Question

A liquid mixture contains 50 wt% ethanol (E), '10 wt% of a dissolved solute (S) and the balance is water (W). A stream of this mixture F, is fed to a continuous distillation column operating at a steady state. Two streams emerge from the column as the top product, P and the bottom waste Q, respectively. The column design class for the product streams is to have equal mass flow rate, and for the top product stream, P is to contain 90 wt% ethanol and no S, a. By using an appropriate flowchart of the process and performing degree of freedom analysis, calculate the individual mass fractions of the bottom stream, Q. assume the feed, F, flow rate of 1000 kg/h. [9 marks] b. Subsequently, check your calculations by forming the input and output table. [4 marks] c. Determine the efficiency of the distillation column with respect to the ethanol recovery in the top product, P.

Answer 1