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UNIVERSITY OF PRETORIA
DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING

CMO310 MASS TRANSFER 310

TIME: 3 hours EXAM – JUNE 2019 BEng(Chem)III

TOTAL: {115}

External examiner: Mr Ryan Merckel

Internal examiner: Dr Xandra van Heerden

ANSWER ALL THE QUESTIONS

NO PROGRAMMABLE POCKET CALCULATORS MAY BE USED
PLEASE SHOW ALL YOUR STEPS AND CONSTRUCTIONS CLEARLY
QUESTION 1: Short questions (20)

1.1 McCabe Thiele (5)

If a column is operated to separate ethanol from water using direct steam injection
instead of a reboiler, show how the McCabe-Thiele analysis will change if superheated
steam is used instead of saturated steam using a graph, and provide a sufficient
explanation.

1.2 Packing and plates (2)

An engineer at your plant makes the statement: “packed columns are always more
efficient in terms of separation per volume than plate columns”. Discuss this statement
critically, explaining why you agree or disagree.

1.3 Batch and continuous (4)

Discuss possible reasons why batch distilling is generally favoured by the
pharmaceutical industry.

1.4 Rayleigh equation (9)

Derive the Rayleigh equation from first principles.
QUESTION 2: Binary continuous distillation (30)
A distillation column shown in figure 2 is used to separate acetone from ethanol. The
feed contains 40 % acetone on a mole basis and has a flow rate of 100 mol/h. The
saturated vapour feed is fed on the 3rd plate from the bottom of the column. The column
operates at 1 atmosphere and contains a total condenser and a partial reboiler with a
reflux ratio of 3 and a boil up ratio of 5/6. A liquid side stream of 66% acetone is
withdrawn from the column and is sent through an intermediate reboiler and sent back
to the column as a saturated vapour. The desired products: 89% acetone in the
distillate and 10% acetone in the bottoms.

Marks will be allocated for all the intermediate calculations and method, showing a
correct thought process.

Find the number of stages required for the desired separation, and find on which plate
the side stream S1 will be withdrawn, and on which plate the second feed stream S2
will be fed.

Figure 2: Distillation column setup for question 2

 1

0.9

0.8

0.7
y (mole fraction acetone)

0.6

0.5

0.4

0.3

0.2

0.1

0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
x (mole fraction acetone)

Figure 3: VLE data for acetone and ethanol at 1 atm

QUESTION 3: Fenske-Underwood-Gilliland shortcut methods (20)

We are separating a mixture of methane, ethane and propane in a distillation column

at 2000kPa and – 47°C. The column has a total condenser and partial reboiler. The
feed flow rate is 1000kmol/h. The feed is a saturated liquid. The feed is 20mol%
methane and 60mol% ethane. A 98% recovery of methane is desired in the distillate
and a 99.2% recovery of ethane is desired in the bottoms. Use the DePriester chart
and assume the relative volatilities are constant at values calculated at the
temperature of the feed and the pressure of the column.
a. Show that the equilibrium equation holds true for this system under these
conditions when using the equilibrium constants retrieved from the
DePriester chart. (5)
b. Determine the relative volatilities (2)
c. Determine Nmin (2)
d. Dermine (L/D)min (7)
e. Use L/D=1.2(L/D)min and estimate N (4)
f. Bonus: Determine the overall efficiency of the column (5)
QUESTION 4: Absorption and Stripping (20)

Solvent C absorbs component A from a gaseous mixture of A and B into solvent C

(figure 4). The inlet gas contains 0,6 moles A per mole B.

Figure 4: System of absorber and stripper used in question 4

The gas is purified until it contains 0,1 mol a per mol B.

