How is the temperature at which condensate forms at the top of a distillation column calculated?
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The pressure at the top of the distillation tower is 70 KPa, with a steam flow rate of 12 tons per hour and an oil and gas flow rate at the tower top of 220 tons per hour. I would like to know how to calculate the temperature at which the steam turns into condensed water under these operating conditions. Please help me, thank you.
First, the molar mass of the oil and gas at the top of the tower must be determined; then, the vapor pressure of water at that point is calculated. By consulting a table, the saturated vapor temperature corresponding to this pressure can be found, and this is the temperature at which condensation occurs. 70 kPa is gauge pressure; it should be calculated based on absolute pressure.
I just did the calculations; under these conditions, the partial pressure is 32 KPa, and the corresponding temperature of the condensed water is 70 degrees. I’m not sure if this is correct.
It should be quite convenient to do the calculations using software such as PRO/II