Continuous Distillation: In a typical distillation column, feed enters the distillation tower at the boiling point. The feed gets in contact with the liquid reflux traveling down the rectification section. The vapors leave the column and are condensed in a total condenser. Liquid is withdrawn and a part of it is used as reflux. The residue from the bottom of the column is withdrawn and is reboiled to strip off the more-volatile product. The section above the feed plate is called rectification section where more-volatile component is fractionated. The section below the feed plate is called stripping section where less-volatile component is fractionated. Heating steam is provided to strip more-volatile component.
The McCabe-Thiele method is used to calculate the number of stages. Typically, the composition of the distillate and residue are available. If the amount and composition of streams are given in mass basis, then we can obtain the corresponding values in molar basis as follows:
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Module for Calculation of Fractionation Parameters:
