In a process for the manufacture of acetone, acetone is separated from acetic acid by distillation. The feed to the column is 60 mol% acetone, the balance acetic acid.
The column is to recover 95% of the acetone in the feed with a purity of 99.5 mol% acetone.
The column will operate at a pressure of 760 mmHg and the feed will be preheated to 70 °C. For this separation, determine:
a. The minimum number of stages required
b. The minimum reflux ratio
c. The number of theoretical stages for a reflux ratio 1.5 times the minimum
d. The number of actual stages if the plate efficiency can be taken as 60%
Equilibrium data for the system acetone-acetic acid, at 760 mmHg, mol fractions acetone:
