Bubble point mixture

Example 8 Calculation of Rate-Based Distillation The separation of 655 lb mol/h of a bubble-point mixture of 16 mol % toluene, 9.5 mol % methanol, 53.3 mol % styrene, and 21.2 mol % ethylbenzene is to be earned out in a 9.84-ft diameter sieve-tray column having 40 sieve trays with 2-inch high weirs and on 24-inch tray spacing. The column is equipped with a total condenser and a partial reboiler. The feed wiU enter the column on the 21st tray from the top, where the column pressure will be 93 kPa, The bottom-tray pressure is 101 kPa and the top-tray pressure is 86 kPa. The distillate rate wiU be set at 167 lb mol/h in an attempt to obtain a sharp separation between toluene-methanol, which will tend to accumulate in the distillate, and styrene and ethylbenzene. A reflux ratio of 4.8 wiU be used. Plug flow of vapor and complete mixing of liquid wiU be assumed on each tray. K values will be computed from the UNIFAC activity-coefficient method and the Chan-Fair correlation will be used to estimate mass-transfer coefficients. Predict, with a rate-based model, the separation that will be achieved and back-calciilate from the computed tray compositions, the component vapor-phase Miirphree-tray efficiencies. 

One hundred kmoles/h of a ternary bubble-point mixture to be separated by distillation has the following composition ... 

The following bubble-point mixture at 1.4 atm is distilled by extractive distillation with the following phenol-rich solvent at 1.4 atm and at the same temperature as the main feed (Seader and Henley, 2006) ... 

An equimolal bubble-point mixture of propylene and 1-butene is to be distilled at 200psia (1.379 MPa) into 95 mole% pure products with a column equipped with a partial condenser and a partial reboiler. 

One hundred kilogram-moles per hour of a 30mole% bubble-point mixture of acetone (1) in water (2) is to be distilled at 1 atm to obtain 90mole% acetone and 95 mole% water using a column with a partial reboiler and a total condenser. The van Laar constants at this pressure are (E. Hale et al., Vapour-Liquid Equilibrium Data at Normal Pressures, Pergammon Press, Oxford, 1968) A12 = 2.095 and Aj, = 1.419. 

ERF error flag, integer variable normally zero ERF= 1 indicates parameters are not available for one or more binary pairs in the mixture ERF = 2 indicates no solution was obtained ERF = 3 or 4 indicates the specified flash temperature is less than the bubble-point temperature or greater than the dew-point temperature respectively ERF = 5 indicates bad input arguments. 

BUDET calculates the bubble-point temperature or dew-point temperature for a mixture of N components (N < 20) at specified pressure and liquid or vapor composition. The subroutine also furnishes the composition of the incipient vapor or liquid and the vaporization equilibrium ratios. 

For mixtures, the calculation is more complex because it is necessary to determine the bubble point pressure by calculating the partial fugacities of the components in the two phases at equilibrium. 

When the two components are mixed together (say in a mixture of 10% ethane, 90% n-heptane) the bubble point curve and the dew point curve no longer coincide, and a two-phase envelope appears. Within this two-phase region, a mixture of liquid and gas exist, with both components being present in each phase in proportions dictated by the exact temperature and pressure, i.e. the composition of the liquid and gas phases within the two-phase envelope are not constant. The mixture has its own critical point C g. 

For both volatile oil and blaok oil the initial reservoir temperature is below the critical point, and the fluid is therefore a liquid in the reservoir. As the pressure drops the bubble point is eventually reached, and the first bubble of gas is released from the liquid. The composition of this gas will be made up of the more volatile components of the mixture. Both volatile oils and black oils will liberate gas in the separators, whose conditions of pressure and temperature are well inside the two-phase envelope. 

A volatile oil contains a relatively large fraction of lighter and intermediate oomponents which vaporise easily. With a small drop in pressure below the bubble point, the relative amount of liquid to gas in the two-phase mixture drops rapidly, as shown in the phase diagram by the wide spacing of the iso-vol lines. At reservoir pressures below the bubble point, gas is released In the reservoir, and Is known as solution gas, since above the bubble point this gas was contained in solution. Some of this liberated gas will flow towards the producing wells, while some will remain in the reservoir and migrate towards the crest of the structure to form a secondary gas cap. 

The 400-series are zeotropic mixtures. T is based on bubble point. 

A similarly accurate but slightly more complex method for prediction of densities of defined hqiiid hydrocarbon mixtures at their bubble points was published by Hanldnson and Thomson and was previously cited for prediction of pure liquid hydrocarbons. 

