II / DISTILLATION / Multicomponent Distillation

1071

Multicomponent Distillation
V. Rico-RamOH rez and U. Diwekar,
Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
Copyright ^ 2000 Academic Press

Introduction
Distillation is the oldest separation process and the
most widely used unit operation in industry. It involves the separation of a mixture based on the difference in the boiling point (or volatility) of its components. The reason for the wide acceptance of distillation is that, from both kinetic and thermodynamic
points of view, distillation offers advantages over
other existing processes for the separation of Suid
mixtures:
1. Distillation has the potential for high mass transfer rates because, in general, in distillation there
are no inert materials or solids present.
2. The thermodynamic efRciency for distillation is
higher than the efRciency of most other available
processes in the chemical industry.
Designing a distillation column involves: (1) selecting
the type of column, mostly based on heuristics; (2)
obtaining the vapour}liquid equilibrium data using
thermodynamics; and (3) Rnding the design variables
such as number of equilibrium stages and operating
conditions required to obtain the desired separation
based on mass and energy balances.
When the mixture to be separated contains two
components, the design of a column can be accomplished by using graphical methods. However, for
multicomponent systems the design methods are
more difRcult and are the focus of this article.

still and xF (mole fraction) be the composition of

component A of the mixture. Let B be the number of
moles of material remaining in the still, xB the mole
fraction of component A in the still, xD the mole
fraction of component A in the vapour dB produced
during an inRnitesimal time interval dt. The differential material balance for component A can be written
as:
ln

 
B
"
F

xB

dxB
x
xF D!xB

Complex mass and heat transfer processes occur in

distillation processes and it is generally assumed that
the vapour formed is in thermodynamic equilibrium
with the liquid. Hence, the vapour composition (xD)
is related to the liquid composition (xB) by an equilibrium relation of the functional form xD"f (xB).
Note that, because of the unsteady nature of simple
distillation, the equilibrium relationship between
xD and xB holds only for each inRnitesimal time
interval dt.
The exact equilibrium relationship for a particular
mixture may be obtained from a thermodynamic
analysis and is also dependent upon temperature and
pressure.
Thermodynamics and Equilibrium Data

Accurate and reliable thermodynamic data for

vapour}liquid equilibrium is essential to distillation

Fundamentals
Simple Distillation

Distillation began as a simple still. In such an operation, a liquid mixture is heated (see Figure 1). As
a result, a vapour stream richer in the more volatile
components comes off, while the liquid, richer in the
less volatile components, remains in the still. The
vapour stream is condensed and collected in the condenser.
The analysis of simple distillation for a binary
mixture presented in 1902 by Lord Rayleigh marks
the earliest theoretical work on distillation. Consider
Figure 1. Let F (moles) be the initial feed to the

[1]

Figure 1 Simple distillation } a still.

1072

II / DISTILLATION / Multicomponent Distillation

design. For binary mixtures, these data are generally

presented in the form of tables containing the liquid
and vapour equilibrium compositions over a range of
temperatures for a Rxed pressure. The same information can also be plotted in what is called an x}y
diagram. For multicomponent mixtures, however,
vapour liquid equilibrium data are difRcult to represent in graphical or tabular form. In such case,
K values are used instead.

K value and relative volatility The K value of a

component i is a measure of the tendency of such
component to vaporize. A K value is deRned by:
yi
Ki"
xi

[2]

where yi is the equilibrium composition of the vapour

phase for a composition xi of the liquid phase.
K values are a function of temperature, pressure and
composition, and they are widely reported for binary
and multicomponent mixtures. An associated concept
is the relative volatility,
i,j, which is a measure of the
ease of separation of components i and j by distillation:
Ki

i,j"
Kj

[3]

Ideal and nonideal systems An ideal system is one in

which the liquid phase obeys Raoults Law and the
vapour phase obeys the ideal gas law. For such systems, the K value is given by:
yi p0i
Ki" "
xi P

[4]

where p0i is the vapour pressure of pure component

i and P is the pressure of the system. Note that p0i is
a function of temperature.
For a nonideal system, the K values can also depend
upon the composition of the mixture and are expressed in terms of fugacity coefRcients, where
Vi is
the vapour phase fugacity coefRcient and Li is the
liquid phase activity coefRcient, as given below:
Li p0i
Ki" V )

i P

[5]

