TERNARY MASS-TRANSFER IN PACKED DISTILLATION COLUMN

Experimental studies of ternary mass transfer in packed distillation columns were made for the acetone-methanol-ethanol system under total reflux conditions for wide ranges of vapor flow rates and liquid concentrations. The observed diffusion fluxes of all the components in ternary distillation with a short packed column were proportional to their concentration driving forces, but the observed mass fluxes were not. The convective mass fluxes were affected by the heat fluxes through the wall and were in good agreement with the theoretical ones. The diffusion fluxes under high mass flux conditions were well correlated by taking into account the effect of partial condensation of mixed vapors. A new method for predicting separation performance of ternary distillation in a packed column was developed by use of the correlation for the ternary diffusion fluxes. Predicted distributions of reflux flow rate and liquid concentrations in a long column showed good agreement with the observed ones.