1.

Simple Distillation

A 100-g-mole liquid mixture containing 50 mole% n-heptane and 50 mole% n-octane at 30 oC is

to be subjected to a differential distillation at atmospheric pressure. The process is stopped when
the mole fraction of heptane in the still reaches 0.33. Determine the amount of distillate collected?

Equilibrium data for n-heptane and n-octane is given in Table below (in mole fractions n-heptane
in vapour and liquid):

2. Batch distillation
VLE Data
100 kmol of a 60 mole% benzene–toluene mixture is subjected to batch
distillation until a 30 mole% residue is obtained. How many kg of distillate
is obtained, and what is its benzene content? (Also solve the problem using
relative volatility, average α)

3. Phase Diagram & Equilibrium Curve

Calculate the vapour and liquid compositions in equilibrium (in mole

fractions, y and x) for the benzene-toluene system using vapour pressure data measure at a
pressure of 101.32 kPa as shown in Table 1 below : (Hint: Use Raoult's Law). Plot the phase
diagram (T-x-y diagram) and equilibrium curve for the benzene-toluene system at 101.32 kPa

Table 1. Temperature-Vapour Pressure Data for Benzene-Toluene at 101.32 kPa

4. Flash Distillation

An equimolar mixture of benzene and toluene is subjected to flash distillation at a pressure of 1bar
in the separator. Determine the compositions (in mole fraction benzene) of the liquid and vapour
leaving the separator when the feed is 25% vaporized. Estimate the temperature in the separator.

What are the concentrations in the vapour and liquid, and the separator temperature the feed is:

· 0% vaporized
· 50% vaporized
· 75% vaporized
· 100% vaporized?

Plot the operating lines for each of these cases and discuss how the operating lines change as f
changes.

5. Continuous Distillation

A distillation column operating at 1 atm is to be designed for separating an ethanol-water mixture.

The feed is 20 mole% ethanol and the feed flow rate is 1000 kg-mole/hr of saturated liquid. A
distillate composition of 80 mole% ethanol and a bottoms composition of not more than 2 mole%
ethanol are desired. The reflux ratio is 5/3.
Determine: (a) the total number of equilibrium stages required
(b) the optimum feed plate location
(c) the distillate and bottoms flow rates in kg-mole/hr

Equilibrium data for ethanol-water system at 1 atm pressure are in Table given below:
Analyse the graphical solution. What can you conclude about the extent of separation in the
rectifying section and stripping section respectively? Obtain the mole fractions in liquid and
vapour for each tray and plot a concentration profile for your design (vertical-axis: number of
trays, top-down, horizontal-axis: mole fractions x and y).