Azeotropic systems represent examples of nonideal

mixtures for which eqn [5] has to be used.
Classi\cation of Distillation Processes

There are many criteria under which one can classify

distillation: type of accessories, operating mode,

design calculation assumptions, etc. Distillation

can either be binary or multicomponent. According
to the type of accessories used to increase the mass
transfer in the separation process, a distillation column can be packed (use of packing) or staged (use of
plates). It can be batch or continuous. Also, according
to the assumptions made and accuracy expected in
a distillation design calculation, a calculation
technique can either be a shortcut method or a
rigorous method.
Packed columns and staged columns Although
simple distillation in a still historically represents the
start of the distillation process, a complete separation
of the components of the mixture using this process is
not possible. Therefore, the application of these stills
is restricted to laboratory-scale distillation, where
high purities are not required or when the mixture is
easily separable.
One can look at simple distillation as consisting of
one equilibrium stage where a liquid and a vapour are
in contact with one another and mass and heat transfers take place between the two phases. If N such
stages are stacked one above the other, and are allowed to have successive vaporization and condensation, that results in a substantially richer vapour and
weaker liquid (in terms of the more volatile component) in the condenser and the reboiler, respectively.
This multistage arrangement is representative of
a distillation column, where the vapour from the
reboiler rises to the top and the liquid from the
condenser is reSuxed downwards (see Figure 2). The
contact between the liquid and the vapour phase is
established through accessories such as packing or
plates. When the accessory is a stack of plates, then
the result is a column of trays. Similarly, if the accessory is packing, the result is a packed column.
Continuous distillation and batch distillation The
basic difference between a batch column and a
continuous column is that in continuous distillation
the feed is continuously entering the column, while in
batch distillation the reboiler is normally fed at the
beginning of the operation. Also, while the top products are removed continuously in both batch and
continuous operations, there is no bottom product in
a conventional batch distillation. Since in a continuous operation the total product Sow equals that of
incoming feed or feeds, the process reaches a steady
state. In batch distillation, on the other hand, the
reboiler becomes depleted over time, so the process
is unsteady. Such differences are illustrated in
Figure 3.
Batch distillation is a direct extension of the simple
distillation still, where the Rayleigh equation

II / DISTILLATION / Multicomponent Distillation

1073

tween the product composition (instantaneous in case

of batch) and feed composition.

Multicomponent Multistage
Equilibrium Calculations
This section is divided in two parts. In the Rrst we
discuss approximate methods (or shortcut methods);
the second part corresponds to rigorous methods. The
approaches are different depending upon the operation mode of the column, that is, a continuous operation or a batch operation.
In this section, our attention is focused on the
approaches to the design of continuous columns. The
reader can refer to the book by Diwekar (1995) for
batch distillation calculations.
Shortcut Methods

Figure 2 Equilibrium processes. (A) Single stage; (B) multistage.

(eqn [1]) is applicable. However, in both batch and

continuous distillation, multistage mass transfer and
thermodynamic equilibrium stage calculations are
used for obtaining the steady-state relationship be-

Figure 3 Batch distillation versus continuous distillation.

Approximate methods constitute a useful for the synthesis, analysis and design of distillation separations.
The main advantage of shortcut methods is that they
can provide the feasible region of operation. They
also provide large saving in computer time, and sometimes, they are sufRciently accurate that more expensive rigorous methods are not justiRed.
Concept of Nmin and Rmin Minimum number of
plates, Nmin, and minimum reSux, Rmin, are very important concepts in the design of distillation processes, as they are considered to be the limiting conditions in the operation of a distillation column.

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II / DISTILLATION / Multicomponent Distillation

Nmin corresponds to the number of trays required

for separation in a situation in which the external
reSux ratio R (ratio of the liquid reSuxed to the
distillate rate) of the column is inRnite. This corresponds to total reSux operation.
Rmin corresponds to the minimum value of the external reSux ratio required to achieve the speciRed
separation in a situation in which the number of trays
of the column is inRnite.
Fenske}Underwood}Gilliland method The most
popular of these shortcut methods is the FenskeUnderwood-Gilliland method (FUG). The basic assumptions of such a method are:
1. The system is ideal.
2. Constant molar overSow (as in the McCabe Thiele
method for binary mixtures).
3. The separation is essentially taking place between
the light key component and the heavy key component. The light key (lk) is the lightest component appearing in the bottom and the heavy key
(hk) is the heaviest component appearing in the
top.
In the FUG method:

The Fenske equation is:





log
Nmin"

xDlk
xBhk
)
xBlk
xDhk
log(
lk,hk)

[6]

where
lk,hk is the relative volatility between the light

key component and the heavy key component. Since
it can be expected that the value of
changes for each
tray of the column, the geometric average of this
value is generally used:

N"
N )
N 12
1
\

[7]

The Underwood equation can be written as:

i ) xi,F
"1!q

i!

[9]

such that
hk44
lk.
hk and
lk are the relative

volatilities of the key components (light and heavy) in
the calculation. As stated earlier, such components
are the ones that the designer uses as the basis for the
separation.
Finally, the Gilliland correlation is given by:
N!Nmin
"1!exp
N#1







1#54.4G
G!1
)
11#117.2G
G0.5

[10]
where
R!Rmin
G"
R#1

[11]

The main assumptions of the Underwood equation

are the assumption of constant molar Sow rates and
an ideal system. Such assumptions constitute the
main limitation of the algorithm.
Rigorous Methods

1. Fenskes equation is used to calculate the minimum number of trays, Nmin.

2. Underwoods equation is used to estimate the minimum reSux, Rmin.
3. Gillilands correlation is used to calculate the actual number of trays, N (for any R given), or the
reSux ratio, R, (for any N given) in terms of
previous limiting values Nmin and Rmin.

where  is a root of the equation:

i ) xi,D
"Rmin#1

i!

[8]

Recent developments in computer hardware and software have made it possible to use rigorous methods
for the design of distillation processes. In these
methods, the assumption of constant molar Sow rates
is no longer considered. The implication of removing
such an assumption is that rigorous methods not only
consider mass balances, but also enthalpy balances
for each of the trays of the column. Thus, rigorous
methods require simultaneous convergence of mass
and energy equations. Depending on the calculation
sequence, there are several rigorous methods reported
in the literature. The most important of these
methods are: (1) Thiele}Geddes; (2) tridiagonal
methods; (3) Naphtali}Sandholm; (4) inside-out algorithms; (5)  convergence methods; and (6) 2N Newton methods. The method of Naphtali}Sandholm and
the inside-out algorithm, which are commonly used
nowadays, are discussed in this work to give an idea
of the scope and applications of rigorous methods.
MESH equations Most rigorous methods involve
the solution of the so-called MESH equations. For
each stage n in a distillation column (and for each
component i in a mixture of C components), the
equations representing mass balance (M), equilibrium relationships (E), summation of compositions
(S) and energy balance (H), constitute the MESH
equations. In addition, both K values and enthalpies

II / DISTILLATION / Multicomponent Distillation

are generally given as functions of temperatures, pressures and compositions. The generalized form of the
MESH equations for the equilibrium stage shown in
Figure 4 and the expressions for K values and enthalpies are present in Table 1.
Naphtali}Sandholm method In the Naphtali}
Sandholm method, the number of variables of the
MESH equations is reduced by the introduction of
component Sow rates and side streams. Furthermore,
the summation of compositions are eliminated. Those
modiRcations result in the equations presented in
Table 2.
To solve the system of MESH equations given in
Table 2, the vectors of variables and equations are
ordered as follows. Variables:
XM "[XM 1, XM 2,2, XM n,2, XM N]

[12]

Figure 4 Equilibrium stage. Derivation of MESH equations.

