Faculty of Chemical & Natural Resources Engineering

BKF3731
Unit operation lab
Sem. I - Session 2015/2016

Exp 1: Crystallizer
Exp 2: Thin Film Evaporator
Exp 3: Short Path Distillation
Exp 4: Sieve Tray Distillation
Exp 5: Solid Liquid Extractor Unit
Exp 6: Absorption Column Unit
Exp 7: Pressure Swing Adsorption
Instructor: Dr. Fatmawati Adam (coordinator), Mr. Syaiful Nizam Hassan, Mdm
Zatul Iffah Mohd Arshad, Mdm Siti Kholijah Abdul Mudalip, Dr. Noor Sabrina
Ahmad Mutamim
Teaching Engineer: Hairul Hisham Ismail, Mohd. Hafiz Abd. Latib, Mohd Faried
Abdullah, Zainal Giman, Zulhabri Khadisah

Fatmawati Adam/ Jolius Gimbun

EXPERIMENT 2: THIN FILM EVAPORATOR

OBJECTIVE
1. To demonstrate the evaporation of ethanol - propanol mixture
2. To determine effect of heating temperature and vacuum pressure on the
evaporation rate.
INTRODUCTION
The thin film evaporation unit is a complete evaporation system including feed input,
heating and vacuum generation for continuous plant operation. The unit is designed
to evaporate materials in the pressure range of atmospheric down to 8 mbar. The
lower the pressure, the lower the temperature required to effect evaporation, thus
lowering the chances of damaging the product. The thin film evaporator adopts a
rotating film system, where molecules are continuously evaporating from a film which
is spread by a rotating wiper.
EQUIPMENT/APPARATUS/MATERIAL
1. BP215 Thin Film Evaporator
2. Stop watch
3. Beakers
4. Refractometer
5. Cooling Water Supply
6. Ethanol
7. Measuring Cylinder
8. Propanol
EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES
1. Prepare a set of mixtures containing ethanol and propanol within a specified
range of
composition between pure ethanol and pure propanol.
Determine refractive index (RI) for
each mixture using a refractometer.
2. Prepare 10L of ethanol-propanol mixture at a composition at composition
60:40 v/v.
Obtain a sample from the feed liquid at valve V2 and analyze
the sample to determine its
actual initial composition.
3. Perform the general start-up procedures with the following default settings:
metering pump P1 : 60% stroke, 60 stroke/min
heating thermostat T1: 60C
vacuum controller PIC-1 : 400 mbar
4. Allow the unit to run for about 5-10 minutes to achieve steady state. Steady
state is
reached when the distillate temperature doesnt change
significantly over time.
5. Record the distillate temperature.
6. Measure the distillate and bottom product flow rates.
7. Collect the product from both distillate and bottom product vessels B2 and B3.
Analyze
the collected liquid to determine its compositions
8. Repeat the experiment by reducing the vacuum pressure down (Range 750
350 mbar).
9. Return the vacuum pressure to default. Repeat the experiment by increasing
the heating thermostat up (Maximum 90C).

Fatmawati Adam/ Jolius Gimbun

RESULTS
Initial Feed Composition :
P1 : 60% stroke, 60 stroke/min
No

Heating
Temp.
C

Vacuum
Pressure
mbar

Distillate

Bottom Product

Temp
C

Flow
RI
Composition
rate
mL/min
Constant Temperature at 60C (Setting at T1 = 75C)
1

60

60

60

Flow rate
mL/min

RI

Composition

Constant Pressure at 500mbar

4

500

500

500

*Use Antoine Equation to determine the right temperature/pressure setting

Log10P = A- B/(C+T)
Antoine Constant [Temperature in C and Pressure in mmHg)
Component
Propanol
Propanol

A
8.1122
7.74416
8.37895

B
1592.864
1437.686
1788.02

C
226.184
198.463
227.438

TMin[C]

TMax[C]

20
60
-15

93
106
98

Psat[mmHg]
1693.832048
845.657321
828.5394222

**Temperature setting at T1 should be 15oC higher than calculated temperature due

to heat loss.

Fatmawati Adam/ Jolius Gimbun

Fatmawati Adam/ Jolius Gimbun

Fatmawati Adam/ Jolius Gimbun