Flash Distillation

Distillation
Distillation is defined as a process in which a liquid or vapor mixture of
two or more substances is separated into its component fractions of
desired purity, by the application and removal of heat.
Distillation occurs because of the differences in the volatility of the
components in the liquid mixture
Separation by differences in BPs of components OR Vapor pressure of a
liquid?? Energy input raises vapor pressure. Vapor pressure is related to
boiling temperature. And a liquid is said to boil when its vapor pressure
equals the surrounding pressure
The ease with which a liquid boils depends on its volatility
Liquids with high vapor pressures (volatile liquids) will boil at lower
temperatures
The vapor pressure and hence the boiling point of a liquid mixture
depends on the relative amounts of the components in the mixture
 Types of distillation columns
Batch Columns: In batch operation, the feed to the column is
introduced batch-wise. That is, the column is charged with a
'batch' and then the distillation process is carried out. When
the desired task is achieved, a next batch of feed is introduced
(Differential Column).
Continuous Columns: process a continuous feed stream. No
interruptions occur unless there is a problem with the column
or surrounding process units. They are capable of handling high
throughput and are most common of the two types are tray
columns & packed columns (Fractionation column)
Continuous columns classified according to:
(a) The nature of the feed that they are processing,
1. binary column - feed contains only two components
2. multi-component column - feed contains more than two
components, the number of product streams they have multi-
product column - column has more than two product streams,
where the extra feed exits when it is used to help with the
separation,
3. extractive distillation - where the extra feed appears in the
bottom product stream
4. azeotropic distillation - where the extra feed appears at the top
product stream
(b) The type of column internals
1. tray column - where trays of various designs are used to hold up
the liquid to provide better contact between vapor and liquid,
hence better separation
2. packed column - where instead of trays, ' packings' are used to
enhance contact between vapor and liquid
 Distillation
Benzene (A) - toluene (B) mixture
Intensive variables: P, T, xA, xB, yA, yB
If one intensive variable is fixed only one more
variable can be set independently
Raoults law: PA P x0
A A
Example
The normal boiling points of the pure, n-heptane and n-octane are 98.4 oC
and 125.6 oC, respectively. The vapor pressure data are given below.
Estimate the mole fraction of n-heptane in both liquid and vapor phase.

Vapour Pressure and Equilibrium-Mole-Fraction Data for

heptane-octane system

Vapour Pressure (mmHg) Mole Fraction n-heptane

at 1 atm
T (oC) heptane octane x y

98.4 760 333 1.000 1.000

105 940 417 0.656 0.811
110 1050 484 0.488 0.674
115 1200 561 0.311 0.492
120 1350 650 0.157 0.279
125.6 1540 760 0.000 0.000
 126
124
122
120
118
Temperature (deg C)

116
114
112
110
108
106
104
102
100
98
0.000 0.200 0.400 0.600 0.800 1.000
m ole fraction of heptane
 Single Stage Flash Distillation
What is flash distillation? In flash operation a liquid is introduced into a
chamber at a pressure below that of the vapor pressure of the liquid feed. A
portion of the liquid immediately vaporizes or flashes, hence the name.

F is Feed flowrate
z F , xF : mole farction
hF : Specific enthalpy
D is the distillate flowrate or top product
y D : mole fractiom in vapor phase or top product
H D : Specific enthalpy
B : Bottoms product flowrate
xB : mole fraction of bottom product
hB : Specific enthalpy of the bottom
 Flash distillation
Vapour
Liquid
feed

Heat
exchanger Flash Liquid
balances: separator

Mass F=D+B
To find yD use the
Component FzF=Dy D+Bx B equilibrium diagram where
Enthalpy FhF + Q = DH D + BhB the slop is 1 D / D

Basis 1 mole of feed then -B/D

z F Dy Bx
rearrangem ent yD
B z yA
y x F xF
D D
Whereas B 1 - D then xB
1 D z
y x linear equation of x
D D
xA
Solving material and energy balance simultaneously gives:

F DB
FhF Q DH D Bh B
( D B )( hF Q ) DH D Bh B
F
D ( hF Q F ) B( hF Q F ) DH D Bh B
D ( hF Q F ) - DH D Bh B - B( hF Q F )
D[( hF Q F ) - H D ] B[hB - ( hF Q F )]
B H D - ( hF Q F )

D hB - ( hF Q F )
B y D - zF H D - ( hF Q F )

D xB - z F hB - ( hF Q F )
 Example 1
A 100 kmol/h of a 60% of hexane and octane are flashed at 1 atm to produce a
vapor stream which contains 75 mol% hexane. How much product is produced?
What is the eqlm temp. of the mixture containing 75mol% hexane? What is the
feed temp?
Use the following T-x and T-y data:
T 399 378 367 357 350 344

x 0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0

T 399 393 387 378 367 344

y 0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0

Octane Hexane
Boiling point (K) 399 342

Heat of vaporization (J/kgmol) 3.44 x 107 2.89 x 107

Liquid heat capacity (J/kgmol K) 2.57 x 105 1.89 x 105
Vapor heat capacity (J/kg mol K) 2.32 x 105 1.75 x 105
 Flash distillation: Material Balance
75%
410

400 hexane
390

380 60%
Tx
Ty Hexane
370

360

350

340
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1

F V B 100 V B
FxF Vyv Bx B 100 0.6 0.75V xB B
V 62.5; B 37.5

From Eqm Curve the eqm temperatu re is 370K

 Flash distillation: Energy Balance
H v 0.75[1.89 105 (342 - 273) 2.89 107 1.75 105 (370 - 342)]
0.25[2.57 105 (399 - 273) 3.44 107 2.32 105 (370 - 399)]
H v 5 107 J / kgmol
hB 0.35[1.89 105 (370 - 273)] 0.65[2.57 105 (370 - 273)]
hB 2.24 107 J / kgmol

Enthalpy Balance
100 H F 62.5(5 107 ) 37.5( 2.24 107 )
H F 3.97 107 J / kgmol
3.97 107 0.6[1.89 105 (TF - 273)] 0.4[2.57 105 (TF - 273)
TF 457K