On Entropy Generation and the Effect of Heat and Mass Transfer Coupling in a Distillation Process
-
Paulina Burgos-Madrigal
,
Diego F. Mendoza
Abstract
The entropy production rates as obtained from the exergy analysis, entropy balance and the nonequilibrium thermodynamics approach are compared for two distillation columns. The first case is a depropanizer column involving a mixture of ethane, propane, n-butane and n-pentane. The other is a weighed sample of Mexican crude oil distilled with a pilot scale fractionating column. The composition, temperature and flow profiles, for a given duty and operating conditions in each column, are obtained with the Aspen Plus V8.4 software by using the RateFrac model with a rate-based nonequilibrium column. For the depropanizer column the highest entropy production rate is found in the central trays where most of the mass transfer occurs, while in the second column the highest values correspond to the first three stages (where the vapor mixture is in contact with the cold liquid reflux), and to the last three stages (where the highest temperatures take place). The importance of the explicit inclusion of thermal diffusion in these processes is evaluated. In the depropanizer column, the effect of the coupling between heat and mass transfer is found to be negligible, while for the fractionating column it becomes appreciable.
Acknowledgements:
The authors gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Instituto Mexicano del Petróleo which provided the information on the oil mixture and access to their fractionating distillation column. P. Burgos Madrigal wants to thank Maria Beatriz de la Mora for useful discussions about distillation columns and Victor Duarte Alaniz from the Department of Physical Chemistry of the Institute of Chemistry (UNAM) for the artwork presented in this article.
This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
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© 2018 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Gradient Dynamics and Entropy Production Maximization
- Multiscale Transient and Steady-State Study of the Influence of Microstructure Degradation and Chromium Oxide Poisoning on Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Cathode Performance
- Fractional Effects on the Light Scattering Properties of a Simple Binary Mixture
- On Entropy Generation and the Effect of Heat and Mass Transfer Coupling in a Distillation Process
- Thermodynamic Analysis of TEG-TEC Device Including Influence of Thomson Effect
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Gradient Dynamics and Entropy Production Maximization
- Multiscale Transient and Steady-State Study of the Influence of Microstructure Degradation and Chromium Oxide Poisoning on Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Cathode Performance
- Fractional Effects on the Light Scattering Properties of a Simple Binary Mixture
- On Entropy Generation and the Effect of Heat and Mass Transfer Coupling in a Distillation Process
- Thermodynamic Analysis of TEG-TEC Device Including Influence of Thomson Effect
