Multicomponent mixture separation

The concepts of NTU and HTU are defined only for binary distillations and transfer of a single component in absorption and stripping. For multicomponent mixture separations, the term height equivalent to a theoretical plate (HETP) is often used ... 

Cascades for multicomponent mixture separation involving other separation processes... 

Simple analytical methods are available for determining minimum stages and minimum reflux ratio. Although developed for binary mixtures, they can often be applied to multicomponent mixtures if the two key components are used. These are the components between which the specification separation must be made frequendy the heavy key is the component with a maximum allowable composition in the distillate and the light key is the component with a maximum allowable specification in the bottoms. On this basis, minimum stages may be calculated by means of the Fenske relationship (34) ... 

When multicomponent mixtures are to be separated into three or more products, sequences of simple distillation columns of the type shown in Fig. 13-1 are commonly used. For example, if aternaiy mixture is to be separated into three relatively pure products, either of the two sequences in Fig. 13-4 can be used. In the direct sequence, shown in Fig. 13-4, all products but the heaviest are removed one by one as distillates. The reverse is true for the indirect sequence, shown in Fig. 13-4 7. The number of possible sequences of simple distillation columns increases rapidly with the number of products. Thus, although only the 2 sequences shown in Fig. 13-4 are possible for a mixture separated into 3 products, 14 different sequences, one of which is shown in Fig. 13-5, can be synthesized when 5 products are to be obtained. 

The sequencing of distillation columns and other types of equipment for the separation of multicomponent mixtures has received much attention in recent years. Although one separator of complex design can sometimes be devised to produce more than two produc ts, more... 

Displacement chromatography is suitable for the separation of multicomponent bulk mixtures. For dilute multicomponent mixtures it allows a simultaneous separation and concentration. Thus, it permits the separation of compounds with extremely low separation fac tors without the excessive dilutiou that would be obtained in elution techniques. 

It is seen from Figure 15 that the analysis time ranges from about 10,000 seconds (a little less than 3 hr) to about 30 milliseconds. The latter, high speed separation, is achieved on a column about 2 mm long, 12 microns in diameter, operated at a gas velocity of about 800 cm/second. Such speed of elution for a multicomponent mixture is of the same order as that of a scanning mass spectrometer. 

Product separation for main fractionators is also often called black oil separation. Main fractionators are typically used for such operations as preflash separation, atmospheric crude, gas oil crude, vacuum preflash crude, vacuum crude, visbreaking, coking, and fluid catalytic cracking. In all these services the object is to recover clean, boiling range components from a black multicomponent mixture. But main fractionators are also used in hydrocracker downstream processing. This operation has a clean feed. Nevertheless, whenever you hear the term black oil, understand that what is really meant is main fractionator processing. 

Ng, K.M., 1991. Systematic separation of a multicomponent mixture of solids based on selective crystallization and dissolution. Separations Technology, 1, 108. 

Distillation, extractive distillation, liquid-liquid extraction and absorption are all techniques used to separate binary and multicomponent mixtures of liquids and vapors. Reference 121 examines approaches to determine optimum process sequences for separating components from a mixture, primarily by distillation. 

Figure 8-2 illustrates a typical normal volatility vapor-liquid equilibrium curve for a particular component of interest in a distillation separation, usually for the more volatile of the binary mixture, or the one where separation is important in a multicomponent mixture. 

Sequencing of columns for separating multicomponent mixtures (a) perform the easiest separation first, that is, the one least demanding of trays and reflux, and leave the most difficult to the last (b) when neither relative volatility nor feed concentration vary widely, remove the components one by one as overhead products (c) when the adjacent ordered components in the feed vary widely in relative volatility, sequence the splits in the order of decreasing volatility (d) when the concentrations in the feed vary widely but the relative volatilities do not, remove the components in the order of decreasing concentration in the feed. 

All these methods give similar results but their sensitivities and resolutions are different. For example, UV-Vis spectrophotometry gives good results if a single colorant or mixture of colorants (with different absorption spectra) were previously separated by SPE, ion pair formation, and a good previous extraction. Due to their added-value capability, HPLC and CE became the ideal techniques for the analysis of multicomponent mixtures of natural and synthetic colorants found in drinks. To make correct evaluations in complex dye mixtures, a chemometric multicomponent analysis (PLS, nonlinear regression) is necessary to discriminate colorant contributions from other food constituents (sugars, phenolics, etc.). 

The need to limit the maximum temperature rise has resulted in two main types of apparatus, illustrated in Fig. 20-25. The first consists of multicomponent ribbon separation units—apparatus capable of separating small quantities of mixtures which may contain few or many species. In general, such units operate with high voltages, low... 

Extending the method to a multicomponent mixture, the total mass balance remains the same, but separate component balance equations must now be written for each individual component i, i.e.. 

Multiple electrodes have been used to obtain selectivity in electrochemical detection. An early example involved the separation of catecholamines from human plasma using a Vydac (The Separation Group Hesperia, CA) SCX cation exchange column eluted with phosphate-EDTA.61 A sensor array using metal oxide-modified surfaces was used with flow injection to analyze multicomponent mixtures of amino acids and sugars.62 An example of the selectivity provided by a multi-electrode system is shown in Figure 2.63... 

The UNIQUAC equation developed by Abrams and Prausnitz is usually preferred to the NRTL equation in the computer aided design of separation processes. It is suitable for miscible and immiscible systems, and so can be used for vapour-liquid and liquid-liquid systems. As with the Wilson and NRTL equations, the equilibrium compositions for a multicomponent mixture can be predicted from experimental data for the binary pairs that comprise the mixture. Also, in the absence of experimental data for the binary pairs, the coefficients for use in the UNIQUAC equation can be predicted by a group contribution method UNIFAC, described below. 

The problem of determining the stage and reflux requirements for multicomponent distillations is much more complex than for binary mixtures. With a multicomponent mixture, fixing one component composition does not uniquely determine the other component compositions and the stage temperature. Also when the feed contains more than two components it is not possible to specify the complete composition of the top and bottom products independently. The separation between the top and bottom products is specified by setting limits on two key components, between which it is desired to make the separation. 

Petlyuk FB, Platonov VM and Slavinskii DM (1965) Thermodynamically Optimal Method for Separating Multicomponent Mixtures, Ini Chem Eng, 5 555. 

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