Enriching section

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. 

Total Upflow in an Ideal Plant. The sum of the upflows from all of the stages in the ideal plant, or more simply, the total upflow, is the area enclosed by the cascade shown in Figure 4. An analytical expression for this quantity is obtained as the summation of all the stage upflows in the enriching section expressed as an integral ... 

Fig. 5. Design of a real cascade obtained by squaring off an ideal enriching section.

Example This equation is obtained in distillation problems, among others, in which the number of theoretical plates is required. If the relative volatility is assumed to be constant, the plates are theoretically perfect, and the molal liquid and vapor rates are constant, then a material balance around the nth plate of the enriching section yields a Riccati difference equation. 

In operation, a batch of liquid is charged to the pot and the system is first brought to steady state under total reflux. A portion of the overhead condensate is then continuously withdrawn in accordance with the established reflux pohcy. Cuts are made by switching to alternate receivers, at which time operating conditions may be altered. The entire column operates as an enriching section. As time proceeds, composition of the material being distilled becomes less rich in the more volatile components, and distillation of a cut is stopped when accumulated distillate attains the desired average composition. 

The ratio of wash solvent to extraction solvent is the same in the enriching section as in the stripping section if no solvent is added in the feed. The degree of separation to be achieved can be chosen for the process design, such as 99 percent of component b into the extrac-t stream and 99 percent of component c into the raffinate stream. Then the feed rate can be chosen so that the solute loadings in the extrac-t stream and... 

The relationships for the section of column above the feed plate, i.e., the enriching section of the column, are exactly the same as those derived previously for the case of the batch distillation column. 

The liquid and vapour molar flow rate in the enriching section, are denoted by L and V, as previously and in the stripping section as L and V. The relationship between L, V, L and V is determined by the feed rate F and the thermal quality of the feed "q". 

The component balance equations for reflux drum, column enriching section, feed plate, column stripping section and the column base and reboiler are very similar to those derived previously for the binary distillation example CONSTILL, but are now expressed in multicomponent terms as described in Section 3.3.3.4. 

Thus for any component i of the mixture in the enriching section of the column... 

As discussed in Section 15.5.2, the separation of two or more sublimable substances by fractional sublimation is theoretically possible if the substances form true solid solutions. Gillot and Goldberger(10°) have reported the development of a laboratory-scale process known as thin-hlm fractional sublimation which has been applied successfully to the separation of volatile solid mixtures such as hafnium and zirconium tetrachlorides, 1,4-dibromobenzene and l-bromo-4-chlorobenzene, and anthracene and carbazole. A stream of inert, non-volatile solids fed to the top of a vertical fractionation column falls counter-currently to the rising supersaturated vapour which is mixed with an entrainer gas. The temperature of the incoming solids is maintained well below the snow-point temperature of the vapour, and thus the solids become coated with a thin film (10. im) of sublimate which acts as a reflux for the enriching section of the column above the feed entry point. 

The mixture to be separated is fed to the centre of the column down which activated carbon moves slowly. Immediately above the feed, the rising gas is stripped of ethylene and heavier components leaving hydrogen, methane and any non-adsorbed gases to be discharged as a top-product. The adsorbent with its adsorbate continues down the column into an enriching section where it meets an upwards stream of recycled top-product. The... 

The properties of a fractionating column which are important for isotope separation are (1) the throughput or boil-up rate which determines production (2) HETP (height equivalent per theoretical plate) which determines column length (3) the hold-up per plate which determines plant inventory and time to production (4) the pressure drop per plate which should be as small as possible. The choice of a particular column is invariably a compromise between these factors. The separation in a production column is of course less than it would be at total reflux (no product withdrawal). The concentration at any point in the enriching section can be calculated from the transport equation (see, e.g., London 1961)... 

The advantages that may justify the additional costs of reflux at the bottom of a solvent extraction tower are illustrated in Figure 6. Minimum reflux is represented by the tie line from / to fe. Maximum reflux would be represented by the line / to the extract layer which would exist for infinite solvent to feed ratio. Practical operation of the equipment will fall between the limits of minimum and maximum reflux, as represented by fy. The operating point for the enriching section of the extraction column is located by an intersection between the lines erE and fy, and the reflux ratio is the ratio of the distances k e /k e (22). 

If, from a specified lube distillate we are required to make a given raffinate, R, and extract, E, and are given the reflux ratio for the enriching section of the column, operating points V and 0 for each section may be constructed on the diagram. A line constructed... 

Binary systems of course can be handled by the computer programs devised for multicomponent mixtures that are mentioned later. Constant molal overflow cases are handled by binary computer programs such as the one used in Example 13.4 for the enriching section which employ repeated alternate application of material balance and equilibrium stage-by-stage. Methods also are available that employ closed form equations that can give desired results quickly for the special case of constant or suitable average relative volatility. 

For fractionation column tray efficiency determination, use the alpha ratio (the light key K value divided by the heavy key component K value). Please note that the fractionation column involves both the enriching section and the stripping section, as compared to absorber- or stripping-type columns. 

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