CHE433

Modern Separations
Spring 2014

Practice for Midterm 1

Review the chapter study questions in the Student Supplement

Focus on ones relevant to the material we have discussed in lecture/HW. Below are a handful
that I think are important. Expect that I will ask you 4-8 of these types of problems. Some will be
exactly taken from this list.

What is the definition and meaning of relative volatility?

CHE433 Modern Separations

Spring 2014

1) Seader 1e 4.9

Use Raoults law and vapor pressure data from NIST

Additional questions for 4.9:
- From part c), what is the ideal temperature at which to perform the flash? Could this temperature be
used on an equimolar mixture of heptane and toluene?

CHE433 Modern Separations

Spring 2014

2) Consider the isothermal flash of an equimolar feed of benzene-toluene using a flash drum
operated at 95oC.
a) What are the compositions of the outlet liquid and vapor streams?
b) What fraction of the feed leaves in the vapor stream?
c) Could partial vaporization be performed on this feed at 105oC? Why or why not?

CHE433 Modern Separations

Spring 2014

3) A vapor containing 30 mol% ethanol in water flowing at 50 mol/h is to be partially
condensed in an isothermal manner. If half of the entering ethanol is to be retained in the
vapor, what is the flow rate of the condensate stream?

CHE433 Modern Separations

Spring 2014

4) If an ethanol water mixture at the bubble point were to undergo flash distillation to remove
a portion of the ethanol as a vapor, would you expect to achieve a greater degree of separation
if the starting solution contained 20% ethanol or 20% water? Explain.

CHE433 Modern Separations

Spring 2014

5) A mixture of hexane (light) and ethanol (heavy) is partially vaporized under isothermal
conditions. The feed contains 20 %mol hexane and flows at 50 mol/h. Estimate the outlet
vapor and liquid compositions when one third of the feed is vaporized. Determine the relative
volatility under these conditions. Solve the problem twice, once using the Txy plot and again
using the yx plot.

CHE433 Modern Separations

Spring 2014

CHE433 Modern Separations

Spring 2014

6) Seader 4.22

Solve manually* for at least 3

iterations. Show equations used.
* You can of course use calculator
or EXCEL to perform the math.

CHE433 Modern Separations

Spring 2014

7) A mixture of hexane and toluene at 1 atm is being isothermally flashed to produce liquid and
vapor streams at rates of 60 and 20 mol/h, respectively. The exit concentrations were not
measured, but it is known that K-value for hexane at the conditions that the flash drum are
operated is about 2.0. What was the composition of the feed stream? Solve graphically esing
either or both plots, as appropriate.

1"
hexane)toluene#@#1#atm#

0.9"
0.8"
0.7"

yB#

0.6"
0.5"
0.4"
0.3"
0.2"
0.1"
0"
0"

0.1"

0.2"

0.3"

0.4"

0.5"
xB#

0.6"

0.7"

0.8"

0.9"

1"

CHE433 Modern Separations

Spring 2014

390#

hexane-toluene"@"1"atm"

385#
380#
375#
370#

T"(K)"

365#
360#
355#
350#
345#
340#
335#
330#
0#

0.1#

0.2#

0.3#

0.4#

0.5#
xh,"yh"

10

0.6#

0.7#

0.8#

0.9#

1#