The solvent used for the absorption is recovered in the stripping column and
contains 0,05 moles A per mole C. Pure nitrogen is used as stripping gas. After
absorption the solvent stream contains 0,35 moles A per mole C.
The total flow rate of the inlet gas stream is 100 mol/h. The equilibrium relationship
between A and C can be represented in mole ratios as Y = ½ X
while the equilibrium between nitrogen and component A is Y = 4/3 X.
1. State the assumptions required to do this analysis. (3)
2. How many theoretical stages are required for the absorption process? (4)
3. What is the flow rate of the solvent stream in moles C per hour? (3)
4. What is the minimum amount of nitrogen required to strip component A from the
solvent in mol Nitrogen /hr? What is the concentration of Nitrogen in the outlet gas
stream? (5)
5. During normal operation, 4 times the minimum amount of Nitrogen and 3 real
stages are used. What is the overall efficiency of the column? What will be the
concentration of component A in the outlet gas stream? (5)
QUESTION 5: Liquid-liquid extraction (25)
We will extract compound B from an aqueous solution using compound A in a
counter-current liquid-liquid extraction cascade at atmospheric conditions. The feed
contains 45% of the solute and the solvent is pure. Feed flow rate is 100kg/h. The
raffinate product must contain 10% of solute. The ternary phase diagram is given in
Figure 5 and Figure 6 below.
a. Calculate the minimum solvent required to achieve the desired separation.
(10)
b. Using the second (duplicate graph) find the number of equilibrium stages
needed with a solvent flowrate of 250 kg/h used. (11)
c. Describe the binary components in the system (A and B; A and C; B and C)
by stating whether they are partially miscible, miscible or immiscible?
(3)
d. If we have a mixture of 25 % A and 65 % B into which phase(s) will it
separate? (1)
Figure 5: Ternary phase diagram of compounds A, B and C at atmospheric conditions
Figure 6: Ternary phase diagram of compounds A, B and C at atmospheric conditions
CMO310 Formulae Sheet

Fenske
xA x ( Dx A / DxB ) dist
ln[( ) dist /( A ) R ] ln[ ]
xB xB ( Bx A / BxB ) R
N min = N min =
ln  AB ln  AB
( FR A ) dist ( FRB ) bot
ln[ ]
[1 − ( FR A ) dist ][1 − ( FRB ) bot ]  CB
N min
N min = ( FRC ) dist =
ln  AB ( FRB ) bot
+  CB
N min

1 − ( FRB ) bot
Underwood
c  i ( Dxi ,dist )  i ( Bxi ,bot ) c  i Fz i
V feed = Vmin − Vmin =  + =
i =1 i −   i− i =1  i − 
c  ( Dx c  ( Bx
Lmin i , dist ) i ,bot )
= Vmin =  i − Vmin =  i
Vmin K ref i =1 i −  i =1 i − 

xLK z
ln[( ) dist /( LK )]
xHK z HK N F ,min N
Gilliland N F ,min = = F
ln  LK − HK N min N
Kremser

 L 
N +1  mV  y N +1 − y1  mV 
*

1−   ln 1 −  * 
+ 
y N +1 − y1*
  y1 − y1  L 
=  
mV L
N=
y1 − y1 *
 L   L 
1−   ln 
 mV   mV 
y N +1 − y1 ( L / mV ) − ( L / mV ) N +1 y N +1 − y *N +1 L N
= =( )
y N +1 − y1* 1 − ( L / mV ) N +1 y1 − y1* mV
ln[( y N +1 − y *N +1 ) /( y1 − y1* )] ln[( y N +1 − y *N +1 ) /( y1 − y1* )]
N= N=
ln(L / mV ) ln[( y N +1 − y1 ) /( y *N +1 − y1* )]
L x0 − x *N L
ln[(1 − )( )+ ]
mV x N − x N
*
mV ln[( x N − x*N ) /( x0 − x0* )]
N= N=
ln(mV / L) ln(L / mV )
ln[( x N − x*N ) /( x0 − x0* )] x N − x*N 1 − (mV / L) x N − x*N L N
N= = =( )
ln[( x0* − x*N ) /( x0 − x N )] x0 − x N 1 − (mV / L) N +1
*
x0 − x0*
mV

H
y= x Henry’s law yi = Kixi Equilibrium equation
Ptot

Raleigh

W 
x
F
dxW
ln  final  = − 
 F  x − xW
xW , final D