2.

0 Introduction

Separation process occurs regularly in everyday life, sometime without anyone

noticing. There are many examples of separation techniques, for example,
adsorption, absorption, evaporation, extraction, decantation, crystallization,
drying and many other examples. These extraction involves either liquid-vapor,
liquid-liquid or even solid-liquid separation. Separation process is done to
converts a mixture of substances into two or more distinct product mixtures.
Take crystallization of aspirin for example, this process is done to separate water
from the mixture to produce a solid crystal of aspirin.

Distillation is a technique used to separate component from solution by applying

the theory of different boiling point. The lower boiling point component will be
in higher concentration in the distillate product while the higher boiling point
component will be in higher concentration in the bottom product. The process
basically involves the introduction of liquid mixture as the feed into the feed tray
of the distillation column situated somewhere in the middle. The feed tray
separates the distillation column into top part, which is the enriching section, or
also known as the rectification section and the bottom part is the stripping
section. Feed introduced flows down to the reboiler and in the reboiler the feed
will be heater and the more volatile component will vaporized and re-enter the
distillation column. The less volatile component will flow to the unit at the
bottom of the reboiler and stored as the bottom product or reboiler product.
Meanwhile, the vaporized component travel up the column and reach the
condenser where it will then be condensed and stored in reflux drum as
distillate. This distillate is richer in lower boiling point component. The process
of condensed component that flows back to the top part of the distillation
column is known as reflux. To carry out the experiment, the system has to be
kept in a steady state, which means that the quantity of feed input rate, output
rate, temperature, pressure, reflux ratio, heating and cooling rates and
compositions at every single point are constant.

Figure 1.1: Basic Operation of Distillation Process

Bubble-cap tray is a device or packing that is placed in a rectifying section that
concentrates the alcohol. Vapor from the still pot rises into the column and
enters a pipe on the bottom of the tray. The cap forces the vapor into the liquid
sitting on top of the tray. Some of the vapor condenses overflows the weir on the
tray and falls down the column. Some of the alcohol in the liquid vaporizes
creating a higher concentration of alcohol and rises further in the column where
the process is repeated at the net bubble cap tray. The caps have slots to break
up and reduce bubble size.

Figure 1.2: Bubble-cap Trays in Distillation Column

Some theoretical background is needed for this experiment, that is, the overall
tray efficiency and the Rayleigh equation

Overall Tray Efficiency is given as

𝑁𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑎𝑙 𝑇𝑟𝑎𝑦𝑠

𝐸0 =
𝑁𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝐴𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑎𝑙 𝑇𝑟𝑎𝑦𝑠

Rayleigh Equation is given as

𝑥1
𝐿1 1
ln ( ) = ∫ 𝑑𝑥
𝐿2 𝑥2 𝑦 − 𝑥

Where,

L1 = initial number of mole of liquid in the still

L2 = final number of mole of liquid in the still
x1 = initial liquid composition in still
x2 = final liquid composition in still