Distillation unit operation

Figure 11.26 represents a continuous distillation unit operating with a feed F of composition Xf, and giving a top product D of composition xd and a bottom product W of composition xw. In this analysis, the quantities in the streams V of rising vapour and L of reflux are given in mass units, such as kg/s, and the composition of the streams as mass fractions, x referring to the liquid and y to the vapour streams as usual. 

Distillation is a unit operation that separates by vaporization liquid mixtures of miscible and volatile substances into individual components or groups of components. The separation of water and alcohol into the respective components of liquid air into nitrogen, oxygen, and argon and the separation of crude petroleum into gasoline, oil, and kerosene are examples of the distillation unit operation. 

Extremely widely practiced in industry, this type of mass transfer is at the basis of the absorption and distillation unit operations, two or three phase reaction systems and others. The magnitude of the gas-liquid interfacial area is, of course, of prime importance and this is where the process intensification opportunities for microtechnology mostly lie. Table 3.2, adapted from Ref [40], shows the potential... 

Figure 7 shows a typical cycle diagram for a 200-gallon-per-day distilling unit operating on city water. 

The following are not listed as design variables for the distillation unit operations in Table 6.2. 

Wet or dirty instrument air supply This may cause erratic controller action and/or incorrect signals, and may affect one or several instruments. The author witnessed one entire small distillation unit operated for months without a single reliable flow measurement because of this problem. This was a major factor restraining good performance. 

The graph gives the yields that the refiner would obtain at the outlet of the atmospheric distillation unit allowing him to set the unit s operating conditions in accordance with the desired production objectives. 

Gas-phase adsorption is widely employed for the large-scale purification or bulk separation of air, natural gas, chemicals, and petrochemicals (Table 1). In these uses it is often a preferred alternative to the older unit operations of distillation and absorption. 

In order to make a multipurpose plant even more versatile than module IV, equipment for unit operations such as soHd materials handling, high temperature/high pressure reaction, fractional distillation (qv), Hquid—Hquid extraction (see Extraction, liquid-liquid), soHd—Hquid separation, thin-film evaporation (qv), dryiag (qv), size reduction (qv) of soHds, and adsorption (qv) and absorption (qv), maybe iastalled. 

Azeotropic and Extractive Distillations. Effective as they are for producing various Hquid fractions, distillation units generally do not produce specific fractions. In order to accommodate the demand for such products, refineries have incorporated azeotropic distillation and extractive distillation in their operations (see Distillation, azeotropic and extractive). 

Ratio and Multiplicative Feedforward Control. In many physical and chemical processes and portions thereof, it is important to maintain a desired ratio between certain input (independent) variables in order to control certain output (dependent) variables (1,3,6). For example, it is important to maintain the ratio of reactants in certain chemical reactors to control conversion and selectivity the ratio of energy input to material input in a distillation column to control separation the ratio of energy input to material flow in a process heater to control the outlet temperature the fuel—air ratio to ensure proper combustion in a furnace and the ratio of blending components in a blending process. Indeed, the value of maintaining the ratio of independent variables in order more easily to control an output variable occurs in virtually every class of unit operation. 

There are essentially four steps or unit operations in the manufacture of fatty acids from natural fats and oils (/) batch alkaline hydrolysis or continuous high pressure hydrolysis (2) separation of the fatty acids usually by a continuous solvent crystallisation process or by the hydrophilisation process (J) hydrogenation, which converts unsaturated fatty acids to saturated fatty acids and (4) distillation, which separates components by their boiling points or vapor pressures. A good review of the production of fatty acids has been given (1). 

In a large number of processes, there ate unit operations related to vapot-Hquid separations distillation, absorption, extraction, stripping, flashing, and separation of Hquid and vapor stream arising from changes in temperatures and pressures. Calculations for these unit operations necessitate trial and... 

A wide array of general-purpose distillation packages are available to the engineer. Some of the distillation software is stand-alone, whereas other packages are a part of a general-purpose flow sheet or process-simulation system. Because distillation is so universal, all process simulators have one or more distillation program modules for this unit operation. Often the nature of the distillation modules determines the suitabiUty of or the preference for the use of a specific simulator for an appHcation. 

Ordinary diffusion involves molecular mixing caused by the random motion of molecules. It is much more pronounced in gases and Hquids than in soHds. The effects of diffusion in fluids are also greatly affected by convection or turbulence. These phenomena are involved in mass-transfer processes, and therefore in separation processes (see Mass transfer Separation systems synthesis). In chemical engineering, the term diffusional unit operations normally refers to the separation processes in which mass is transferred from one phase to another, often across a fluid interface, and in which diffusion is considered to be the rate-controlling mechanism. Thus, the standard unit operations such as distillation (qv), drying (qv), and the sorption processes, as well as the less conventional separation processes, are usually classified under this heading (see Absorption Adsorption Adsorption, gas separation Adsorption, liquid separation). 

