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charles chima Participant Join Date: Oct 2011 Posts: 2	chemical engineering process design and simulation 10/18/2011 10:12 AM
	My final year project is "simulation of ethanol extractive distillation using a glycols' mixture (mixture of ethylene glycol and glycerin) as entrainer. The major challenge I have is with the equilibrium data. I need the data so as to enable me get the number of equilibrium stages necessary for the separation which I'ld use to develop my mathematical models before I can proceed to the simulation. The extractive column is expected to operate at 1tm for a range of temperature of about 180 degree C(for the bottoms) to about 78.5 degree C (for the tops). The distillate is expected to consist majorly of ethanol with about 0.1% water. Please I sincerely need the help of everybody regarding this(the equilibrium data and any suggestion for the best course of action). P.s Because of the difficulty of obtaining the equilibrium data, I also thought of a process that uses either of the solvents as entrainer and I'ld gladly welcome any information regarding the equilibrium and the whole work. thanks a whole lot. my name is charles. from Nigeria
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Mikerho Guru Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Moses Lake, WA, USA, Thulcandra - The Silent Planet (C.S. Lewis) Posts: 4216 Good Answers: 194	#1 Re: chemical engineering process design and simulation 10/18/2011 11:40 AM
	Hi Charles, Since this is your final year project, you should have the ability to do this project yourself. That being said, it is not bad to ask for help, and some of us wouldn't mind steering you a little. Keep in mind however, that this is *supposed* to be hard! The greatest achievements are brought about by great struggles. You have given a few details of your project, but not nearly enough. You say it's an extractive distillation. Then what is the feedstock? What are you extracting the ethanol out of? What are the proportions of ethylene glycol, and glycerine? Start with explaining the process in detail and explain units (I don't know what you mean by 1tm - one ton per minute???). What exactly is the composition of the starting material? It is typical that if a problem like this is assigned, the data that you need is out there because somebody has written a paper on it. I spent a LOT of time at the library doing technical paper searches to find what we needed for our project, but I did find it! More detail please. __________________ "Reason is not automatic. Those who deny it cannot be conquered by it. Do not count on them. Leave them alone." - Ayn Rand
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charles chima Participant Join Date: Oct 2011 Posts: 2	#2 In reply to #1 Re: chemical engineering process design and simulation 10/19/2011 7:56 AM
	Hi Mikerho, Thanks for your contribution. Sincerely, I'm sorry for the sparseness of my information. The feedstock is an azeotropic mixture of ethanol and water, comprising 95% ethanol and 5% water. The entrainer(a mixture of ethylene glycol and glycerine) consists of 60% ethylene glycol and 40% glycerine. The entrainer is supposed to cause a separation of the azeotropic mixture by breaking the azeotrope so that a distillate of almost pure ethanol is obtained (99.9& ethanol and 0.1% water), while a mixture of water and the entrainer is withdrawn as the bottoms with a 0.01%ethanol. Apart from the composition of the feed, the other values were chosen by me and are subject to modification. The 1tm in my previous post was a typographic error. I meant 1atm (i.e, the column's operating pressure). Actually I've searched for information and data relevant to my work (particularly the equilibrium data) but I've not yet come across any, although I'm still on the look out for information regarding my major challenges which explains why I'm asking for the help of the entire members of the forum. Thank you so much for your contribution. I still earnestly need more of your wisdom, suggestions, professional advise and help regarding the data and, perhaps, a better approach to the problem. Thanks a million...
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Mikerho Guru Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Moses Lake, WA, USA, Thulcandra - The Silent Planet (C.S. Lewis) Posts: 4216 Good Answers: 194	#3 In reply to #2 Re: chemical engineering process design and simulation 10/19/2011 11:37 AM
	Here is a link that I think would really help you: http://www.enpromer2005.eq.ufrj.br/nukleo/pdfs/1141_simulation_of_ethanol_extractive_distillation_with_a_glycols_mixture_as_entrainer.pdf Also look over the links generated by this Google search. More later... I'll keep looking as time allows. __________________ "Reason is not automatic. Those who deny it cannot be conquered by it. Do not count on them. Leave them alone." - Ayn Rand
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