Example 1: Underwood & Fenske

equations
A distillation column operating at 1 atm is to be designed for separating a mixture
of components A, B, C and D. Feed and distillation fractions are given in the
table below, determine:
The top and bottom product flow rates and bottom product composition.
The light and heavy key components.
The minimum reflux ratio for the separation to be achieved when (i) q = 0, (ii) q =
0.25, (iii) q = 0.5, (iv) q = 0.75 and (v) q = 1.
The minimum number of plates required at total reflux by using the Fenske
equation. (Note
AB
refers to the relative volatility of the light key with respect to
the heavy key).
Component x
F
x
D
x
B

125 2.3 0.50 0.80 0
118 1.5 0.25 0.15 ?
110 1.2 0.20 0.05 ?
103 1 0.05 0 ?
Example 1 (continued): Gillilands
empirical relationship
The number of plates required when q = 1, operating at 1.5R
min
, 2R
min
, 3R
min
,
5R
min
and 10R
min
. Which of these reflux ratios would you recommend
Solution to Example 1
Carry out a component balance on component A to find D and W.
Fx
F
= Dx
D
+ Wx
W
100 x 0.5 = 0.8D + 0.0W, D = F W
Therefore D = 62.5 kmol/hr, W = 37.5 kmol/hr

Component balances on B, C and D give the full compositions of each
stream:







Therefore the light and heavy keys are components B and C, respectively.

Component F (kmol/hr) x
F
D (kmol/hr) x
D
W (kmol/hr) x
W
A 50 0.50 50 0.80 0 0
B 25 0.25 9.375 0.15 15.625 0.417
C 20 0.20 3.125 0.05 16.875 0.45
D 5 0.05 0 0 5 0.133
Total 100 1 62.5 1 37.5 1
Solution to Example 1
To find R
m
, must be found by trial and error:




For the given values of q, is given to three decimal places below:



q = 0 q = 0.25 q = 0.5 q = 0.75 q = 1
1.317 1.309 1.301 1.294 1.288

A
x
FA
/(
A
) 1.17 1.16 1.15 1.14 1.14

B
x
FB
/(
B
) 2.05 1.96 1.89 1.82 1.77

C
x
FC
/(
C
) -2.06 -2.21 -2.37 -2.55 -2.73

D
x
FD
/(
D
) -0.16 -0.16 -0.17 -0.17 -0.17

i
x
Fi
/(
i
) + q 1 1 1 1 1
1
C FC A FA B FB D FD
A B C D
x x x x
q

+ + + =

Solution to Example 1
Now R
m
can be found:




For the given values of q, R
m
is given below:



q = 0 q = 0.25 q = 0.5 q = 0.75 q = 1
1.317 1.309 1.301 1.294 1.288

A
x
DA
/(
A
) 1.87 1.86 1.84 1.83 1.82

A
x
DA
/(
B
) 1.23 1.18 1.13 1.09 1.06

A
x
DA
/(
C
) -0.51 -0.55 -0.59 -0.64 -0.68

A
x
DA
/(
D
) 0 0 0 0 0

i
x
Di
/(
i
) - 1 1.58 1.48 1.38 1.29 1.20
1
A dA B dB C dC D dD
m
A B C D
x x x x
R

+ + + = +

Solution to Example 1
The minimum number of plates is given by:




Note that A and B refer to the light and heavy keys, respectively. Therefore

AB
is the volatility of the light key relative to the heavy key:



The remaining values are input to give:




Therefore, n = 4.27 (N
m
= 4.27)


( )
1
A B
B A
d s
AB
av
x x
log
x x
n
log
(
| | | |
(
| |
( \ . \ .

+ =
( )
0 15 0 45
0 05 0 417
1 5 27
1 25
d s
av
. .
log
. .
n .
log .
(
| | | |
| | (
\ . \ .

+ = =
1 5
1 25
1 2
A
AB
B
.
.
.
= = =
Solution to Example 1
N
m
= 4.27, when q = 1, R
m
= 1.2
From the graph the number of plates for a given reflux ratio can be found:
X Rmin R (R R
m
)/(R
+ 1)
n n
m
/(n
+ 2)
n
1.5 1.8 0.21 0.45 9.4
2 2.4 0.35 0.35 7.6
3 3.6 0.52 0.25 6.4
5 6 0.69 0.14 5.3
10 12 0.83 0.07 4.7
Solution to Example 1













Once R exceeds ~ 2-3 there is no significant reduction in the required
number of plates with increasing R. Since an increase in R reduces the
product flow rates, then the optimum reflux ratio will be in the region of 2 3.