1075

where N is the number of stages and

XM n"[vn,1, vn,2,2, vn,C, Tn, ln,1, ln,2,2, ln,C]T [13]
Equations:
FM "[FM 1, FM 2,2, FM n,2, FM N]

[14]

where
FM n"[HK n, Mn,1, Mn,2,2, Mn,C, En,1, En,2,2, En,C]T
[15]
The solution process is iterative, using one of the
several variations of the Newton method. Thus, corrections at each iteration k are obtained from

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Table 1 MESH equations

Relationship

Equation

Mass balance
Equilibrium

Ln#1 ) xn#1,i#Vn 1 ) yn 1,i#Fn ) zn,i!(Ln#Un) ) xn,i!(Vn#Wn) ) yn,i"0

\
\
yn,i"Kn,i ) xn,i

Summation of compositions

yn,i!1"0
i

H energy balance

Ln#1 ) hn#1#Vn 1 ) Hn 1#Fn ) HFn!(Ln#Un) ) hn!(Vn#Wn) ) Hn!Qn"0

\
\

K values and enthalpies

Kn,i"Kn,i (Tn, Pn, xnyn)

Hn,i"Hn,i (Tn , Pn , yn)
hn,i"hn,i (Tn , Pn , xn )

(classical Newton}Raphson equations):


 

FM (k)"!

FM \1
XM

(k)

) FM (k)

XM (k#1)"XM (k)#t ) XM (k)

[16]
[17]

where t is such that 04t41. t is the factor that

ensures progress toward the solution of the system at
equations of each iteration.
Inside-out algorithm In the Naphtali}Sandholm
method, the temperatures and component Sowrates
are the primary solution variables (see eqn [13]) and

are used to generate the K values and enthalpies from

complex correlations. Hence, such a method updates
the primary variables in an outer loop, with the
K values and enthalpies updated in an inner loop
whenever the primary variables change.
In inside-out algorithms, the previous situation is
reversed. These methods use complex K values and
enthalpy correlations to generate parameters for
simple K values and enthalpy models. Hence, these
parameters become the variables for the outside loop.
The inside loop then consists of the MESH equations.
In every step through the outside loop, the simple
K values and enthalpy models are updated by using
the MESH variables from the inside loop. This sets up
the next pass through the inside loop. The book by
Kister (1992) provides detailed guidelines for the use
of the various inside-out methods.

Table 2 MEH equations for method of Naphtali and Sandholm

Relationship

Special Separations

Equation

Component flow rates vn,i"yn,i ) Vn

and side streams
ln,i"xn,i ) Ln

fn,i"zn,i ) Fn
sn"Un /Ln
Sn"Wn/Vn
M

Mn,i"ln,i ) (1#sn)#vn,i ) (1#Sn)

!ln#1,i!vn 1,i!fn,i
\

E
H

En,i"Kn,i ) ln,i ) vn,k/ ln,k !vn,i"0

k

HK n"hn ) (1#sj) ) ln,i

i

#Hn ) (1#Sn) ) vn,i

i

!hn#1 ) ln#1,i!Hn 1 ) vn 1,i

\
\
i
i
!HFn ) fn,i!Qn"0
i

When the components of a mixture have low relative

volatilities, or when the mixture contains a large
number of components, separation by distillation becomes difRcult and expensive because a large number
of trays or a large number of columns are required for
the separation. Furthermore, some systems may show
nonideal behaviour such as the formation of azeotropes or a reversal of the relative volatility with the
change in pressure from top to bottom in a column.
Complex systems which have these characteristics are
common in the pharmaceutical and synthetic chemical industry.
This section presents a brief review of separations
in which the traditional distillation process is altered,
but the general principles of multicomponent distillation still apply. Three broad categories of such special
separations exist: azeotropic distillation, extractive
distillation and reactive distillation. Petroleum distillation will also be discussed since it represents a case

II / DISTILLATION / Multicomponent Distillation

in which the complexity of the mixture (petroleum)

requires special considerations for the separation.
Azeotropic Distillation

Highly nonideal systems, with components having

close boiling points among them, often produce azeotropes. Azeotropes can be identiRed by using an x}y
diagram. When an azeotrope is present, the equilibrium curve crosses the line x"y (453 line), as shown
in Figure 5.
Azeotropes limit the separation that can be
achieved by conventional distillation. Sometimes it is
possible to shift the equilibrium by changing the pressure of the system sufRciently to move the azeotrope
away from the region where the separation must be
made. Other cases, however, require the addition of
a new material in order to achieve separation.
In azeotropic distillation, the equilibrium behaviour of the mixture is modiRed by adding a new
material (called the solvent or entrainer). The added
entrainer forms a minimum boiling point azeotrope
with one or more components and distils overhead.
The distillate is generally heterogeneous, that is, it is
composed of two immiscible liquids when condensed.
Such a heterogeneous nature facilitates the separation
of the product from the entrainer.
Extractive Distillation

