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Column
Why & What is it..???
• State of the art separation of hydrocarbon mixtures into three different fractions is
mostly realized by a separate column arrangement.
• The selection of the optimum sequence is made considering all required aspects, such
as quantity of individual fractions, relative volatilities between the components of the
desired fractions, thermal stability of the components, available utilities – e.g. steam
temperature levels, etc. – in order to have the lowest possible investment and
operating cost.
• Mainly three types of arrangement are made which are :-
(1) Direct Sequence Column.
(2) Indirect Sequence Column.
(3) Thermally Coupled Column.
• The thermally coupled column does not require any additional heating or cooling
source for the second column.
Thermally Coupled Column- A Solution ??
• A further step in development of the thermally coupled column is realized by integration
of the separation task within one column shell only, thus offering considerably lower
investment and also saving operating costs. If thermally coupled columns are integrated
into one single shell, it is referred to as a divided wall column (DWC) or partitioned wall
column, as shown in the figure.
How it works..??
• A partition wall in the middle section of the column separates the main column and
the side column. In this fully thermally coupled column realized as a DWC the
multicomponent feed enters the main column, where a cut between low- and high-
boiling components takes place. The middle-boiling components of fraction B
distribute to the top of the partition wall together with the low boiling components of
fraction A (AB) as well as to the bottom of the partition wall, but along with the high-
boiling components of fraction C (BC). Thus, as a major advantage of this
configuration, the components of fraction C do not enter the side column at the top
and the components of fraction A do not enter the side column at the bottom. The
mixture of low and middle boiling components (AB) is separated in the upper column
section of the main column and the same applies to the high boiling and middle
boiling components (BC) which are separated in the lower section of the main column.
• It can be seen that neither low boiling components of fraction A can pass to the
bottom part of the side column, nor high boiling components of fraction C can pass to
the upper part of the side column. Thus, contamination of middle boiling fraction B
can be avoided.
How it is beneficial over other methods..??
• In the conventional case, the concentration of middle boiling components B in the first column
increases below the feed, as the concentration of low boiling components of fraction A
decrease. However, further down the column, the concentration of the middle boiling
components B decreases again as the concentration of the high boiling components increase.
This remixing, which cannot be avoided in conventional fractionation when a feedstock
contains more than two components, is a source of inefficiency.
Contd..
• Flow Diagram..
Mathematical Model..
• Consider the separation of the ternary mixture containing benzene, toluene & o-
xylene. Benzene & o-xylene are obtained as top & bottom products respectively.
Contd..
Contd..
Contd..
Vapour Mixing & Liquid Splitting..
• At the intersection of rectifying section (section 1) with prefractionator
(Section 2) and main column (Section 3):
Vn +1(3)=(1-β)V1(4).
2
yn +1,i(3) = y1,i(4) .
2