1. Consider a distillation column for separating of ethanol from water at 1 atm. The feed is a
10 mol% ethanol bubble-point liquid, the bottoms contains 1 mol% ethanol, and the distillate
is 80 mol% ethanol. R=Rmin x 1.5. Constant molar overflow applies.
(a) How many theoretical plates are required above and below the feed if a plate column is
used?
(b) How many transfer units are required above and below the feed if a packed column is
used?
(c) Assuming the plate efficiency is 80% and the plate spacing is 18 inches, what is the height
of the plated section of the column?
(d) Using an HOG value of 1.2 ft, what is the packed height of the column?
Phase-equilibrium data is as below
x y
0 0
0.019 0.17
0.0721 0.3891
0.0966 0.4375
0.1238 0.4704
0.1661 0.5089
0.2337 0.5445
0.2608 0.558
0.3273 0.5826
0.3965 0.6122
0.5079 0.6564
0.5198 0.6599
0.5732 0.6841
0.6763 0.7385
0.7472 0.7815
0.8943 0.8943
