Depropanizer Design PDF
Depropanizer Design PDF
Depropanizer Design PDF
College of Engineering
Design Project
Spring 2015
Submitted by:
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Abstract
The main objective of this design assignment is to decide a process for separating a mixture
of Ethane, Propane, n-Butane and n-Pentane. We were asked to design a depropanizer based
on the specifications provided. The light key and heavy key components for this mixture are
Propane and n-Butane, respectively. The system must not have more than 3.5 mol/s flow of
heavy key in distillate product and light key in bottoms product. Another constraint was that
the trays should operate at 70% flooding. Our hand calculations found that in order to
separate this mixture we need a distillation column with 32 trays with the 16th stage being the
optimum feed stage and 24 inch tray spacing. Using HYSYS we found that the diameter of
the column from the top section and the bottom section are 9.5 ft and 12.5 ft, respectively. As
for the height of the column, we found from HYSYS that it is 64 ft.
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Table of Contents
Abstract II
List of Figures IV
1. Introduction 1
4. References 15
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List of Figures
Figure 1: The Process of Distillation [2] 2
Figure 4: Results 7
Material Streams 8
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IV
1. Introduction
needed purity based on the difference in boiling point of each component [1]. Distillation is a
common practice of separation both in the laboratories and industries. Examples of industries
that involve the use of distillation columns are oil-gas, water treatment and pharmaceutical
condenser, re-boiler, reflux drum and numerous trays [2]. The detailed fractionating column
can be seen on figure 1. During the process of separation the feed enters the column and it
gets heated. As the feed turns into a vapor, it moves upward through sets of trays with
openings in them (sieve, bubble caps or valves). Once the vapor reaches the part of the
column where the temperature is equal to its boiling point, it will turn into a liquid and get
collected. The substance with the lowest boiling point will be collected at the top of the
column [2]. The condenser is responsible for cooling down the liquid and sending it either to
a receiver where the distillate gets collected or back inside the column for further
purification. The re-boiler is responsible for collecting the liquids at the bottom of the column
and separating them into the bottoms and the part that is sent back into the column to be
reheated [3]. The column consists of three sections: feed, enriching and stripping.
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There are two common types of fractionating columns: batch and continuous. In the batch
column, a certain amount of feed is inserted into the column and it keeps circulating it until
the distillate can be collected. However, for the continuous fractionating column, feed is
characterized primarily by the type of its feed; additionally, variables such as extra side
streams and amount of product streams play an important role in identifying the continuous
column [4]. Feed stream can have two or more components. Consecutively, this will
determine the number of product streams that will come out of the column. Furthermore, if a
side stream is at the top of the column, the process is known as azeotropic distillation; if the
stream is at the bottom then it is an extractive distillation [4]. Finally, a column can be known
as tray or packed. A column is called packed if it has a packing material that improves the
A depropanizer is a special distillation column that is widely used in oil refineries and gas
industries in order to isolate propane from a mixture of substances containing butane and
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other heavy organic components [5]. Sieve tray is the most basic form of trays consisting of a
metal plate with holes drilled in it. Vapor simply passes through the liquid that is deposited
on the plate. They are inexpensive to manufacture, have high operation range and are good at
In the following design problem, the task is to design a sieve-tray depropanizer column that
continuous distillation problem. All components are part of the alkane organic family. Ethane
has a molecular formula C2H6 it has single intermolecular covalent bonds and its boiling
point is(-15°C). Propane has a molecular formula of C3H8 it has single intermolecular
covalent bonds and its boiling point is (-38 °C). N-Butane has a molecular formula of C4H10
it has single intermolecular covalent bonds and its boiling point is (2 °C). N-Pentane has a
molecular formula of C5H12 it has single intermolecular covalent bonds and its boiling point
is (°C). All boiling points are given at 15 atm. The components with the highest volatility
(lowest boiling point) will be collected at the top of the column and those with higher boiling
points will be at the bottom. Based on the desired amounts of bottoms (3.5 mol /s of propane)
and distillate (3.5 mol/s of n-butane), it can be concluded that propane is the light key and n-
butane is the heavy key. Assuming non-distillation of non-keys, it can be inferred that ethane
is the light non key, which will be at the top of the column, and n-pentane is the heavy non
•In this process, total condenser and total reboiler were used. The feed of 1000 mol/s had 100
mol/s of ethane, 300 mol/s of propane, 500 mol/s of n-butane and 100 mol/s of n-pentane.
