ABSTRACT

The purpose of this experiment is to observe and determine the function of each
component in the distillation column. There are 11 main components that made up the
distillation column which are top condenser, distillate cooler, top product receiver, vacuum
pump, bottom product receiver, bubble cap column, feed tank, bottom cooler, damper,
reboiler and feed pump. Furthermore, 15 valves including reflux valve are observed and their
functions have been determined. Distillation is a process that can be used to separate a pure
liquid from a mixture of liquids. It works when the liquids have different boiling points. The
purpose of distillation is to separate a substance or a mixture of substances from a solution
through evaporation. Process of distillation may sometimes involve boiling a liquid and
condensing the vapors that will form. In conclusion, distillation is a unit operation of
practically universal importance, but it is a physical separation process and not a chemical
reaction. Distillation is an important commercial process that is used in the purification of a
large variety of materials. In the fossil fuel industry, distillation is a major class of operation
in obtaining materials from crude oil for fuels and for chemical feed stocks. For industrial
use, distillation permits separation of air into its components which are oxygen, carbon
dioxide and nitrogen.

INTRODUCTION

The distillation is known as the separation process which is a method for separating
the various components of a liquid solution which depends upon the distribution of these
components between a vapor phase and a liquid phase. The vapor phase is produced from the
liquid phase by vaporization at the boiling point. In other words, distillation is also defined
as a process in which a liquid or vapor mixture of two or more substances is separated into its
component fractions of desired purify or boiling point, by the application and removal of
heat. Distillation can be used to separate binary or multi-component mixtures. Many
variables, such as column pressure, temperature, size, and diameter are determined by the
properties of the feed and the desired products. The example of distillation is the ethanolwater solution where the vapor contains a concentration of ethanol greater than in the liquid.
Based on the fact, the vapor of a boiling mixture in the distillation process will be
richer in the components that have lower boiling points. The condensate will contain more
volatile components when this vapor is cooled and condensed and at the same time, there is
contain less volatile mixture from the original mixture. So, the distillation columns are
designed to achieve this separation efficiently. There is some benefit of using the distillation
column which are it consumes a lot of energy in terms of cooling and heating requirement, it
also can produce more than 50% of plant operating costs and the most important that it is the
most common separation technique to control the process operate efficiently.
The distillation processes depend on the vapor pressure characteristics of liquid
mixtures. The components of liquid mixture are separating via distillation depends on the
differences boiling points of individual components. It is also depending on the
concentrations of the components present where the liquid mixture will have the different
boiling point characteristics. In addition, distillation columns are designed based on the
boiling point properties of the components in the mixtures being separated. Therefore,
particularly the height and sizes of the distillation columns are determined by the vapor-liquid
equilibrium (VLE) data for the mixtures. Vapor-liquid equilibrium (VLE) is defined as a
condition in which a liquid and its gas phase are in equilibrium with each other. A condition is
referred to the rate of evaporation is equal to the rate of condensation. Another term is the
boiling point a diagram is where the constant pressure VLE data is obtained.

Distillation can be carried out by either of two methods. The first method of
distillation involves is the production of vapor by boiling the liquid mixture to be separated in
a single stage and the recovering and condensing the vapors. In this method, there is no liquid
allowed to return to the single-stage still to contact the rising vapors. For the second method,
the distillation is involved returning of a portion of the condensate to the still. The vapors rise
through the series of stages or trays, and part of the condensate flows downward through the
series of stages or trays counter current to the vapors. The second method is known as
fractional distillation, distillation with reflux, or rectification. Moreover, there are three
essential types of distillation that occur in a single stage and do not involve rectification.
They are equilibrium or flash distillation, simple bath or differential distillation and lastly is
steam distillation.

OBJECTIVE
The objective of this experiment is to identify the equipment and components in the
distillation column and determine the function of each of the equipment.

REFERENCES

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4. Christie.J.G. 2014. Transport process & separation process principles (includes unit
operation). Pearson new international edition.

5. Norrie. 2010. Distillation columns (or tower). Retrieved March 18, 2016 from
http://articles.compressionjobs.com/articles/oilfield-101/2710distillation-columns-towers-column-control-?showall=1

6. Batch distillation.(n.d). Wikipedia. Retrieved March 18, 2016 from

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batch_distillation