QUESTION 1

A saturated liquid feed of 200 mol/h at the boiling point containing 42 mol% heptane and
58% ethyl benzene is to be fractionated at 101.32 kPa abs using reflux ratio of 2.5. The
composition of heptane at distillate and bottom is 97 mol% and 1.1 mol % respectively. The
Murphree tray efficiency is estimated as 0.55 and the equilibrium date is given in Table 1.
a) Calculate the distillate and bottom product
(4 Marks)
b) Determine the actual trays need for the distillation
(16 Marks)
Table 1: Equilibrium data for mole fraction heptane xH and yH at 101.32 kPa
xH
0
0.080
0.250
0.485
0.790
1.000

yH
0
0.230
0.514
0.730
0.904
1.000

QUESTION 2
A feed flowrate of 350kmol/h consists a mixture of 40 % benzene, 25% toluene and 35% oxylene is to be separated by distillation. The column is operated at atmospheric pressure with
55% vaporized feed. The composition, boiling point and vapor pressure of each component
are shown in Table 1. The feed is distilled so that 98% of benzene and 5% of toluene are
recovered at distillate. The average temperature for the top and bottom of the tower is 110C.
Table 1: Feed composition, boiling point and vapor pressure for each component
Component

Composition, xfi

Boiling point, C

Vapor pressure at 110C,

mm Hg

Benzene

0.3

80.1

1800

Toluene

0.25

110.6

740

o-Xylene

0.45

144.4

313

(a) Calculate the flowrate and composition of the products in distillate and bottom and
determine the minimum number of ideal plates.
(17 Marks)
(b) Determine the concentration of o-xylene in the distillate. Decide whether o-xylene
should be considered in the calculation or can be neglected.
(4 Marks)
(c) Calculate the minimum reflux ratio and number of theoretical stages at an operating
reflux ratio of 1.3 times the minimum. ( must be correct to 3 decimal places)
(12 Marks)
(d) If the separation is carried out in vacuum condition, would it be any changes in the
number of ideal plate? State your reason.
(2 Marks)