Multi-Component Distillation Essay

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CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION 1.0 BACKGROUND OF STUDY Distillation is the oldest separation process and the most widely used unit operation in industry. It involves the separation of a mixture based on the difference in the boiling point (or volatility) of its components. The reason for the wide acceptance of distillation is that, from both kinetic and thermodynamic points of view, distillation offers advantages over other existing processes for the separation of fluid mixtures: Distillation has the potential for high mass transfer rates because, in general, in distillation there are no inert materials or solids present. Also, the thermodynamic efficiency for distillation is higher than the efficiency of most other available processes in the chemical industry. [1] Distillation is a method of separating the components of a solution which depends upon the distribution of the substances between a gas and a liquid phase, applied to all cases where all components are in both phases. Instead of introducing a new substance into the mixture to provide a second phase such as in gas absorption and extraction, the new phase is created from the original mixture by vaporization or condensation. [2] Distillation is the most commonly used method for the separation of homogeneous fluid mixtures. Separation exploits differences in boiling point, or volatility, between the components in the mixture. Repeated vaporization and condensation of the mixture allows virtually complete separation of most homogeneous fluid mixtures. The vaporization requires the input of energy. This is the principal disadvantage of distillation: its high energy usage. [1] In practice, distillation is carried out by two principal methods. The first method is based on the production of a vapour by boiling the liquid mixture to be separated and condensing the vapours without allowing any liquid to return to the

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