Carri

In Equation (11), V is the total volume containing n moles of component i, n moles of component j, etc. The differentiation is carried out such that, in addition to temperature and pressure, all mole numbers (except n ) are held constant. 

Guffey and Wehe (1972) used excess Gibbs energy equations proposed by Renon (1968a, 1968b) and Blac)c (1959) to calculate multicomponent LLE. They concluded that prediction of ternary data from binary data is not reliable, but that quarternary LLE can be predicted from accurate ternary representations. Here, we carry these results a step further we outline a systematic procedure for determining binary parameters which are suitable for multicomponent LLE. 

Once the flowsheet structure has been defined, a simulation of the process can be carried out. A simulation is a mathematical model of the process which attempts to predict how the process would behave if it was constructed (see Fig. 1.1b). Having created a model of the process, we assume the flow rates, compositions, temperatures, and pressures of the feeds. The simulation model then predicts the flow rates, compositions, temperatures, and pressures of the products. It also allows the individual items of equipment in the process to be sized and predicts how much raw material is being used, how much energy is being consumed, etc. The performance of the design can then be evaluated. 

When more than one reactant is used, it is often desirable to use an excess of one of the reactants. It is sometimes desirable to feed an inert material to the reactor or to separate the product partway through the reaction before carrying out further reaction. Sometimes it is desirable to recycle unwanted byproducts to the reactor. Let us now examine these cases. 

Product removal during reaction. Sometimes the equilibrium conversion can be increased by removing the product (or one of the products) continuously from the reactor as the reaction progresses, e.g., by allowing it to vaporize from a liquid-phase reactor. Another way is to carry out the reaction in stages with intermediate separation of the products. As an example of intermediate separation, consider the production of sulfuric acid as illustrated in Fig. 2.4. Sulfur dioxide is oxidized to sulfur trioxide ... 

Tubular reactors, as previously stated, are also advantageous for high-pressure reactions where smaller-diameter cylindrical vessels can be used to allow thinner vessel walls. Tubular reactors should be avoided when carrying out multiphase reactions, since it is often difficult to achieve good mixing between phases. 

One disadvantage of fluidized heds is that attrition of the catalyst can cause the generation of catalyst flnes, which are then carried over from the hed and lost from the system. This carryover of catalyst flnes sometimes necessitates cooling the reactor effluent through direct-contact heat transfer hy mixing with a cold fluid, since the fines tend to foul conventional heat exchangers. 

Having made an initial specification for the reactor, attention is turned to separation of the reactor effluent. In addition, it might be necessary to carry out separation before the reactor to purify the feed. Whether before or after the reactor, the overall separation task normally must be broken down into a number of intermediate separation tasks. The first consideration is the choice of separator for the intermediate separation tasks. Later we shall consider how these separation tasks should be connected to the reactor. As with reactors, we shall concentrate on the choice of separator and not its detailed sizing. 

Separation of the different phases of a heterogeneous mixture should be carried out before homogeneous separation, taking advantage of what already exists. Phase separation tends to be easier and... 

This type of classification device can be used to carry out solid-solid separation in mixtures of different solids. The mixture of particles is first suspended in a fluid and then separated into fractions of different size or density in a device similar to that in Fig. 3.3. 

The ability to produce high product purity. Many of the alternatives to distillation only carry out a partial separation and cannot produce pure products. 

Separation of a volatile liquid from an involatile component. This is a common operation carried out by Evaporation and drying. These processes are considered in some detail later. 

As with distillation, no attempt should be made to carry out any optimization of liquid flow rate, temperature, or pressure at this stage in the design. The separation in absorption is sometimes enhanced by adding a component to the liquid which reacts with the solute. 

The most common alternative to distillation for the separation of low-molecular-weight materials is absorption. Liquid flow rate, temperature, and pressure are important variables to be set, but no attempts should be made to carry out any optimization at this stage. 

Some reactions are carried out in the liquid phase in a solvent. If this is the case, then the solvent is separated and recycled in arrangements similar to that shown in Fig. 4.5. 

The b3TJroduct, DCD, is not required for this project. Hydrogen chloride can be sold to a neighboring plant. Assume at this stage that all separations can be carried out by distillation. The normal boiling points are given in Table 4.1. 

If a vapor from the phase split is either predominantly product or predominantly byproduct, then it is removed from the process. If the vapor contains predominantly unconverted feed material, it is normally recycled to the reactor. In these cases, there is no need to carry out any separation on the vapor. 

The reaction is carried out in the gas phase sind normally operates at around 700°C and 40 bar. Some of the benzene formed undergoes a secondary reversible reaction to an unwanted byproduct, diphenyl, according to the reaction... 

Given the estimate of the reactor effluent in Example 4.2 for fraction of methane in the purge of 0.4, calculate the.actual separation in the phase split assuming a temperature in the phase separator of 40°C. Phase equilibrium for this mixture can be represented by the Soave-Redlich-Kwong equation of state. Many computer programs are available commercially to carry out such calculations. 

The step with the longest time limits the cycle time. Alternatively, if more than one step is carried out in the same equipment, the cycle time is limited by the longest series of steps in the same equipment. The batch cycle time must be at least as long as the longest step. The rest of the equipment other than the limiting step is then idle for some fraction of the batch cycle. 

Clearly, the time chart shown in Fig. 4.14 indicates that individual items of equipment have a poor utilization i.e., they are in use for only a small fraction of the batch cycle time. To improve the equipment utilization, overlap batches as shown in the time-event chart in Fig. 4.15. Here, more than one batch, at difierent processing stages, resides in the process at any given time. Clearly, it is not possible to recycle directly from the separators to the reactor, since the reactor is fed at a time different from that at which the separation is carried out. A storage tank is needed to hold the recycle material. This material is then used to provide part of the feed for the next batch. The final flowsheet for batch operation is shown in Fig. 4.16. Equipment utilization might be improved further by various methods which are considered in Chap. 8 when economic tradeoffs are discussed. 

When a mixture in a reactor effluent contains components with a wide range of volatilities, then a partial condensation from the vapor phase or a partial vaporization from the liquid phase followed by a simple phase split often can produce a good separation. If the vapor from such a phase split is difficult to condense, then further separation needs to be carried out in a vapor separation unit such as a membrane. 

Much work has been carried out to find methods for the synthesis of distillation sequences of simple columns that do not involve heat integration. However, heat integration may have a significant... 

Unless there are constraints severely restricting heat integration, sequencing of simple distillation columns can be carried out in two steps (1) identify the best few nonintegrated sequences and (2) study... 

There is a tradeoff between energy and capital cost i.e., there is an economic degree of energy recovery. Chapter 7 explains how this tradeoff can be carried out using energy and capital cost targets. 

Next, we carry out a heat balance within each shifted temperature interval according to Eq. (6.1). The result is given in Fig. 6.17. Some of the shifted intervals in Fig. 6.17 are seen to have a surplus of heat... 

Now, carry out a heat balance within each shifted temperature interval, as shown in Fig. 6.20. 

Optimization of the system can be carried out by minimizing a cost function or maximizing economic potential EP defined by (see App. A)... 

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