Extractive distillation also involves the addition of

the third component to the mixture (solvent or entrainer). However, in the case of extractive distillation, the solvent is a relatively high boiling point
material, which is present at high concentration on
each stage and exits at the bottom. To improve the
efRciency of the process, the entrainer has to be added

Figure 5 Azeotropic behaviour.

1077

at the top of the column, so that its concentration on

each stage will be enough to produce the desired
effect in the equilibrium of the original mixture. Finally, the entrainer is separated from the bottoms
product in another distillation column.
Reactive Distillation

The idea of combining reaction and separation in

a single apparatus has been extensively investigated.
Doherty and Buzad (1992) present a survey of the
available design techniques for reactive distillation.
Reactive distillation is particularly attractive whenever a chemical reaction provides the favourable effect of reacting away azeotropic mixtures so that the
behaviour of the liquid phase is simpliRed. In addition, it has been shown that reactive distillation
has the potential of eliminating recycle costs when
a liquid reaction involves a large excess of one
reactant.
In general, the current trend in reactive distillation
design is using experimental results from bench-scale
problems in the initial stages of the design, and then
using computer-aided simulation tools for scale-up
and operability issues.
Possible proRtable applications of reactive distillation processes are numerous. However, an incomplete understanding of the interactions of the many
nonlinear phenomena such as chemical reaction,
phase equilibrium, mass transfer and countercurrent
Sow has prevented the widespread use of such processes. Considerable research effort in the area is
currently being conducted.
Petroleum Distillation

Petroleum distillation is particularly difRcult because

of the large number of components of the mixture
and large scale of the processes. This type of distillation involves products that are not easily identiRable
components. Instead, separation is achieved in terms
of pseudo-components, which are generally characterized in terms of their true boiling point ranges
(TBP), an average relative molecular mass and an API
gravity. TBP data are widely available and are generally presented in form of curves.
There are two main approaches to the design of
petroleum distillation columns. The Rrst consists of
the solution of mass and energy balances based on
empirical correlations, and is basically a calculation
by hand. This approach was developed by Packie.
In the second approach, each pseudo-component is
characterized for properties (such as vapour pressure
and enthalpy) by using homologous-series approaches. Thus, rigorous mass and energy balances
can then be applied to determine the separation in

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terms of the reSux ratio. Several efRcient computer

programs following this approach have been developed.

liquid that would be in equilibrium with the outlet

composition of the liquid.
Mass Transfer Rates

Packed Columns
Several approaches exist for the design of packed
columns. These are based on the concepts of number
of transfer units (NTU), height of transfer units
(HTU) and height equivalent to a theoretical plate
(HETP). The last of these concepts is the most widely
used.
Since methods for the design of staged distillation
columns are well developed, a common approach is
to calculate the number of trays N using such approaches and then to Rnd the height of the packed
column, h, by the relation:
h"N ) HETP

[18]

There exist various correlations for predicting the

value of the HETP. One of most commonly used is
the Sherwood correlation. It can be expected that
HETP will change with respect to the operating conditions, physical properties of the liquid, etc., so, it is
calculated in terms of correlations containing many
factors.

Nonequilibrium Distillation
All the mathematical methods (binary, rigorous,
shortcut) presented earlier assume that each stage in
the column is an equilibrium stage. In reality, however, this assumption is rarely satisRed.

