Azeotropes with

Figure 3.8a shows the temperature-composition diagram for a minimum-boiling azeotrope that is sensitive to changes in pressure. This azeotrope can be separated using two columns operating at different pressures, as shown in Fig. 3.86. Feed with mole fraction of A Ufa)) of, say, 0.3 is fed to the high-pressure column. The bottom product from this high-pressure column is relatively pure B, whereas the overhead is an azeotrope with jcda = 0-8, jcdb = 0.2. This azeotrope is fed to the low-pressure column, which produces relatively pure A in the bottom and in the overhead an azeotrope with jcda = 0.6, jcdb = 0.4. This azeotrope is added to the feed of the high-pressure column.

In the first class, azeotropic distillation, the extraneous mass-separating agent is relatively volatile and is known as an entrainer. This entrainer forms either a low-boiling binary azeotrope with one of the keys or, more often, a ternary azeotrope containing both keys. The latter kind of operation is feasible only if condensation of the overhead vapor results in two liquid phases, one of which contains the bulk of one of the key components and the other contains the bulk of the entrainer. A t3q)ical scheme is shown in Fig. 3.10. The mixture (A -I- B) is fed to the column, and relatively pure A is taken from the column bottoms. A ternary azeotrope distilled overhead is condensed and separated into two liquid layers in the decanter. One layer contains a mixture of A -I- entrainer which is returned as reflux. The other layer contains relatively pure B. If the B layer contains a significant amount of entrainer, then this layer may need to be fed to an additional column to separate and recycle the entrainer and produce pure B. 

The second class of distillation operation using an extraneous mass-separating agent is extractive distillation. Here, the extraneous mass-separating agent is relatively involatile and is known as a solvent. This operation is quite different from azeotropic distillation in that the solvent is withdrawn from the column bottoms and does not form an azeotrope with any of the components. A typical extractive distillation process is shown in Fig. 3.11. ... 

The water content of crude oils is determined by a standardized method whose procedure is to cause the water to form an azeotrope with an aromatic (generally industrial xylene). Brought to ambient temperature, this azeotrope separates into two phases water and xylene. The volume of water is then measured and compared with the total volume of treated crude. 

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