Distillation towers

After cleavage the reaction mass is a mixture of phenol, acetone, and a variety of other products such as cumylphenols, acetophenone, dimethyl-phenylcarbinol, a-methylstyrene, and hydroxyacetone. It may be neutralised with a sodium phenoxide solution (20) or other suitable base or ion-exchange resins. Process water may be added to facilitate removal of any inorganic salts. The product may then go through a separation and a wash stage, or go direcdy to a distillation tower. 

The monomer recovery process may vary ia commercial practice. A less desirable sequence is to filter or centrifuge the slurry to recover the polymer and then pass the filtrate through a conventional distillation tower to recover the unreacted monomer. The need for monomer recovery may be minimized by usiag two-stage filtration with filtrate recycle after the first stage. Nonvolatile monomers, such as sodium styrene sulfonate, can be partially recovered ia this manner. This often makes process control more difficult because some reaction by-products can affect the rate of polymerization and often the composition may vary. When recycle is used it is often done to control discharges iato the environment rather than to reduce monomer losses. 

Most alkylphenols sold today require refinement. Distillation is by far the most common separation route. Multiple distillation tower separations are used to recover over 80% of the alkylphenol products in North America. Figure 4 shows a basic alkylphenol distillation train. Excess phenol is removed from the unrefined alkylphenol stream in the first tower. The by-products, which are less volatile than phenol but more volatile than the product, are removed in the second tower. The product comes off the third tower overhead while the heavy by-products come out the bottom. 

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. 

Control signals from individual distillation towers... 

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. 

Propane Asphalt. As noted above, cmde oils contain different quantities of residuum (Fig. 2) and, hence, asphalt. Asphalt is also a product of the propane deasphalting and fractionation process (5,6,21,22) which involves the precipitation of asphalt from a residuum stock by treatment with propane under controlled conditions. The petroleum charge stock is usually atmospheric-reduced residue from a primary distillation tower. 

Fig. 3. Separation and purification of butadiene A, first extraction distillation tower B, solvent stripper C, second extraction distillation tower D, topping...

Open-loop behavior of multicomponent distillation may be studied by solving modifications of the multicomponent equations of Distefano [Am. Inst. Chem. Eng. J., 14, 190 (1968)] as presented in the subsection Batch Distillation. One frequent modification is to include an equation, such as the Francis weir formula, to relate liquid holdup on a tray to liquid flow rate leaving the tray. Applications to azeotropic-distillation towers are particularly interesting because, as discussed by and ihustrated in the Following example from Prokopalds and Seider... 

In distillation towers, entrainment lowers the tray efficiency, and 1 pound of entrainment per 10 pounds of liquid is sometimes taken as the hmit for acceptable performance. However, the impact of entrainment on distiUation efficiency depends on the relative volatility of the component being considered. Entrainment has a minor impact on close separations when the difference between vapor and liquid concentration is smaU, but this factor can be dominant for systems where the liquid concentration is much higher than the vapor in equilibrium with it (i.e., when a component of the liquid has a very lowvolatiUty, as in an absorber). 

Hasbrouck, J.F, J.G. Kunesh, and VC. Smith, Successfully Troubleshoot Distillation Towers, Chemical Engineeiing Piogiess, 199.3, 6.3-72. 

Equipment Constraints These are the physical constraints for individual pieces of eqiiipment within a unit. Examples of these are flooding and weeping limits in distillation towers, specific pump curves, neat exchanger areas and configurations, and reactor volume limits. Equipment constraints may be imposed when the operation of two pieces of equipment within the unit work together to maintain safety, efficiency, or quahty. An example of this is the temperature constraint imposed on reactors beyond which heat removal is less than heat generation, leading to the potential of a runaway. While this temperature could be interpreted as a process constraint, it is due to the equipment limitations that the temperature is set. 

Analysts must recognize the above sensitivity when identifying which measurements are required. For example, atypical use of plant data is to estimate the tray efficiency or HTU of a distillation tower. Certain tray compositions are more important than others in providing an estimate of the efficiency. Unfortunately, sensor placement or sample port location are usually not optimal and, consequently, available measurements are, all too often, of less than optimal use. Uncertainty in the resultant model is not minimized. 

For the purposes of this discussion, consider a single distillation tower with one feed, a distillate, and bottoms, as shown in Fig. 30-17. 

Aerothermal analysis This pertains to a detailed thermodynamie analysis of the full power plant and individual eomponents. Models are ereated of individual eomponents, ineluding the gas turbine, steam turbine heat exehangers, and distillation towers. Both the algorithmie and statistieal approaehes are used. Data is presented in a variety of performanee maps, bar eharts, summary eharts, and baseline plots. 

Particle diameter is a primary variable important to many chemical engineering calculations, including settling, slurry flow, fluidized beds, packed reactors, and packed distillation towers. Unfortunately, this dimension is usually difficult or impossible to measure, because the particles are small or irregular. Consequently, chemical engineers have become familiar with the notion of equivalent diameter of a partiele, which is the diameter of a sphere that has a volume equal to that of the particle. 

Try the following problem to sharpen your skills in working with material and energy balances. Crude oil is heated to 525° K and then charged at a rate of 0.06 m /hr to the flash zone of a pilot-scale distillation tower. The flash zone is maintained at an absolute temperature of 115 kPa. Calculate the percent vaporized and the amounts of the overhead and bottoms streams. Assume that the vapor and liquid are in equilibrium. 

It is the ultimate objective of a refinery to transform the fractions from the distillation towers into streams (intermediate components) that eventually become finished products. This also is where a refinery makes money, because only through conversion can most low-value fractions become gasoline. The most widely used conversion method is called cracking because it uses heat and pressure to "crack"... 

This chapter has only provided a brief overview of the technology of distillation. In part, to highlight some important engineering concepts and equipment, the following summary is given. As described, refinery main fractionators are distillation towers that separate very wide boiling fractions into a series of rough... 

Solvent reeovery systems would also neeessitate the speeifieation of eondenser duties, distillation tower sizes, holding tanks, piping, and valves. It is important to note that the engineering design of an adsorption system should be based on pilot data for the partieular system. Information ean usually be obtained direetly from the adsorbent manufaeturer. The overall size of the unit is determined primarily by eeonomie eonsiderations, balaneing the operating eosts against the eapital eosts. 

In light ends distillation, by contrast, the number of compounds present is usually less than 30 and may be as low as 3 or 4. Thus, the feed to a light ends distillation tower can be described in terms of the percentages of the various individual compounds present. 

The feed to a distillation tower is normally heated either by indirect heat exchange with hot products and/or in a furnace. The products must be condensed and cooled. This is accomplished in part by heat exchange with other petroleum streams and in part by cooling water exchange. The arrangement and relative... 

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