Distillation reboilers

Fair, J. R., Design Steam Distillation Reboilers, Hydrocarbon Processing and Petroleum Refiner, February 1963. 

A mixture of n-butane and n-pentane is loaded into a batch distillation reboiler to produce a distillate at constant rate and composition. The column pressure is constant at 500 kPa, the initial charge is 100 kmol, and the distillate rate is 10 kmol/h. The column has three theoretical trays plus the reboiler, giving it four theoretical stages. The initial charge composition, the required distillate composition, and the component relative volatilities, assumed constant, are as follows ... 

Discuss the similarities and differences among the following operations listed in Table 1.1 distillation, extractive distillation, reboiled absorption, refluxed stripping, and azeotropic distillation. 

Another variable that needs to be set for distillation is refiux ratio. For a stand-alone distillation column, there is a capital-energy tradeoff, as illustrated in Fig. 3.7. As the refiux ratio is increased from its minimum, the capital cost decreases initially as the number of plates reduces from infinity, but the utility costs increase as more reboiling and condensation are required (see Fig. 3.7). If the capital... 

Consider again the simple process shown in Fig. 4.4d in which FEED is reacted to PRODUCT. If the process usbs a distillation column as separator, there is a tradeofi" between refiux ratio and the number of plates if the feed and products to the distillation column are fixed, as discussed in Chap. 3 (Fig. 3.7). This, of course, assumes that the reboiler and/or condenser are not heat integrated. If the reboiler and/or condenser are heat integrated, the, tradeoff is quite different from that shown in Fig. 3.7, but we shall return to this point later in Chap. 14. The important thing to note for now is that if the reboiler and condenser are using external utilities, then the tradeoff between reflux ratio and the number of plates does not affect other operations in the flowsheet. It is a local tradeoff. 

The dominant heating and cooling duties associated with a distillation column are the reboiler and condenser duties. In general, however, there will be other duties associated with heating and cooling of feed and product streams. These sensible heat duties usually will be small in comparison with the latent heat changes in reboilers and condensers. 

The consequences of placing distillation columns in different locations relative to the pinch will now be explored. There are two possible ways in which the distillation column can be integrated. The reboiler and condenser can be integrated either across the pinch or not across the pinch. 

Let us now consider a few examples for the use of this simple representation. A grand composite curve is shown in Fig. 14.2. The distillation column reboiler and condenser duties are shown separately and are matched against it. Neither of the distillation columns in Fig. 14.2 fits. The column in Fig. 14.2a is clearly across the pinch. The distillation column in Fig. 14.26 does not fit, despite the fact that both reboiler and condenser temperatures are above the pinch. Strictly speaking, it is not appropriately placed, and yet some energy can be saved. By contrast, the distillation shown in Fig. 14.3a fits. The reboiler duty can be supplied by the hot utility. The condenser duty must be integrated with the rest of the process. Another example is shown in Fig. 14.36. This distillation also fits. The reboiler duty must be supplied by integration with the process. Part of the condenser duty must be integrated, but the remainder of the condenser duty can be rejected to the cold utility. 

Establish the heat integration potential of simple columns. Introduce heat recovery between reboilers, intermediate reboilers, condensers, intermediate condensers, and other process streams. Shift the distillation column pressures to allow integration, where possible, using the grand composite curve to assess the heat integration potential. 

The composite curves for this flowsheet are shown in Fig. 14.86. The composite curves are dominated by the reboilers and condensers of the two distillation columns and the feed vaporizer for the acetone feed. It is immediately apparent that the two distillation columns are both inappropriately placed across the pinch. Linnhoflf and Parker ... 

Kayihan, F., Optimum Distribution of Heat Load in Distillation Columns Using Intermediate Condensers and Reboilers, AfC/iS Symp. Ser., 192(76) 1, 1980. 

Example A.4.1 The purchased cost of a distillation column is 1 million, and the reboiler and condenser are 100,000. Calculate the annual cost of installed capital if the capital is to be annualized over a 5-year period at a fixed rate of interest of 5 percent. 

Beyond 340°C in the reboiler, the residue begins to crack thermally. If the distillation is stopped at this point, the residue is called the atmospheric residue. In order to continue, the distillation is conducted under a low pressure, vacuum", so as to reduce the temperature in the reboiler. 