The given temperature of the column was 298 K and the given pressure was 15 atm. The
trays have to be operating at 70% of flooding. Flooding happens at high vapor flow rates
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when the excessive entrainment of liquid overflows the downcomers ( border on the side of
In the following design problem, the objective is to determine the optimum feed plate, total
number of equilibrium stages and the number of real stages, column height and diameter and
the cost of separation system. First, there is a need to determine the constants of volatility for
each substance while taking the heavy key as the reference. The use of the De Prestier Chart
is necessary for this. Then the Fenske and Underwood equations are used to calculate the
number of stages. Next, the use of thermodynamic properties and Lee Kesler correlation is
essential to determine the real gas constant (Z) that is needed to find density, average
molecular weight of vapor and liquid and saturated volume of the components. Following
that the surface tension and viscosity will be determined with the help of Perry’s Chemical
Engineering handbook in order to be able to calculate the diameter for to and bottom and the
height of the column. Following that the Hysys simulation would have to be conducted using
both the normal and the shortcut distillation columns. Finally, the cost of the separation
system will be determined using the tools provided in the separation textbook and of Perry’s
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1.3 Design Specifications:
• 70% of flooding
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2. HYSYS Simulation (Wilson Fluid Package)
In order to do the HYSYS simulation for this separation process, we need to start up by using
the “Short Cut Column” which is a column that only requires feed specifications (Flow rate,
compositions, pressure and temperature), reflux ratio, pressure at condenser and reboiler and
the compositions of the light and heavy key in the bottoms and distillate, respectively. From
this column, we get the minimum number of stages (Nmin) and the theoretical number of
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The results obtained for condenser and reboiler temperatures and the number of stages of the
Figure 4: Results
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The following are the PFD & workbook tables for the column:
Figure 5: Workbook Tables of Compositions, Energy Streams, Specifications & Material Streams
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2.2 Rigorous Distillation
Now that we have obtained the flow rates of the bottoms and distillate products,
the number of stages and the optimum feed stage, we plug these values into the
size the column so that we can be able to perform the cost analysis on it. Since
the Short Cut Method only gives us the theoretical number of stages, we divide
that number by the efficiency in order to get the actual number of stages N =
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The PFD of this column is as follows:
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2.2.1 Column Sizing (Assuming 24’’ spacing)
We start by going to the “Tray Sizing” tool and we fill in the specifications required in order
to obtain the diameters (Top & bottom) and height of our column.
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After clicking the “Complete AutoSection” button, we obtain the following results:
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The following plots give us the temperature and flow profile of the column:
Temperature:
Flow:
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3. Discussion and Conclusion
After completing our hand calculations and simulating the separation process on HYSYS, we
found that in order to separate this mixture, we need a column of 9.5 ft. diameter at the top and 12.5
ft. diameter at the bottom. However, our hand calculations show that we need a top section diameter
of 10.4 ft. and a bottom section diameter of 14.325 ft. Although the diameter results are different, but
they are close to each other, so any difference in the results can be caused by some mistakes in
calculations or rounding off numbers. Both our HYSYS simulation and hand calculations showed that
we need a column with 32 actual stages. The diameter doesn’t differ with the number of stages, but
the height of the column is obviously affected by that. Another difference between the HYSYS
simulation and our hand calculation results would be the difference in the temperature of the distillate
leaving the condenser as our calculations showed that the distillate would leave at a temperature of
32⁰C and the HYSYS simulation showed that it would leave at around 23⁰C. After entering the
number of stages we found using our hand calculations (32 real stages with the 16th stage as the feed
stage) in HYSYS, we found that in order to separate this mixture, we will need a 64 ft. column with
24 inch tray spacing. Our hand calculations showed that at this number of stages the height of the
column would be approximately 72 ft. which gives us a 11% difference in the height of the column
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4. References
[5] Perry, R. H., Green, D. W., & Maloney, J. O. (1997). Perry's chemical engineers'
handbook. New York: McGraw-Hill.
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