It has been shown that stage efRciency prediction and

scale-up are difRcult and unreliable. For highly
nonideal, polar and reactive systems, a transport phenomena approach for predicting mass transfer rates is
preferred. Such mass transfer rates are calculated
continuously along the column similarly to the HETP
calculation for packed columns.
Nonequilibrium models for the calculation of mass
transfer rates assume that, while the bulk vapour and
liquid phase are not in equilibrium with each other,
there is an equilibrium at the interface. Hence,
the net loss or gain for a component at the interface
is expressed in a rate form. For instance, the net
gain by the vapour because of the transfer at the
interface is:
NVij "Nvij ) daj
0

[21]

where NVij is the vapour Sux of the component at some

point through the interface and daj is the interface
area through which the Sux passes. The mass transfer
rates for liquid and vapour, NVij and NLij , are dependent
on the mass transfer coefRcients for each phase. There
exist several correlations for the heat and mass transfer coefRcients and these are dependent on the compositions in the bulk phase, the temperatures in the
bulk phase and interface, and on the packing or tray
geometries.

Industrial Applications
Stage Ef\ciency

An approach to nonequilibrium calculations is the

use of the concept of stage efRciency. The most common approach is to modify the rigorous methods with
the introduction of the so-called Murphree
efRciency in the calculations. The Murphree efRciency in a stage calculation can be deRned as:
xout,i!xin,i
ELMi"
xi !xin,i

[19]

yout,i!xin,i
EVMi"
yi !yin,i

[20]

for the liquid and

for the vapour. xi are the compositions of the liquid

that would be in equilibrium with the outlet composition of the vapour. yi are the compositions of the

Distillation is by far the most widely used separation

technique in the petroleum, natural gas and chemical
industries so, applications of multicomponent distillation are numerous. A couple of industrial applications are described in this section.
Primary Distillation of Crude Oil

A typical conRguration for the distillation of a crude

oil unit includes two main columns, an atmospheric
tower and a vacuum tower (see Figure 6). In the
atmospheric tower, crude oil is rectiRed (at a pressure
no greater than 275.8 kPa (40 psi); to yield a distillate
product containing light hydrocarbon gas, light and
heavy naphtha, kerosene, diesel oil, and a bottom
product of heavier components (TBP greater than
4203C). Each of the side streams of the atmospheric
tower are sent to side strippers that have a partial
reboiler or steam stripper. The side stream strippers
serve to remove the light components. Stripping by

II / DISTILLATION / Multicomponent Distillation

1079

Figure 6 Crude oil distillation unit.

steam is also frequently used in the bottom of the

tower.
The bottom product of the atmospheric tower is
further separated by rectiRcation in the vacuum
tower. The feed-tray pressure of a vacuum tower is
usually 6 kPa (45 Torr). Vacuum towers are mainly
designed to obtain heavy distillates such as gas oil,

lubricating oils and bunker fuels with asphalt as the

bottom product.
The pump-around systems shown in both of the
towers serve to make much larger liquid Sows on the
intermediate stages and produce a net increase in
liquid Sow. This serves as a point of control to keep
the plates from running dry.

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II / DISTILLATION / Multicomponent Distillation

Highly developed procedures for the preliminary

design of fractionators that process petroleum are
commercially available through computer programs.
The program REFINE of the ChemShare Corporation and the PROCESS (now PRO-II) program of
Simulation Sciences Inc. are two examples.
Ethylene and Propylene Production

The manufacture of ethylene and propylene is one of

the most important operations of the petrochemical
industry. In that process, ethylene and propylene are
formed from the thermal cracking of other hydrocarbons, such as ethane, propane and naphtha. The
mixture resulting from the thermal cracking is very
complex. Hence, the mixture has to be separated into
relatively pure ethylene and propylene, ethane and
propane to be used as a recycle, methane and hydrogen to be used as fuel, and heavier products to be used
for gasoline. A typical reRnery gas feed to the separation system of this process contains hydrogen,
ethylene, methane, ethane, propane, propylene
and lower compositions of other heavy hydrocarbons. The distillation sequence most commonly
used for the separation of the mixture is shown in
Figure 7.
In a high pressure plant (no refrigeration is needed
for condensation of products), the distillation sequence consists of Rve distillation columns:

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Demethanizer
Deethanizer
Ethylene/ethane separator
Depropanizer
Propylene/propane separator.

