Chemical Engineering 130 — Separation Processes

Homework #2 Solutions.
Question 1 — Flash calculations of binary mixtures. (Problem 4.17)
Part a) From the definition of Ki and the total of xi and yi, the following four relations can
be written. You need to solve for xi and yi in terms of Ki for i = 1, 2.
y1 y2
K1 = , K2 = , x1 + x 2 = 1, y1 + y 2 = 1
x1 x2

Rearrange the above equations and after some algebra, you will get
1− K2 K1 − 1
x1 = , x2 =
K1 − K 2 K1 − K 2
K 1 (1 − K 2 ) K 2 (K 1 − 1)
y1 = , y2 =
K1 − K 2 K1 − K 2

Part b) From the mass balance equation

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z i (1 − K i ) z1 (1 − K 1 ) z (1 − K 2 )
∑ 1 + ψ (K =0 ⇒ + 2 =0
i =1 i − 1) 1 + ψ (K 1 − 1) 1 + ψ (K 2 − 1)

Some algebra and rearrangements:

z1 (1 − K 1 ) z (1 − K 2 )
=− 2
1 + ψ (K 1 − 1) 1 + ψ (K 2 − 1)
z1 (K 1 − 1)[1 + ψ (K 2 − 1)]= − z 2 (K 2 − 1)[1 + ψ (K 1 − 1)]
z1 (K 1 − 1)+ z1 (K 1 − 1)ψ (K 2 − 1) = − z 2 (K 2 − 1)− z 2 (K 2 − 1)ψ (K 1 − 1)
ψ (K 1 − 1)(K 2 − 1)(z1 + z 2 ) = − z 2 (K 2 − 1)− z1 (K 1 − 1)
− z 2 (K 2 − 1)− z1 (K 1 − 1) − (1 − z1 )(K 2 − 1)− z1 (K 1 − 1)
ψ = =
(K1 − 1)(K 2 − 1) (K1 − 1)(K 2 − 1)
z (1 − K 1 + K 2 − 1) (K 2 − 1) = z1 (K 2 − K1 ) − 1
ψ = 1 −
(K1 − 1)(K 2 − 1) (K 1 − 1)(K 2 − 1) (K1 − 1)(K 2 − 1) (K1 − 1)
Question 2 — Rachford-Rice procedure. (Problem 4.21 slightly modified)
Part a) Using a spreadsheet, the Rachford-Rice function can be generated easily. Here
are the numbers and the graph I have.
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z i (1 − K i )
f (ψ ) = ∑
i =1 1 + ψ (K i − 1)

Table 1: Tables of Rachford-Rice function with different ψ.

ψ F1 F2 F3 F4 F5 F6 F7 F(ψ)
0.0000 -0.1201 -0.5548 -0.1358 -0.2636 0.0053 0.0370 0.2269 -0.8052
0.1000 -0.0477 -0.3907 -0.1171 -0.2401 0.0053 0.0381 0.2445 -0.5077
0.2000 -0.0297 -0.3015 -0.1029 -0.2204 0.0054 0.0392 0.2650 -0.3450
0.3000 -0.0216 -0.2455 -0.0918 -0.2037 0.0054 0.0404 0.2894 -0.2274
0.4000 -0.0170 -0.2070 -0.0828 -0.1894 0.0055 0.0417 0.3186 -0.1304
0.5000 -0.0140 -0.1790 -0.0755 -0.1769 0.0056 0.0430 0.3545 -0.0423
0.6000 -0.0119 -0.1576 -0.0693 -0.1660 0.0056 0.0445 0.3994 0.0447
0.7000 -0.0103 -0.1408 -0.0641 -0.1564 0.0057 0.0460 0.4574 0.1375
0.8000 -0.0091 -0.1273 -0.0596 -0.1478 0.0057 0.0477 0.5351 0.2447
0.9000 -0.0082 -0.1161 -0.0557 -0.1401 0.0058 0.0494 0.6445 0.3797
1.0000 -0.0074 -0.1067 -0.0522 -0.1331 0.0058 0.0514 0.8103 0.5680

Rachford-Rice function

0.6
Rachford-Rice function f(psi)

0.4

0.2

-0.2

-0.4

-0.6

-0.8

-1
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1

Vapor fraction psi=V/F

ψ) versus ψ.
Figure 1: Plot of Rachford-Rice function F(ψ
Using Newton s method with initial guess ψ(1) = 0.5, the solution converges very quickly
in three steps. From the table, the vapor fraction is ψ = 0.5489.

