International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research, Volume 6, Issue 3, March-2015 619

ISSN 2229-5518

Modeling and Simulation of a Distillation

Column using ASPEN PLUS for separating
methanol/water mixture
Sohail Rasool Lone & Mushtaq Ahmad Rather

Abstract---Industries are always posed with the problem of separating methanol from water. Distillation is regarded as one of the
best processes by which this goal can be achieved. Present study was carried out on these lines to obtain 99.5% composition of
methanol in distillate and 99.5 % of water in the bottom product by utilizing ASPEN PLUS simulation software. MESH equations,
which actually represent the behaviour of the distillation column, have been solved through ASPEN PLUS in order to study the effect
of different parameters. Optimum feed stage location, number of stages and reflux ratio was also established. The optimum
conditions found out by our analysis to determine No. of stages (N), feed stage (N f ) and optimum reflux ratio (R r ) were 21, 16
and1.5 respectively. The paper as such best describes the modeling and simulation of a distillation column using ASPEN PLUS to
obtain 99.5% composition of methanol in distillate from 1:1 methanol/water mixture. This analysis will thus prove beneficial for
designers in industry who deal with separation of methanol for methanol/water mixture.

Index Terms: Distillation, Modeling, Simulation, Steady-state

————————— ——————————

IJSER
1. INTRODUCTION

Distillation is a process that separates two or rectification is derived from the Latin word
more components in a mixture into an overhead rectefacere, meaning to improve. Distillation is
distillate and a bottoms product. The bottoms the most widely used separation process in
product is almost exclusively liquid, while the industry. The separation process requires
distillate may be a liquid or vapor or both. The formation of a second phase by application of
word distillation is derived from the Latin word heat energy so that both vapor and liquid
destillare, which means dripping or trickling phases can contact each other on each stage
down. According to Forbes, the art of distillation within a separation column. The components
dates back to at least the first century A.D. By have different volatilities so that they partition
the eleventh century, distillation was being used between the two phases to different extents, and
in Italy to produce alcoholic beverages. At that two phases can be separated by gravity or other
time, distillation was probably a batch process mechanical means. Distillation differs from
based on the use of just a single stage, the boiler. absorption and stripping in that the second fluid
By sixteenth century, it was known that the phase is usually created by thermal means
extent of separation could be improved by rather than by the introduction of a second
providing multiple vapor-liquid contacts phase that may contain an additional
(stages) in a so called Rectifactorium. The term component or components not present in the
feed mixture. (Seader & Henley, 2001). Modern
———————————————— distillation derives its ability to produce almost
• Mushtaq Ahmad Rather, Assistant Professor, Chemical pure products from the use of multi-stage
Engineering Department, National Institute of Technology
Srinagar, Hazratbal, Kashmir, India, email:
contacting. Throughout the twentieth century,
marather_nit@yahoo.co.in multistage distillation was by far the most
• Sohail Rasool Lone, is presently pursuing PhD. in Chemical
Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee (IITR),
widely used industrial method for separating
Roorkee, Uttarakhand-India email: lonesohail92@gmail.com & liquid mixtures of chemical components.
slone.dch2014@iitr.ac.in
Distillation becomes energy-intensive separation

IJSER © 2015
http://www.ijser.org
International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research, Volume 6, Issue 3, March-2015 620
ISSN 2229-5518

technique when the relatively volatility, α, of the 3.1 MASS BALANCE

components being separated is low (1.50).
The model equations for a general ‘jth’ stage
2. VARIOUS ASSUMPTIONS IN and ‘ith’ component are represented as:
DISTILLATION MODEL
 Each stage is a perfectly mixed stage, i.e.
liquid composition at each stage is L j −1 x j −1,i + V j +1 y j +1,i + Fj Z j ,i − (V j + S vj ) y j ,i − ( L j + s lj ) x j ,i =
0
homogenous and equal to the (1)
composition of liquid leaving the stage.
 The vapor and liquid leaving any stage In terms of the flow rates of the components,
are in physical equilibrium. above equation can be written as:
 Entrainment of liquid drops in vapor
l j −1,i + v j +1,i + f j ,i − v j ,i − s lj ,i − l j ,i − S vj ,i =
0 (2)
and occlusion of vapor bubbles in liquid
are negligible.
where
 The energy balance is based on
conservation of enthalpy instead of li , j = L j xi , j (3)
internal energy.

IJSER
3. STEADY-STATE MODEL OF A vi , j = V j yi , j (4)
DISTILLATION COLUMN
C
A rigorous steady-state column model was V j = ∑ vi , j (5)
developed using MESH equations, which i =1

actually represent the behaviour of the column.

C
The model consists of mass balance, equilibrium L j = ∑ li , j (6)
relation, summation equations and energy i =1

balance, which are collectively known as MESH

Uj
equations. sj = (7)
Lj

Wj
Sj = (8)
Vj

Now substituting the equations (3) to (8) in

equation (2), we get:

l j ,i (1 + s j ) + v j ,i (1 + S j ) − l j −1,i − v j +1,i − f j ,i =
0 (9)

3.2 EQUILIBRIUM RELATIONSHIP

Since the compositions of the streams leaving a

stage are in equilibrium, therefore the mole
Fig. 1 shows the schematic of a separation
fractions of the component ‘i’ in the liquid and
stage.
vapor streams leaving stage ‘j’ are related by the
IJSER © 2015
http://www.ijser.org
International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research, Volume 6, Issue 3, March-2015 621
ISSN 2229-5518

equilibrium relation shown in the equation new enthalpy equation in terms of l j ,i and v j ,i
given below:
as under:

y j ,i = K j ,i x j ,i (10) C C
hL j (1 + s j )∑ l j ,i + hV j (1 + S j )∑ v j ,i −
=i 1 =i 1
Substituting equations (3) to (6) in equation (10),
C C
we get: hL j−1 ∑ l j −1,i − hV j+1 ∑ v j +1,i (17)
=i 1 =i 1
C C
K j ,i l j ,i (∑ vk , j / ∑ lk , j ) − v j ,i =
C
0 (11) −hFj ∑ f j ,i − Q j =
0
=k 1=k 1 i =1

3.3 SUMMATION EQUATIONS Two additional equations, which are known as

the replacement equations have been used for
Two additional equations arise from the
the stage 1 (Condenser) and stage N (Reboiler)
necessity that the mole fractions of all the
respectively, which are given here as under:
components, either in vapor or liquid phase
must sum to unity. C C

∑ l1,i − (L/ D)∑ v1,i =

0 (18)

IJSER
C =i 1 =i 1
∑x
i =1
j ,i =1 (12)
C

C
∑l
i =1
N ,i −B=
0 (19)

∑y
i =1
i, j =1 (13)
4. SIMULATION
In terms of flow rate of the components, above Aspen Plus was used for the simulation of the
equations can be written as: distillation column for the separation of water-
methanol mixture in this work. In the Aspen
C

∑l j ,i = Lj (14) Plus, there is an inbuilt model known as

i =1 RADFRAC, which is meant for the simulation of
the distillation columns. Water-methanol
C

∑v
i =1
j ,i = Vj (15) mixture with 0.5 mole
component was considered to get the maximum
fraction of each

recovery (99.5%) of Methanol at top. The

3.4 ENERGY BALANCE number of stages and the feed location was
changed to suit our purpose. Among a number
The total energy balance for ‘jth’ stage is given
of thermodynamic property models available in
by:
Aspen Plus, which can be used for the
L j −1hL j−1 + V j +1hV j+1 + Fj hFj estimation of various thermodynamic
(16) properties, NRTL property model was used in
−( LJ + U j )hL j − (V j + W j )hV j − Q j =
0
this work. The results that were obtained upon
the simulation of the model are presented in the
Now using the equations (3) to (9) in the
form of graphs.
enthalpy balance equation (16), we arrive at a
IJSER © 2015
http://www.ijser.org
International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research, Volume 6, Issue 3, March-2015 622
ISSN 2229-5518

5. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION vapor and liquid concentrations vary with

temperature as shown in Figure 2. Using this
Simulation calculations for the distillation
property of water/methanol mixture, it is
column have been made in order to study its
possible to produce high purity methanol.
behaviour when the number of stages and the
Figure 3 shows the variation of methanol and
feed stage location of the distillation column are
water composition profile in the column for
changed. By running the simulations for the
(N=10, Rr=1.5 and N f =5). It can be observed from
distillation, the optimum feed location and the
the figure that the purity of the product is 94.2 %
number of stages so as to maximize the
in both the product streams, which is not quite
composition of methanol (99.5 % in distillate
up to requirement of 99.5%, which was basically
and 99.5% water in bottom product) was
the main aim of this work and hence in the
established. In order to separate the
simulation we kept on changing the number of
water/methanol mixture, the vapor liquid
stages and the feed stage location in order to
equilibrium of the water/methanol mixture
determine the optimum feed stage location and
equilibrium data was generated using Aspen
the number of stages to achieve the desired
Plus simulator, which suggested that distillation
purity of the products.
is possible for a methanol/water mixture. The

110

105

100

95
IJSER
Temperature(ºC)

90

85

80

75

70

65

60
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
Vapour or liquid mole fraction

Fig. 2. T-x-y diagram for methanol/water system

IJSER © 2015
http://www.ijser.org
International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research, Volume 6, Issue 3, March-2015 623
ISSN 2229-5518

12

10

Methanol
8
Stage No.

Water
6

0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1

IJSER
Liquid Mole frcaction

Fig.3. Liquid Composition profile of methanol/water

14

12 Water

Methanol
10

8
Stage No.

0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
Liquid mole fraction

Fig.4. Liquid Composition profile of methanol/water

IJSER © 2015
http://www.ijser.org
International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research, Volume 6, Issue 3, March-2015 624
ISSN 2229-5518

14

12 Methanol

10 Water
Stage No.

0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
Liquid composition profile of methanol/water

IJSER
Fig.5. Liquid Composition profile of methanol/water

Methanol
25
Water

20

15
Stage No.

10

0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2
Liquid composition profile of methanol/water

Fig.6. Liquid Composition profile of methanol/water

IJSER © 2015
http://www.ijser.org
International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research, Volume 6, Issue 3, March-2015 625
ISSN 2229-5518

Figure 4 shows the variation of methanol and and the number of stages in the column. In order
water composition profile in the column for (N=12, to get the desired purity of the products, the feed
Rr=1.5 and N f =5). It can be observed from this stage location and the number of stages in the
figure that the purity of product is 94.9% in both column need to be further optimized. Figure 6
the product streams, which is still not quite up to shows the variation of methanol and water
the required 99.5% and hence we further kept on composition profile in the column for (N=21,
changing the feed stage location and the number of Rr=1.5 and N f =16). It can be clearly observed from
stages in order to achieve the desired purity of the this figure that the purity of the product obtained
product. Figure 5 shows the methanol and water is 99.5%, which is the desired purity that was
composition profile in the column for (N=13, needed. The optimum feed location and the
Rr=1.5 and N f =9). It can be observed from this optimum number of stages has also been obtained
figure that the purity of product is 97.5%, which through the simulation.
has increased by changing the feed stage location

5.1 EFFECT OF FEED CONDITION ON THE PURITY OF METHANOL/WATER

Figure’s 7, 8 and 9 show the effect of the thermal and water decreases in the top and bottom

