(Solved): Q3. A distillation column is to be designed to separate methanol and water continuously. The feed o ...

Q3. A distillation column is to be designed to separate methanol and water continuously. The feed of 100 kmol contains 40 kmol/h of methanol and 60 kmol/h of water. The thermal condition of the feed is saturated liquid. The column pressure will be 101.3 kPa (1 atm), for which the equilibrium data are shown in the following figure. Its proposed to withdraw 20% of the feed as a side stream as saturated liquid with a mole fraction of 0.6 alcohol. The distillate composition (methanol) is XD= 0.96 and the water composition in the bottoms is 96 mol %. The reflux ratio Rp 2.2. Find: a) The number of equilibrium stages required in the column. (3 pts) b) The position of feed plate? (1 pts) c) Liquid and vapor flow rates in the stripping section. (3 pts) d) Minimum reflux ratio RDmin. (2 pts) 1 0.9 0.8 0.7 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 Mole fraction of methanol in vapor 0 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 X Mole fraction of methanol in liquid 0.8 0.9 1