The vapor-liquid equilibrium data for heptane – ethylbenzene at 1 atm pressure is given below:

The vapor-liquid equilibrium data for heptane – ethylbenzene at 1 atm pressure is given below:

x	0	0.10	0.20	0.40	0.50	0.60	0.70	0.90	1
y	0	0.25	0.45	0.65	0.74	0.82	0.86	0.96	1

A feed mixture containing 40 mol% heptane and 60 mol% ethylbenzene is to be fractionated at 1 atm pressure to produce a distillate containing 95 mol% heptane and a bottom product stream containing 96 mol% ethylbenzene.

Determine the minimum reflux ratio if the feed is a saturated liquid.

Determine the minimum reflux ratio if the feed is a saturated vapor.

Determine the minimum reflux ratio if the feed is an equilibrium mixture of liquid and vapor, with 20% vapor.

Determine the minimum number of theoretical plates using McCabe-Thiele graphical method.

Determine the minimum number of theoretical plates using Fenske equation.

For a saturated liquid feed and a reflux ratio that is 2.25 times the minimum, determine:

-The number of theoretical stages, using McCabe-Thiele graphical method.

-The optimum feed stage location.

-The actual number of stages if the average column efficiency is 58%.

-The top product and bottom product rates if the feed rate is 100 kmol/s.

-The condenser duty.

-The reboiler duty.

	Latent heat, kJ/kmol	Heat capacity, kJ/kmol-K
Heptane	35,000	220
Ethylbenzene	40,000	183

 

Feed temperature	30C
Condenser temperature	95C
Reboiler temperature	99C