Design distillation columns

The inlet temperature will be the saturation temperature of the liquid at the base of the column, and the vapour temperature the saturation temperature of the vapour returned to the column. The composition of these streams will be fixed by the distillation column design specification. 

K. Muralikrishna, K.P. Madhavan, and S.S. Shah. Development of dividing wall distillation column design space for a specified separation. Trans. IchemE, 80(Part A) 155-165, 2002. 

All these factors complicate distillation column design, and require somewhat-modified design techniques. Usually a distillation column should be designed for the lowest operating pressure, which is economically feasible. 

Distillation is one of those unit operations that assumes its importance based on the scale of operation. Clearly, distillation is one of the most important operations in a petroleum manufacturing plant where separations of closely boiling liquids require sophisticated distillation column design, built upon detailed theoretical plate determinations, material of construction issues, and secondary distillation requirements. In the pharmaceutical industry, the recovery and recycle of a solvent (versus incineration) depends on process scale. Further insight into the problems that might be faced in recovering solvents (and reagents) is provided in the section entitled Dilevalol Hydrochloride Development of a Commercial Process. ... 

Buckley, P. B., "Distillation Column Design Using Multivariable Control," Inst. Tech., 1978, 25(3), 115. 

Determine the efficiency in the upper portion of the DCB distillation column designed in the preceding example. Relative volatility for the system is 3.6. 

The Francis weir formula is used in distillation column design to find the height of the liquid crest over the weir that controls liquid flow from the plate in the column... 

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