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Simple equations to correlate theoretical stages and operating reflux in fractionators

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  • Bahadori, Alireza
  • Vuthaluru, Hari B.

Abstract

Natural gas is an important source of primary energy. Virtually all gas processing plants producing natural gas liquids require at least one fractionator to produce a liquid product which can meet sales specifications. Fractionation is one of the pivotal unit operations in refineries, gas processing and other industries utilized to separate mixtures into individual products. However, it is capital and energy intensive and, with decreasing relative volatility, the size and energy requirements of a column tend to increase. The primary parameters involved in the design of fractionators are the number of stages and the reflux ratio. The aim of this study is to develop easy-to-use equations, which are simpler than current available models involving a large number of parameters and requiring more complicated and longer computations, for an appropriate prediction the operating reflux ratio for a given number of stages. Alternatively, for a given reflux ratio, number of stages can be determined. The accuracy of the proposed equations was tested and found to be in excellent agreement with the reported data for the wide range of conditions, wherein the average absolute deviation percent of proposed equations being 1.5%. These simple-to-use equations can be of immense practical value for the engineers. In particular, process engineers would find the proposed approach to be user friendly involving no complex expressions with transparent calculations.

Suggested Citation

  • Bahadori, Alireza & Vuthaluru, Hari B., 2010. "Simple equations to correlate theoretical stages and operating reflux in fractionators," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 35(3), pages 1439-1446.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:35:y:2010:i:3:p:1439-1446
    DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2009.11.029
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Gadalla, M. & Olujić, Ž. & de Rijke, A. & Jansens, P.J., 2006. "Reducing CO2 emissions of internally heat-integrated distillation columns for separation of close boiling mixtures," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 31(13), pages 2409-2417.
    2. Bahadori, Alireza & Vuthaluru, Hari B., 2009. "Simple methodology for sizing of absorbers for TEG (triethylene glycol) gas dehydration systems," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 34(11), pages 1910-1916.
    3. Gandhidasan, P & Al-Farayedhi, Abdulghani A & Al-Mubarak, Ali A, 2001. "Dehydration of natural gas using solid desiccants," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 26(9), pages 855-868.
    4. Araújo, Antonio B. & Brito, Romildo P. & Vasconcelos, Luís S., 2007. "Exergetic analysis of distillation processes—A case study," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 32(7), pages 1185-1193.
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    1. Bahadori, Alireza & Vuthaluru, Hari B., 2010. "A method for estimation of recoverable heat from blowdown systems during steam generation," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 35(8), pages 3501-3507.
    2. Bahadori, Alireza & Vuthaluru, Hari B., 2010. "Predictive tools for the estimation of downcomer velocity and vapor capacity factor in fractionators," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 87(8), pages 2615-2620, August.

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