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Week 3 2014

The document describes a distillation column that is separating a feed stream containing C8 and C10 hydrocarbons into 3 product streams: an overhead fraction, a middle cut, and a bottom fraction. It is given that 70% of the C8 entering in the feed is recovered in the overhead fraction. The mole fractions of C8 and C10 in each stream are provided. The problem is to determine the molar flow rates of the 3 product streams, given that the feed rate is 100 lb-moles/h.

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Kimberly Bautista
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
133 views

Week 3 2014

The document describes a distillation column that is separating a feed stream containing C8 and C10 hydrocarbons into 3 product streams: an overhead fraction, a middle cut, and a bottom fraction. It is given that 70% of the C8 entering in the feed is recovered in the overhead fraction. The mole fractions of C8 and C10 in each stream are provided. The problem is to determine the molar flow rates of the 3 product streams, given that the feed rate is 100 lb-moles/h.

Uploaded by

Kimberly Bautista
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Example

A feed stream containing C8 and C10 hydrocarbons is split into 3


product streams: an overhead fraction, a middle cut and a bottom
fraction, whose mole fraction compositions are shown below. Seventy
per cent of the C8 entering the column in the feed is recovered in the
overhead. On the basis of 100 lb-moles/h of feed determine the molar
flow rates of the 3 product streams.
C8: 0.516
C10: 0.484

C8: 0.352
100 lb-moles/h
C10: 0.648

C8: 0.300
C10: 0.700
C8: 0.146
C10: 0.854

CHEE 221 1
Degree-of-Freedom Analysis

A degree-of-freedom analysis (DFA) is a determination of the number of


unknowns in a problem, and the number of independent equations that
can be written. The difference between the number of unknowns and
the number of independent equations is the number of degrees-of-
freedom, DF or ndf, of the process.
ndf  nunknowns  nindependent equations
Possible outcomes of a DFA:
– ndf = 0, there are n independent equations and n unknowns. The
problem can be solved.
– ndf > 0, there are more unknowns that independent equations.
The problem is underspecified. ndf more independent equations
or specifications are needed to solve the problem.
– ndf < 0, there are more independent equations than unknowns.
The problem is overspecified with redundant and possibly
inconsistent relations.
CHEE 221 2
Sources of Equations

Sources of equations that relate unknown process variables include:

1. Material balances – for a nonreactive process, usually but not


always, the maximum number of independent equations that can be
written equals the number of chemical species in the process

1. Process constraints– given in the problem statement

2. Physical constraints – e.g., mass or mole fractions must add to 1

3. Stoichiometric relations – systems with reaction

1. Energy balances – 2nd half of course

CHEE 221 3
Example F&R 4.3-1

An experiment on the growth rate of certain organisms requires an


environment of humid air enriched in oxygen. Three input streams are
fed into an evaporation chamber to produce an output stream with the
desired composition.

A: Liquid water, fed at a rate of 20.0 cm3/min


B: Air (21 mole% O2, the balance N2)
C: Pure oxygen, with a molar flow rate one-fifth of the molar flow rate
of stream B.

The output gas is analyzed and is found to contain 1.5 mole% water.
Draw and label a PFD, and calculate all unknown stream variables (i.e.
flows and compositions).

CHEE 221 4
Independent Equations

A set of equations are independent if you cannot derive one by adding


and subtracting combinations of the others.
x  2y  z 1
Is this set of equations independent? 2x  y  z  2
y  2z  5
1 2 1   x   1 
2 1  1  y   2
    
0 1 2   z  5
row
reduce
1 0 0  x   6 
0 1 0  y    5
    
0 0 1  z   5 

Rank = 3. No non-zero
rows in reduced form
CHEE 221 5
Independent Equations

Are these sets of equations independent?

x  2y  z 1
2 y  4 z  10
y  2z  5

x  2y  z 1
2x  y  z  2
3x  3 y  3

CHEE 221 6
Notes on DFA
There are two common situations where you will find fewer independent
equations than species, and they are:
1. Balance around a splitter
– Single input – two or more outputs with same composition
– Only 1 independent balance equation, since:
m1 = m2 + m3 (Overall Balance)
and x1m1 = x2m2 + x3 m3 (Balance on A)
but since x1 = x2 = x3, these balances are not independent
– Splitters are used for:
• Purge streams (reactor systems with recycle)
• Total condensers at the top of distillation columns
m2 kg/h
x2 kg A/kg
(1-x2) kg B/kg
m1 kg/h
Splitter
x1 kg A/kg
(1-x1) kg B/kg m3 kg/h
x3 kg A/kg
CHEE 221 (1-x3) kg B/kg 7
Notes on DFA

2. If two species are in the same ratio to each other wherever they
appear in a process and this ratio is incorporated in the flowchart
labeling, balances on those species will not be independent
equations.
– Situation occurs frequently when air is present in a nonreactive
process (21 mol% O2; 79 mol% N2)
– E.g., vapourization of liquid carbon tetrachloride into an air
stream
n3 mol O2/s
n1 mol O2/s 3.76n3 mol N2/s
3.76n1 mol N2/s n4 mol CCl4(v)/s Best to treat air
as a single
species in this
situation

n2 mol CCl4(v)/s n5 mol CCl4(v)/s

CHEE 221 8
Example
Hot soap is chilled on a roller and scraped continuously from the roller onto a moving
conveyor belt which carries the soap into a dryer (see below). The entering soap contains
25% water by weight. It is desired to reduce the water content to 15% by weight and to
produce 1200 lb/h of nearly dry soap chips. The entering air contains 0.3 mole % water
vapour. The dryer manufacturer suggests that the dryer operates efficiently when the
nearly dry air/wet soap flow ratio is 3.0. Calculate the unknown flowrates and
compositions. Air is 21% oxygen and 79% nitrogen (mole basis) and has a molecular
weight of 29.0.
moist air hot, nearly dry air

Soap Dryer

wet soap chips dried soap chips

CHEE 221 9
Example

Five hundred kg/h of ternary mixture (A, B, C) is being fractionated into 3


streams (Overhead, Middle and Bottom fractions ) in a distillation column. The
mass fractions of components A and B in the feed are both 0.4, while the mass
fraction of component A in the Overhead is 0.6, as is component C in the
Bottoms. The flowrate of the Middle stream (whose mass fraction composition
is 0.33, 0.60, 0.07 for A, B and C, respectively) leaving the column is 110 kg/h,
while the flow of the Overhead stream is twice that of the Bottom stream.
Perform a DFA on this system and solve the material balance.

CHEE 221 10
Example: Quiz 1 2009

A continuous distillation column is to be used to separate a 3-component


mixture of acetic acid (AA), water (W) and Benzene (B), and a trial run gave the
data below (mass basis). The data for the benzene in the feed (which consists
of AA, W and B) was not taken because of an instrument malfunction. Use a
degree of freedom analysis, and then calculate the benzene flow in the feed in
kg/h.
Waste
10.9% AA
21.7% W
67.4% B

Aqueous Solution
(containing 80% AA +
20% W)
+
B (data not available)

Product
350 kg/h pure AA

CHEE 221 11
Interactive Tutorial

This is a good time to try Interactive Tutorial #2 on the CD…

CHEE 221 12

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