IJSER
condition of the feed on the purity of methanol and products as the thermal condition of feed is
water in the top and bottom products of the changed to 0.5 and 1 and the purity of methanol
column respectively. It can be clearly observed and water decreases in the column and hence they
from figure 7 that the composition of methanol and are not the desired thermal feed conditions. Thus,
water is around 99.5% in the top and bottom saturated liquid feed condition for which ψ=0 is the
products respectively, which was the desired best thermal feed condition both from the
purity and hence this was the best feed condition separation view point as well as from the heat
for this simulation work. Also it can be observed economy viewpoint.
from figure’s 8 and 9 that the purity of methanol

For vapor fracion,ψ=0

25 Methanol

20 Water

15
Stage No.

10

0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2
Liquid composition of methanol/water

Fig.7. Liquid Composition profile of methanol/water in the column for ψ=0

IJSER © 2015
http://www.ijser.org
International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research, Volume 6, Issue 3, March-2015 626
ISSN 2229-5518

For vapor fraction,ψ=0.5

Methanol
25
Water

20

15
Stage No.

10

0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2
Liquid composition of methanol/water

IJSER
Fig.8. Liquid Composition profile of methanol/water in the column for ψ=0.5

For vapor fraction,ψ=1

Methanol
25
Water

20

15
Stage No.

10

0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2
Liquid composition of methanol/water

Fig.9. Liquid Composition profile of methanol/water in the column for ψ=1.0

IJSER © 2015
http://www.ijser.org
International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research, Volume 6, Issue 3, March-2015 627
ISSN 2229-5518

6. CONCLUSION PF Pressure at which feed enters the

column [Pascals (Pa)]
An equilibrium based steady-state model has
ψ Vapor fraction of the feed.
been developed for the distillation column to
Lj Total molar flow rate at which liquid
separate a mixture of methanol/water in order to
phase leaves jth state
get 99.5% methanol in the distillate and same
Vj Total molar flow rate at which leaves
composition of water in the bottoms. The model
jth stage
equations have been solved by making use of
Wj Molar flow rate of the vapor side
Aspen Plus Simulation Software. The VLE data
stream leaving jth
has been generated for this mixture and it was
Uj Molar flow rate of the liquid side
clearly observed from the analysis that the
stream leaving jth stage
mixture can be separated by distillation to the
W i,j Molar flow rate of component ‘i’ in
required 99.5 % of methanol in distillate and
vapor side stream leaving jth stage
99.5 % water in bottom product. The three
U i,j Molar flow rate of component ‘i’ in
different types of simulated feeds have been fed
liquid side stream leaving jth stage
to the column viz. saturated liquid, saturated
l i,j Molar flow rate of component ‘i’ in
vapor and half vaporized and it was found that
liquid phase leaving jth stage

IJSER
the purity of methanol is maximum in the top,
when a saturated liquid feed is fed to the
REFERENCES
column. Simulations have been carried out
further to determine the optimum feed location
[1] Seader J.D and Ernest J.H., “Separation Process
and optimum number of stages.
Principles”, 2nd Edition, John Wiley and Sons, Inc.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT New York, USA, (2001).

The authors acknowledge the support of [2] Chris Lyon et al “Methanol Recovery
Chemical Engineering Department, AMU Optimization Via Distillation” Final Project
Aligarh -India in having allowed using the Report, ChE 460 G.G. Brown Industries Inc.
Aspen Plus Software package for simulation. (2012).

NOMENCLATURE [3] Amiya K. Jana, “Process Simulation and

Control using ASPENTM”, Ist Edition, PHI
F Molar flow rate of the feed [kmol/hr] Learning Private Limited, New Delhi, India
f i,j Feed flow rate of component ‘i’ to (2009).
the column[kmol/hr]
D Total molar flow rate of distillate [4] C.D. Holland, “Fundamentals of Multi-
[kmol/hr] Component Distillation”, Ist Edition, McGraw-Hill
B Total molar flow rate of bottom Book Company, New York, USA.
[kmol/hr]
Rr Reflux ratio
N Number of stages in the column
Nf Stage at which feed enters the column
P Column pressure [Pascals (Pa)]
IJSER © 2015
http://www.ijser.org