The problem of removing water using a distillation tower~~~

It might not be just a problem with the equipment; I haven’t worked with this type of product, and other friends may not know much about it either. Please explain in detail so that everyone can help analyze it. 1. Properties of the material components: those components, their boiling points, and the gas-liquid equilibrium conditions between the two materials. 2. It would be good to draw a schematic diagram. 3. Is it batch operation or continuous operation? What is the reflux ratio?

Reply to 2# msailz2009: The material is methyl tert-butyl ether; its specific gravity is 0.76, and its boiling point is 53–56 degrees. It is the water that needs to be removed! ! ! The moisture content is around 1.4%!

Reply to 2# msailz2009: Intermittent operation. In the full reflux state, there is no reflux ratio data.

It seems like there might be a problem with your diverter. I’m not aware of the specific details regarding your components. Here’s one suggestion for improvement: I think it’s possible that your two components are azeotropic with each other. If your product forms an azeotrope with water, you could consider using an appropriate extractant for azeotropic distillation, similar to the process used to produce anhydrous ethanol. This way, it might be possible to obtain an anhydrous product

My initial impression is also that the diverter is too small. Because the evaporation rate is 1200 L/h, the water splitter has only 200 L. But there is another issue: before any modifications were made, it was possible to achieve the desired vapor pressure; at the flow meter, a value of 0.3% could be reached, and the output before reaching 200 L would meet the requirements. Due to the high losses, a plate-type condenser was added to enable two-stage condensation; the position of the buffer tank was lowered by about 1 meter, and then the entire pipeline system was insulated. This is what happens: the moisture content at the flow meter is basically 1.0%. Around 1000 L can be obtained before discharge, and sometimes 400 L before discharge is already sufficient!

This post was last edited by msailz2009 on 2011-3-21 at 22:56. It seems that your distributor is too small; use a larger one. Is it the condenser added because of more material leakage? If there is material leakage, then in addition to losing material, some moisture is also carried away (perhaps the area of the condenser is not sufficient or the gas flow rate is too high, so not all of the moisture can be condensed). By adding a condenser now, the moisture that used to escape has been cooled down. It’s possible to review previous data for analysis. First, isn’t there 1.4% moisture in your feed material? Calculate whether the amount of water separated by the water separator in the past was less than 1.4% of the weight of the material in your reactor. Second, determine whether the moisture content in the output material now is similar to that of the input material. If that’s the case, it means the condensation effect is good and the moisture has cooled down. However, because the water separator is small, it can’t separate the water properly. This is just my understanding; I’m not sure if it’s correct

I’ve learned something. This problem hasn’t been solved yet. Given the current situation, efforts should be made to find a suitable control method without being able to modify the equipment.

Since methyl tert-butyl ether exhibits an azeotrope phenomenon, some azeotrope-forming agents should be used to address the underlying problem

Could you explain what a water distributor is? I’m a layperson with no experience in this area