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Abstract
I. Introduction/Motivation: The objective of this experiment was to characterize the behavior of a distillation column running in continuous mode. Two types of liquids were separated: 2-propanol and methanol (at 25 mol% and 75 mol% respectively). The motivation of this investigation was to achieve 85% of methanol recovery from the distillate.
II. Methodology: The distillation column was analyzed theoretically using McCabe Thiele to establish the number of stages required for separation. The vapor-liquid equilibrium (VLE) data for methanol and 2-propanol was used to plot curves of methanol-vapor fraction versus methanol-liquid fraction, and methanol liquid-vapor fraction versus temperature.
III. Results: From the results, the average efficiency was 0.4308, 0.3778, and 0.4956 at 0.57kW supplied (30.58 mL/min Feed; 26.30 mL/min Boil Up), 0.94kW (30.58 mL/min Feed; 52.96 mL/min Boil Up), and 1.27kW (30.58 mL/min Feed; 77.50 mL/min Boil Up) respectively. From the experiment, it was observed that the quality
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Design: Typically, the column design comprised placement valves for top-to-bottom sampling, and 14 thermocouple sensors. The concentration of methanol in solution was calibrated from theoretical refractivity as MeOH = -20.525 × 1.32888 + 28.226 (mol. /L). The power supplied was varied to determine the efficiency of spring-batch distillation at different power settings. In this setup, it was assumed that ChemCad sizing estimations are accurate and that the column would operate 24 hours/day for 366days.
V. Conclusion: Overall, this experiment has showcased a novel approach of transforming a waste stream into profits. With the proposed design, up to 85% of methanol can be recovered from the distillate (waste stream) and sold for commercial applications such as production of biodiesel, as a denaturant for ethanol, and in solvent extraction (Wankat et al. 93). The findings are commensurate with the motivations of this