Distillation is a unit operation a physical

separation process, and not a chemical reaction, in

which two or more liquid components of a liquid
solution into are separate by thermal mean.

The vapour phase is created by supplying heat as

a separating agent.

Separation is achieved because of the difference

in the vapour pressure of the component at a given
temperature.
The more volatile component vaporizing and passing from
the liquid to the vapour phase and less volatile component
condensing.

The resulting vapour, enriched in one component and

depleted in another is called distillate product.
The liquid effluent is called the product.
Commercially, distillation has a number of
applications
It is used to separate crude oil into more fractions for specific
uses such as transport, power generation and heating.

Water is distilled to remove impurities, such as salt from

seawater.

Air is distilled to separate its components—oxygen, nitrogen,

and argon—for industrial use.

Distillation of fermented solutions has been used since

ancient times to produce distilled beverages with higher
alcohol content.
TYPES OF DISTILLATION
SIMPLE BATCH OR
DIFFERENTIAL DISTILLATION

EQUILIBRIUM OR
FLASH DISTILLATION

STEAM DISTILLATION

FRACTIONAL DISTILLATION

AZEOTROPIC DISTILLATION
SIMPLE BATCH OR DIFFERENTIAL DISTILLATION

In this distillation, a known quantity of a liquid mixture is

charged into a still.
The still is provided for heating the liquid mass in
the still with help of heating media such as steam.

The charge is provided slowly, vapours formed

are withdrawn and fed to the condenser where they
are liquefied and collected in a receiver as a
distillate.
 EQUILIBRIUM OR FLASH DISTILLATION

Flash distillation is carried out in a continuous manner.

In this distillation, a liquid mixture is partially vaporized, the
vapour and liquid are allowed to attain equilibrium and finally
and withdrawn separately.

Feed is heated in a tubular heat exchanger.

The hot liquid mixture is then fed to a separator via pressure

reducing valve whereby pressure is reduced and the vapour is
formed at expense of liquid adiabatically.

The liquid is withdrawn from the bottom from the separator

and the equilibrium vapour leaves the separator which is then
liquefied in a condenser.

Flash distillation is commonly used in petroleum industry.

STEAM DISTILLATION
Steam distillation is used;
For separating a high boiling component from the
non-volatile impurities

For separating a high boiling mixture into different

fractions wherein the decomposition of material
might occur if direct distillation were employed.

In cases where the vaporization temperature

cannot be reached by steam heat

The necessary condition for employing steam

distillation is that the solubility of steam in the liquid
must be very low or immiscible.
Steam distillation is especially adopted in cases
where substances involved cannot withstand
temperature of distillation and decompose.

Substances of this kind can be separated by

reducing the partial pressure of the volatile
component.
FRACTIONAL DISTILLATION
Fractional distillation is the separation of a
mixture into its component parts, or fractions, such
as in separating chemical compounds by their
boiling point by heating them to a temperature at
which several fractions of the compound
evaporates.

Fractional distillation is used in

air separation,
producing liquid oxygen,
liquid nitrogen,
and highly concentrated argon.
 AZEOTROPIC DISTILLATION
When the composition of a liquid mixture is the same as
that of the vapour generated from it, the liquid mixture is
called Azeotropic or constant boiling mixture.

Since the liquid and vapour composition are the same,

the boiling point remain constant as vapour is generated.

Azeotropes may be two types homogeneous &

heterogeneous

In the case of homogeneous azeotrope, one liquid phase

is in equilibrium with the vapour, where as in the case of
heterogeneous Azeotropes two liquid phases are in
equilibrium with the vapour.
Since two liquid phases vary in composition at or
below the boiling point, a heterogeneous azeotrope
may be separate in two conventional columns.

A homogeneous azeotrope may be separated by

adding a third component which will form a ternary
mixture with no azeotrope.

The ternary mixture is now separated with one

component in the distillate and the other in the
bottom product. The third component may be
formed in one or both products.
 DISTILLATION COLUMNS
The gas-liquid contacting devices for mass
transfer are the same – such as plate and packed
columns
It is a tall vertical cylindrical shell
with number of nozzles.
The internal of the columns
consist of a series of plates or
tray and a variety of packings.
 Types of distillation columns

Plate or tray column

Packed column
 Plate or Tray column
The process of mass transfer is continuous.

Each plate in a vertical column

represents a stage as on each plate,
the phases are brought into intimate
contact, mass transferred from one
phase to another, and finally phases
are separated and leaves
the tray or plate.
A plate column is a vertical column which consist
a number of plates. In this column, liquid enters
from the top, flows over every plate and from plate
to plate via down comers.
Various plates used for phase contacting
are:
 
BUBBLE CAP PLATE
Bubble cap disperses the gas phase into liquid as fine
bubbles; it prevents liquid drainage through the gas
passage at low gas rates.
bubble caps columns can be operated with a wide
range of vapour and flow rates.