From Table 13-5 it can be seen that the variables subject to the designer s control are C -i- 3 in number. The most common way to utilize these is to specify the feed rate, composition, and pressure (C -i- 1 variables) plus the drum temperature To and pressure To. This operation will give one point on the equilihrium-flash cuive shown in Fig. 13-26. This cui ve shows the relation at constant pressure between the fraction V/F of the feed flashed and the drum temperature. The temperature at V/F = 0.0 when the first bubble of vapor is about to form (saturated liquid) is the bubble-point temperature of the feed mixture, and the value at V/F = 1.0 when the first droplet of liquid is about to form (saturated hquid) is the dew-point temperature. 

For a given drum pressure and feed composition, the bubble- and dew-point temperatures bracket the temperature range of the equilibrium flash. At the bubble-point temperature, the total vapor pressure exerted by the mixture becomes equal to the confining drum pressure, and it follows that X = 1.0 in the bubble formed. Since yj = KjXi and since the x/s stiU equal the feed concentrations (denoted bv Zi s), calculation of the bubble-point temperature involves a trial-and-error search for the temperature which, at the specified pressure, makes X KjZi = 1.0. If instead the temperature is specified, one can find the bubble-point pressure that satisfies this relationship. 

The calculation for a point on the flash curve that is intermediate between the bubble point and the dew point is referred to as an isothermal-flash calculation because To is specified. Except for an ideal binary mixture, procedures for calculating an isothermal flash are iterative. A popular method is the following due to Rachford and Rice [I. Pet. Technol, 4(10), sec. 1, p. 19, and sec. 2, p. 3 (October 1952)]. The component mole balance (FZi = Vy, + LXi), phase-distribution relation (K = yJXi), and total mole balance (F = V + L) can be combined to give... 

In controlled venting operation, the quench tank pressure is maintained at a desired level by a pressure controller/control valve system or pressure rehef valve. This mode of operation is used when the discharge mixture bubble point is close to or below the maximum ambient temperature, and it is desired to hmit the maximum quench tank pressure. 

Since the boiling point properties of the components in the mixture being separated are so critical to the distillation process, the vapor-liquid equilibrium (VLE) relationship is of importance. Specifically, it is the VLE data for a mixture which establishes the required height of a column for a desired degree of separation. Constant pressure VLE data is derived from boiling point diagrams, from which a VLE curve can be constructed like the one illustrated in Figure 9 for a binary mixture. The VLE plot shown expresses the bubble-point and the dew-point of a binary mixture at constant pressure. The curve is called the equilibrium line, and it describes the compositions of the liquid and vapor in equilibrium at a constant pressure condition. 

CHEMCALC 1, Separations Calculations Gulf Publishing Company, Book Division P.O. Box 2608 Houston, TX 77252 Programs for use with multi-component mixtures to determine the conditions and compositions at the dew point and at the bubble point. 

At a total pressure, P, the temperature of flash must be between the dew point and the bubble point of a mixture [144-148]. Thus ... 

From the hydrocarbon feed stock listed, calculate the bubble point and dew point of the mixture at 165 psia, and using K values as listed, which can be read from a chart in 3rd edition Perry s, Chemical Engineer s Handbook. 

If the mixture shown in Example 8-2 is flashed at a temperature midway between the bubble point and dew point,... 

In high heat flux (heat transfer rate per unit area) boilers, such as power water tube (WT) boilers, the continued and more rapid convection of a steam bubble-water mixture away from the source of heat (bubbly flow), results in a gradual thinning of the water film at the heat-transfer surface. A point is eventually reached at which most of the flow is principally steam (but still contains entrained water droplets) and surface evaporation occurs. Flow patterns include intermediate flow (churn flow), annular flow, and mist flow (droplet flow). These various steam flow patterns are forms of convective boiling. 

Hydrocarbons and other fluids are recovered at a production well by a mixture of CO2 and 0.1% to 20% by weight trichloroethane at a temperature and pressure above the bubble point of the mixture, which ensures that the mixture will be in a single phase [866]. 

Mixture bubble point pressure Component K = Y/X values For flash at 70°F and 80 psia ... 

Thus, to calculate the bubble point for a given mixture and at a specified pressure, a search is made for a temperature to satisfy Equation 4.58. Alternatively, temperature can be... 

Table 4.10 Bubble-point calculation for a methanol-water mixture using the Wilson equation. 

Table 4.9 Bubble-point calculation for an ideal methanol-water mixture.

The vapor-liquid x-y diagram in Figures 4.6c and d can be calculated by setting a liquid composition and calculating the corresponding vapor composition in a bubble point calculation. Alternatively, vapor composition can be set and the liquid composition determined by a dew point calculation. If the mixture forms two-liquid phases, the vapor-liquid equilibrium calculation predicts a maximum in the x-y diagram, as shown in Figures 4.6c and d. Note that such a maximum cannot appear with the Wilson equation. 

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