ψ ( n +1)
=ψ (n)
−
( )
F ψ (n)
( )= ∑
F ’ψ (n)
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zi (1 − K i )
2

( )
F ’ψ (n)
,
i =1 [1 + ψ ( n)
(K i − 1)]2

Table 2: Solving the Rachford-Rice function by Newton s method.

(n) (n+1)
ψ F(ψ) F’(ψ) ψ
0.5 -0.0422822 0.8639332 0.548942
0.54894156 -1.41E-07 0.86660892 0.548942
0.54894172 2.9976E-15 0.86660896 0.548942
0.54894172 0 0.86660896 0.548942
0.54894172 0 0.86660896 0.548942

The composition of liquid and vapor can be calculated by the formulae given in class.
zi K i zi
xi = , yi =
ψK i + 1 − ψ ψK i + 1 − ψ
Plug in numbers including ψ = 0.5489, the following table is obtained.

Table 3: Vapor and liquid composition of the seven-component flash mixture.

Component zi Ki ψ xi yi
1 0.0079 16.2 0.548942 0.0008 0.0137
2 0.1321 5.2 0.548942 0.0400 0.2078
3 0.0849 2.6 0.548942 0.0452 0.1175
4 0.269 1.98 0.548942 0.1749 0.3463
5 0.0589 0.91 0.548942 0.0620 0.0564
6 0.1321 0.72 0.548942 0.1561 0.1124
7 0.3151 0.28 0.548942 0.5210 0.1459
Question 3 - Bubble point and dew point calculations.
Bubble point calculation.
Let s take iso-pentane to be component 1, n-heptane to be 2 and n-nonane to be 3.
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To determine the bubble point, you need to solve the equation ∑z K
i =1
i i = 0 . Some

K-values are going to be greater than 1 while the others will be smaller than one.
A initial bubble point guess that make sense would be some temperature that results in
some Ki > 0 while the other Ki < 0. Here I first try Tb = 100 °C.
Reading the DePriester chart, draw a line joining P = 101.3 kPa and T = 100°C.
K 1(1) = 6.75, K 2(1) = 1.10, K 3(1) = 0.19
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∑z K
i =1
i i
(1)
= 6.75 × 0.25 + 1.10 × 0.25 + 0.19 × 0.50 = 2.058

Pick the dominant component, which is n-nonane or component 3, normalize to get new
K-value for the component.
K 3(1) 0.19
K 3( 2) = C
= = 0.092
2.058
∑z K
i =1
i i
(1)

Construct a line from P = 101.3 kPa to the new K-value for component 3, repeat the
procedure and I have the following table.

Table 4: Finding the bubble point for the hydrocarbon mixture

Trial K1 K2 K3 Sum
1 6.75 1.1 0.190 2.058
2 4.5 0.63 0.092 1.329
3 3.8 0.48 0.070 1.105
4 3.6 0.45 0.063 1.044
5 3.55 0.44 0.060 1.028

A satisfactory convergence is obtained at trial 5. Of course you can achieve better

accuracy by doing more steps, but that will make your eyes very tired.
Read off the chart for the bubble point, which I found T = 70.5 °C.
Dew point calculation.
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zi
Now you have to solve ∑K
i =1
= 0 . Again, some K-values are going to be greater than 1
i

while the others will be smaller than one. I guess Td = 100 °C this time, in order to read
the chart one time less J.
K 1(1) = 6.75, K 2(1) = 1.10, K 3(1) = 0.19
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zi 0.25 0.25 0.5
∑K
i =1
= + +
6.75 1.10 0.19
= 2.896
i

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zi
Scale the K-value of component 3, I have K ( 2)
3 =K (1)
3 ∑K
i =1
= 0.19 × 2.896 = 0.550
i

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zi
K 1( 2) = 11.5, K 2( 2) = 2.4, K 3( 2) = 0.55 , ∑K
i =1
= 1.034
i

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zi
Scale the K-value of component 3, I have K 3(3) = K 3(1) ∑ = 0.55 × 1.03 = 0.57
i =1 Ki
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zi
K 1(3) = 11.7, K 2(3) = 2.5, K 3(3) = 0.57 , ∑K
i =1
= 0.997
i

Satisfactory convergence achieved. Read off dew point temperature Td = 134.0 °C.