Acryflc acid, alcohol, and the catalyst, eg, sulfuric acid, together with the recycle streams are fed to the glass-lined ester reactor fitted with an external reboiler and a distillation column. Acrylate ester, excess alcohol, and water of esterification are taken overhead from the distillation column. The process is operated to give only traces of acryflc acid in the distillate. The bulk of the organic distillate is sent to the wash column for removal of alcohol and acryflc acid a portion is returned to the top of the distillation column. If required, some base may be added during the washing operation to remove traces of acryflc acid. 

Formex pro-cess, Snam-progetti /V-formyl-morph o-line (FM) water is added to the FM to increase its se-lectivity and also to avoid high reboiler temperatures during solvent recovery by distillation 40 perforated-tray ex-tractor, FM density at 1.15 aids phase separation low corrosion allows use of carbon steel equipment... 

Up until 1986 the major use for 2-j -butylphenol was in the production of the herbicide, 2-j -butyl-4,6-dinitrophenol [88-85-7] which was used as a pre- and postemergent herbicide and as a defoHant for potatoes (30). The EPA banned its use in October 1986 based on a European study which showed that workers who came in contact with 2-j -butyl-4,6-dinitrophenol experienced an abnormally high rate of reproduction problems. Erance and the Netherlands followed with a ban in 1991. A significant volume of 2-j -butyl-4,6-dinitrophenol is used worldwide as a polymerization inhibitor in the production of styrene where it is added to the reboiler of the styrene distillation tower to prevent the formation of polystyrene (31). OSBP is used in the Par East as the carbamate derivative, 2-j -butylphenyl-Ai-methylcarbamate [3766-81-2] (BPMC) (32). BPMC is an insecticide used against leaf hoppers which affect the rice fields. 

Condenser and eboiler AT. The losses for AT are typically far greater than those for reflux beyond the minimum. The economic optimum for temperature differential is usually under 15°C, in contrast to the values of over 50°C often used in the past. This is probably the biggest opportunity for improvement in the practice of distillation. A specific example is the replacement of direct-fired reboilers with steam (qv) heat. 

A.djustingTrocess to Optimi AT. At first glance, there appear to be only three or four utiUty levels (temperatures), and these can be 50°C apart. Different ways to increase the options include using multieffect distillation, which spreads the AT across two or three towers using waste heat for reboil and recovering energy from the condenser. To make these options possible, the pressure in a column may have to be raised or lowered. 

Thermodynamic efficiency is hurt by the large ATbetween the temperatures of melting and freezing. In an analogy to distillation, the high a comes at the expense of a big spread in reboiler and condenser temperature. Erom a theoretical standpoint, this penalty is smallest when freezing a high concentration (ca 90%) material. 

Reboiler. The case shown in Figure 8 is common for reboilers and condensers on distillation towers. Typically, this AThas a greater impact on excess energy use in distillation than does reflux beyond the minimum. The capital cost of the reboiler and condenser is often equivalent to the cost of the column they serve. 

The concept of an optimum reboiler or condenser AT relates to the fact that the value of energy changes with temperature. As the gap between supply and rejection widens, the real work in a distillation increases. The optimum AT is found by balancing this work penalty against the capital cost of bigger heat exchangers. 

The dominance of distiHation-based methods for the separation of Hquid mixtures makes a number of points about RCM and DRD significant. Residue curves trace the Hquid-phase composition of a simple single-stage batch stiHpot as a function of time. Residue curves also approximate the Hquid composition profiles in continuous staged or packed distillation columns operating at infinite reflux and reboil ratios, and are also indicative of many aspects of the behavior of continuous columns operating at practical reflux ratios (12). 

Several descriptions have been pubUshed of the continuous tar stills used in the CIS (9—11). These appear to be of the single-pass, atmospheric-pressure type, but are noteworthy in three respects the stills do not employ heat exchange and they incorporate a column having a bubble-cap fractionating section and a baffled enrichment section instead of the simple baffled-pitch flash chamber used in other designs. Both this column and the fractionation column, from which light oil and water overhead distillates, carboHc and naphthalene oil side streams, and a wash oil-base product are taken, are equipped with reboilers. 

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