Number of theoretical plates required.
c- Steam consumption in reboiler.
Equilibrium data:
T, C
80
85
90
95
100 105 110
P B o,
760 877 1016 1068 1344 1532 1800
mmHg
P To ,
205
345 405
475 557
645 760
Benzene
=7360
Cal/gmol,

=7960
Cal/gmol
Toluene
mmHg

Stripping tower
F=100 Kgmol/hr (saturated liquid)
xF=0.7 P=1 atm
W=15 Kgmol/hr xW=0.1
Steam: Hv=2740 KJ/Kg, hL=610 KJ/Kg
st=2130 KJ/Kg
a)
D=F-W=100-15=85 Kmol/hr
xD=(F.xF-W.xW)/D=(100*0.7-15*0.1)/85=0.806

T, C
PBo,
mmHg
P To ,
mmHg
X
Y

80

85

90

95

100

105

110

760

877

1016

1068

1344

1532

1800

205

345

405

475

557

645

760

1
1

0.78
0.90

0.58
1
0.78

0.48
0.678

0.26
0.46

0.13
0.26

0
0

b)
NTS= Reboiler + 4.6

0.9
0.8

c)
Qr=mst.st=V.r
r is calculated at yr
r
=0.2*7360+0.8*796
0
r =7840 Cal/gmol

0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

V=???
Slope of operating line is L/V=1.1667
And
1
W+V=L
0.9
Get L and V
0.8
V=90 kmol/hr
L=105 Kmol/hr 0.7
0.6

L/V

0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

Finally
Qr=90*7840=705600 Cal/hr= 2949.408
KJ/hr
st=2130 KJ/Kg
2949.408 =2130*mst
mst= 1384.7 Kg/hr