Mechanical and Process Design of a Distillation Column

I. Introduction

A. Background of the Study

Industrial production of chemicals involves purification and recovery of the

products, by-products and unreacted raw materials. Distillation is clearly the

dominating process, accounting for more applications than all others combined and

consumes more than 95% of the total energy used in separations in chemical

process industries worldwide. Distillation utilizes vapor and liquid phases at

essentially the same temperature and pressure for the coexisting zones. The process

is based on the fact that the vapor of the boiling mixture will be richer in the

components that have lower boiling points. Hence, when this vapor is cooled and

condensed, the condensate will contain more volatile components and the original

mixture will contain more of the less volatile material.

B. Objectives

C. Significance

D.