Regarding the methanol distillate in the deethanizer
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Currently, the following situation is encountered: there is some methanol in the feed to the deethanizer. Strangely enough, the methanol did not exit from the bottom of the tower, but rather from the top. Has anyone encountered this situation? Is there an azeotrope formation between light hydrocarbons (ethane, propane, propylene) and methanol?
The molecular weight of ethane C2H6 is 30; the molecular weight of methanol CH3OH is also 32, while the molecular weight of propane C3H8 is 44. So basically, methanol is a light component that exits the top of the tower along with ethane
These are substances with different polarities; one can’t rely solely on molecular weight – boiling points need to be considered as well.
Because methanol and hydrocarbons form an azeotrope.