Distillation

Outline
Definitions and Application Principle of Distillation Boiling Point of Liquid Mixture Important points concerning vapor pressure Processing Sequence Type of Column Internals Type of Distillation Columns

Definition & Application

Distillation is a method of separating mixtures based on differences in volatilities of components in a boiling liquid mixture.

It is widely used in petroleum

refineries, food and pharmaceutical industries. It can be operated as: o Batch mode for small or laboratory scale o Continues for large or industrial mode.
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Principles of Distillation (1/3)

For any liquid, the individual

molecules within the liquid are

continuously in motion.
A small percentage of these

Atmospheric pressure, P atm

molecules attain enough kinetic

energy to leave the liquid phase.
This exerts an opposing pressure on

the atmosphere above the solution known as the vapor pressure.

Vapor Pressure, P

Principles of Distillation (2/3)

When enough energy, in the form of heat, is imparted to the solution the vapor pressure becomes equal to the

atmospheric pressure and the liquid begins to boil

P < P atm

P P atm
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Principles of Distillation (3/3)

The vapor obtained from a boiling liquid,

once cooled, will recondense to a liquid known as the distillate The complete process is called a distillation

Boiling Point of Liquid Mixture

Raoults Law

mixture of two liquids will have a boiling point that is between the boiling points of the pure liquids

PA = PoA YA
Where: PA is the partial pressure of component A PoA is vapor pressure of pure component A YA is the mole fraction of component A in mixture

Total vapor pressure of mixture Ptotal is the sum of the

partial pressures due to A and B. Ptotal = PA + PB

If Ptotal is equal to the external pressure, boiling occurs.

Important points concerning vapour pressure

Energy input raises vapour pressure Vapour pressure is related to boiling A liquid is said to boil when its vapour pressure equals

the surrounding pressure Liquids with high vapour pressures (volatile liquids) will boil at lower temperatures The vapour pressure and hence the boiling point of a liquid mixture depends on the relative amounts of the components in the mixture

Processing Sequence
Fractionation

systems have different objectives. The major processing objectives set the system type and the equipment configuration needed. The common objectives include removing a light component from a heavy product, removing a heavy component from a light product, making two products, or making more than two products. We will call these major categories are called stripping, rectification, fractionation, and complex fractionation.
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Processing Sequence
Stripping

systems remove light material from a heavy product. Rectification systems remove heavy material from a light product. Fractionation systems remove a light material from a heavy product and a heavy material from a light product at the same time.

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Processing Sequence
Complex

fractionation makes multiple products from either a single tower or a complex of towers combined with recycle streams between them. A good example of a multiple product tower is a refinery crude distillation tower making rough cuts of naphtha (gasoline), kerosene (jet fuel), and diesel from the same tower. A good example of a complex tower with internal recycle streams is a Petlyck (baffle) tower making three on-specifications products from the same tower.
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(Equipment Type) Type of Column Internals

Distillation equipment includes two major categories, trays and packing.

Trays force a rising vapor to bubble through a pool of descending liquid. Packing creates a surface for liquid to spread on. The thin liquid film has a high surface area for mass-transfer between the liquid and vapor.

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 Types of Mode Operation

Batch column Continues column The feed to the column is introduced Continuous columns process a batch-wise. The column is charged with continuous feed stream. a 'batch' and then the distillation process No interruptions occur unless is carried out. there is a problem with the When the desired task is achieved, a column or surrounding process next batch of feed is introduced. unit. (Batch is always unsteady-state, used in organic chemistry lab)

Disadvantages:
large amounts of material long residence times

Advantages:
More stages improve separation

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1. Pot Still in Series

Boil the mixture, condense the vapour and collect the distillate. Repeat the procedure until the desired purity is obtained.
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2. Batch Distillation
When the still is operating, as the

top product will be relatively rich in the more volatile component, the liquid at the bottom will become steadily weaker in this component. As a result, the purity of the top product will fall. To counter this fall off in purity, one of the following procedures can be considered: 1. The reflux ratio is gradually increased, or 2. If, say, 90 % purity is required, set column to initially operate at 95 % purity and run until purity is at some value less than 90%, say 85%, so that overall the product distilled is at 90% purity, as an average.

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3. Flash Distillation
In flashing operation a liquid is introduced into a chamber at a pressure below that of the vapor pressure of the feed liquid. A portion of the liquid immediately vaporises or flashes, hence the name.

Used on a large scale in petroleum refining Not effective for separating closely boiling mixtures

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4. Fractional Distillation (1/3)

Each vapor-condensation

(or mini-distillation) cycle is known as one theoretical plate

The length of distillation

column required to provide one theoretical plate of separation is known as the height equivalent theoretical plate (HETP)

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4. Fractional Distillation (2/3)

A typical distillation contains several major components: a vertical shell where the separation of liquid components is carried out column internals such as trays/plates and/or packings which are used to enhance component separations a reboiler to provide the necessary vaporisation for the distillation process a condenser to cool and condense the vapour leaving the top of the column a reflux drum to hold the condensed vapour from the top of the column. Reflux is a part of the top product return to the column to control the temperature inside the

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4. Fractional Distillation (3/3)

Section above feed: enriching or

RECTIFYING section removes less volatile components from vapour (vapour is enriched in the volatile component)
Section below feed: STRIPPING

section the volatile component is stripped from liquid Top product DISTILLATE
Bottom product

RESIDUE or BOTTOMS.

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5. Extractive Distillation
The method is used for mixtures having a low value of relative volatility. Such mixtures cannot be separated by simple distillation. The method of extractive distillation uses a separation solvent, which is generally nonvolatile, has a high boiling point (bp) and is miscible with the mixture. The solvent interacts differently with the components of the mixture thereby causing their relative volatilities to change. This enables the new three-part mixture to be separated by normal distillation. The solvent will increase the difference in the boiling points by increasing the BP of one of the components. An example is the separation of toluene (boiling point=110.8 C) from paraffin hydrocarbons E.g. Isooctane (boiling point=99.3 C) using phenol (boiling point=181.4 C) as a solvent, where the isooctane relative volatility increases.

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6. Azeotropic Distillation
Azeotropic systems are those where the vapor and the liquid reach the same composition at some point in the distillation. No further separation can occur. Ethanol-water is a perfect example. Once ethanol composition reaches 95% (at atmospheric pressure), no further ethanol purification is possible.

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Conclusion
thank you for your attention

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Presented by :

ALI AL-MADYPRI #311440 Abdulrahman AL-mughamisi (GL) #312044 Abdulrahman Faisal

#311061

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