Introduction Reactive distillation is a unit operation in which chemical reaction and distiUative separation are carried out simultaneously within a fractional distillation apparatus. Reactive distillation may be advantageous for liqiiid-phase reaction systems when the reaction must be carried out with a large excess of one or more of the reactants, when a reaction can be driven to completion by removal of one or more of the products as they are formed, or when the product recoveiy or by-product recycle scheme is complicated or macfe infeasible by azeotrope formation. 

Other control methods. A cychng procedure can be used to set the pattern for column operation. The unit operates at total reflux until equilibrium is established. Distillate is then taken as total draw-... 

Where is naphthenic acid corrosion found Naphthenic acid corrosion occurs primarily in crude and vacuum distillation units, and less frequently in thermal and catalytic cracking operations. It usually occurs in furnace coils, transfer lines, vacuum columns and their overhead condensers, sidestream coolers, and pumps. 

While working in a plant, a troubleshooter read a pressure gauge daily for several weeks and only realized it was inaccurate when one day the blower was down. The gauge still read about normal operating pressure. Had this have been a distillation unit, it could have been more serious. In distillation service, pressure is a more important variable than in many other unit operations. Relative volatility is a function of pressure. Pressure, or more accurately delta-P, is the best indication of the tower hydraulics. 

An electrostatic precipitator is used to remove more tar from coke oven gas. The tar is then sent to storage. Ammonia liquor is also separated from the tar decanter and sent to wastewater treatment after ammonia recovery. Coke oven gas is further cooled in a final cooler. Naphthalene is removed in a separator on the final cooler. Light oil is then removed from the coke oven gas and is fractionated to recover benzene, toluene, and xylene. Some facilities may include an onsite tar distillation unit. The Claus process is normally used to recover sulfur from coke oven gas. During the coke quenching, handling, and screening operation, coke breeze is produced. The breeze is either reused on site (e.g., in the sinter plant) or sold offsite as a by-product. 

Another important use of correlations is the optimization of existing unit operations. Cat cracking correlations can provide the refiner with valuable information for optimizing reactor temperature level, gasoline/distillate cut point, and feed and recycle rates. The practical application of this information can mean increased profitability for the cat cracking operation. 

The SIMULAR, developed by Hazard Evaluation Laboratory Ltd., is a chemical reactor control and data acquisition system. It can also perform calorimetry measurements and be employed to investigate chemical reaction and unit operations such as mixing, blending, crystallization, and distillation. Ligure 12-24 shows a schematic detail of the SIMULAR, and Ligure 12-25 illustrates the SIMULAR reaction calorimeter with computer controlled solids addition. 

There are a variety of ways of accomplishing a particular unit operation. Alternative types of process equipment have different inherently safer characteristics such as inventory, operating conditions, operating techniques, mechanical complexity, and forgiveness (i.e., the process/unit operation is inclined to move itself toward a safe region, rather than unsafe). For example, to complete a reaction step, the designer could select a continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR), a small tubular reactor, or a distillation tower to process the reaction. 

Similarly, different unit operations are available to accomplish the same processing objective. For example, a filter, a centrifuge, or a decanter could be used to separate a solid from a liquid. Crystallization or distillation could also be used for purification. 

Vaporization and diffusion of flammable or toxic liquids or gases is a primary consideration with distillation, evaporation, extraction, and absorption operations. The basic principle of safety for tliese unit operations is contaimnent of the materials witliin the system. These operations should be conducted outdoors whenever possible. In tliis way, any accidental release of flammable or... 

Heterogeneous catalytic systems offer the advantage that separation of the products from the catalyst is usually not a problem. The reacting fluid passes through a catalyst-filled reactor m the steady state, and the reaction products can be separated by standard methods. A recent innovation called catalytic distillation combines both the catalytic reaction and the separation process in the same vessel. This combination decreases the number of unit operations involved in a chemical process and has been used to make gasoline additives such as MTBE (methyl tertiai-y butyl ether). 

Daily monitoring of API gravity provides the operator with a tool to predict changes in unit operation. For the same distillation range, the 26°API feed cracks more easily than the 24 API feed because the 26 API feed has more long-chain paraffinic molecules. In contact with the I, -100 F (704 C) catalyst, these molecules are easier to rupture into valuable products. 

---