Bubble cap plates are now rarely used for

installation because of
 (1) their relatively high cost.

(2) High pressure drop.

 SIEVE PLATE
Very common plates in use in recent year are the
perforated plates because of their simplicity and of
low cost.
A sieve plate is perforated plate that employs
perforation for dispersing a gas into a liquid on the
plate.

It is metal sheet having hundreds of round

perforations init of the ranging between 3 to 12mm.

The total area of holes range from 5 to 15% of the

plate area.
 VALVE PLATE
It is the recent development in perforated plates. A
valve plate is nothing but a perforated metal sheet
wherein the perforations are covered with lift able caps.

The valves are metal discs up to

about 38 mm diameter and are
held in the plate by means of legs
which restrict the upward motion
of the caps.

The valve provides variable

orifices for gas flow.
 PACKED COLUMN
In industry, a packed column is a type of packed bed
used to perform separation process distillation.
A packed column is a pressure vessel that has a packed
section. The column can be filled with random dumped
packing or structured packing sections, which are arranged
or stacked.
In the column, liquids tend to wet the surface of the
packing and the vapors pass across this wetted surface,
where mass transfer takes place.
 Packing material can be used instead of trays to improve
separation in distillation columns.
Differently shaped packing materials have different
surface areas and void space between the packing. Both of
these factors affect packing performance.
Packing Objective
Objectives for maximizing
efficiency
 To spread surface area uniformly.
To promote uniform distribution of vapour & liquid
throughout the bed
To maximize the void space per unit column volume.
To minimize friction (good Aerodynamic
characteristics).
To ensure uniform resistance to vapour & liquid flow
throughout the bed.
Random packing
Random packing are simply dumped into the tower
during installation and allowed to fall at random.
Pall Rings
 Primarily made of
304SS and 316L SS
metal alloys for quick
replacement in kind
from stock materials. 
 Carbon Steel and
specialty alloys, such
as Monel 400 and
Hastelloy C276, made
are used for specific
applications
 Pall Rings are
available in various
sizes such as (mm) 16,
25, 38, and 50.
Raschig Ring
 made from metals
like carbon steel or
very high alloys such
as Monel 400 or
Hastelloy C276.
 Special Carbon or
Graphite made are
used in specific
applications
 Resistant to most
acids, alkalis and
solvents at
temperatures as high
as 1500 C 
 Good and thermal
shock resistance.
Saddle Rings
 In terms of performance,
i.e., low-pressure drop
and high efficiency.
 Large effective interfacial
area,
 High mechanical strength
 And lower cost due to
less metal than previous
generations of random
packing.
 Available in various sizes,
which give different
combinations of
efficiency and pressure
BETA RING™
High Performance Random
Packing
 High vapour capacity
and low pressure drop

 High efficiency

 High liquid handling

capacity

 Fouling resistant
CASCADE MINI-RINGS®
(CMRTM)
High Performance Random
Packing
 Open side facing
vapour flow, reduces
friction.

 High capacity and low

pressure drop

 High efficiency

 Fouling resistant
 HY-PAK
Random Packing
 More internal tongues
helps in spread in
surface area
 Higher capacity and
lower pressure drop
than Pall rings
 Higher efficiency
compared to Pall rings
for the same capacity.
 Higher mechanical
strength than Pall
rings
 FLEXIRING
Random Packing
 Good capacity and
low pressure drop

 Higher liquid hold-up

and residence time

 Versatile standard
packing
ULTRA Random Packing
 Lowest pressure drop
and highest capacity

 Highest distillation,
absorption, and
stripping efficiency

 High strength to weight

ratio
High Performance Random
Packing
 High void fraction
&well distributed
surface area.
 More open shape
improves liquid
spreading.
 Low pressure drop
and high capacity
 High specific heat
transfer coefficient.
 High strength to
weight ratio.
Structured Packing
Structured Packing are arranged into the tower
during installation.
 Sulzer Gauze Packing BX
and CY
 Employed in industry
since 40 years for
gentle distillation

 High separation
efficiency with low
pressure drop for low
liquid loads/vacuum
applications

 Available made of
wide pallet of
GOODLOE™
(structured wire gauze
packing)
 Multifilament of fine

diameter wire,
knitted together to
form tube type
structure.
 Available in metal,

plastic,alloyes with
teflon coating
 Hyperfil (Structured
Packing)
 Made of

multifilament of
fine diameter wire.
Rolling the knitted
wire structure in
parallel vertical
layer.
 Made of stainless
Montz
 Katapak™-SP

 Corrugated sheet
spreads in a series of
parallel planes.
 Packing for reactive
distillation and trickle-
bed reactors
 High separation
 Mellapak™
 Universal packing
type with surface area
of 250m2 /m3

 Suitable for a wide

range of applications
for low to very high
liquid loads/ vacuum
to gauge pressure.

 Available made of
wide pallet of
stainless steel, alloys