Both the propylene/propane and the ethylene/

ethane separator require high towers with large diameters because such mixtures contain components
with very close relative volatilities. A plant that uses
the conRguration described here was built by Pullman
Kellogg Inc., Houston, Texas.
In the case of a lower pressure plant, the deethanizer precedes the demethanizer because refrigeration
is required for the feed of the demethanizer. So, by
placing the deethanizer Rrst, important utility savings
are obtained.

Future Work
Enormous progress has been made on the application
and design of distillation technology. However, challenges still exist in some areas, which lead to the
following ongoing research:
1. Improvement of mass transfer coefRcients in
packed distillation columns. Great effort is being
made on the design of efRcient packings and accurate correlation of their performance.

Figure 7 Separation of products of the manufacture of ethylene and propylene.

II / DISTILLATION / Packed Columns: Design and Performance

2. The simulation, synthesis and design of reactive

and azeotropic distillation. Such topics still constitute a gap in the knowledge of distillation technology.
3. Investigation of complex conRgurations for batch
distillation processes.
4. Use of optimization methods for obtaining optimal conRguration and design of batch and continuous distillation processes.
5. Online optimization and control of columns.
See also: II/Distillation: Batch Distillation; Theory of Distillation; Vapour-Liquid Equilibrium: Correlation and Prediction; Vapour-Liquid Equilibrium: Theory.

Further Reading
Diwekar UM (1995) Batch Distillation: Simulation, Optimal Design and Control. Series in Chemical and Mechanical Engineering. Washington, DC: Taylor & Francis.

1081

Doherty MF and Buzad G (1992) Reactive distillation by

design. Transactions of the Institution of Chemical Engineers 70: part A.
Gmehling J and Onken U (1977) Vapor}Liquid Equilibrium Data Collections, DECHEMA Chemistry Data
series, vol. 1. Frankfurt:
Henley EJ and Seader JD (1981) Equilibrium-Stage Separation Operations in Chemical Engineering. New York:
Wiley.
Holland CD (1981) Fundamentals of Multicomponent Distillation. New York: McGraw-Hill.
King CJ (1980) Separation Processes, 2nd edn. New York:
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Packed Columns: Design and Performance

L. Klemas, Bogota, Colombia
J. A. Bonilla, Ellicott City, MD, USA
Copyright ^ 2000 Academic Press

Use of Packing in Distillation

Use of packing in mass transfer has its origins in the
early 1800s for simple applications such as alcohol
distillation, and in sulfuric acid plant absorbers. Glass
balls, coke or even stones were used as packing materials. Nevertheless packings for distillation were not
established until the 1930s with the use of regular
shape materials such as ceramic Raschig rings and
Berl saddles, as well as the availability of distillation
calculations such as the McCabe}Thiele and Ponchon}Savarit methods. Early in the second half of the
century, the use of packing for distillation went
through a transformation, producing the secondgeneration packings (see Table 1). Regular and improved shape of packings, such as pall rings, became
available with larger open areas that permitted a substantial increase both in capacity and column efRciency. In the 1960s Sulzer introduced the wire-mesh
packings with very high efRciency (low height equivalent to a theoretical plate, HETP), resulting in a new
transformation in the use of packings. In the 1970s

and 1980s all major mass-transfer equipment manufacturers developed structured packings. Compared
to the traditional tray columns spectacular improvements in plant capacity were achieved, but also some
projects were pitfalls, when the expected beneRts did
not materialize. Manufacturers started realizing that
liquid distributors had to be improved, but there was
no coherent understanding, nor correlations, that
could lead to a safe distributor-column system design.
Many manufacturers returned to trays, producing
new improved designs, using the area under the
downcomer for vapour Sow: these trays are offered
with new names that indicate their increased vapour
Sow capacity (MaxySow, Superfrack, etc.). The need
for good distribution and its effect on the column
efRciency are now well understood, allowing safe
design and efRcient applications for random and
structured packings in large industrial columns.

General Concepts
Distillation separation is based in relative volatility
that makes it possible to concentrate the more volatile
components in the vapour phase while the less volatile ones remain in the liquid phase. Distillation
columns are countercurrent vapour}liquid masstransfer devices, where the required separation and
puriRcation of components is achieved.