Relatively pure oxygen is required in a large number of applications ranging fromincubators for premature babies in neo-natal intensive care units to the use ofoxygenation reactions in the production of various chemicals. An attractive way ofgenerating this high purity oxygen is to use a small distillation column, with oxygenremoved in the bottoms. The distillate, which is simply a more concentrated nitrogenstream, can be directly discharged into the atmosphere. The column obviously operatesat very low temperatures (typically referred to as cryogenic distillation) to attain thedesired VLE for the O2-N2 system. A) A distillation column is to be designed to produce 99.5% pure oxygen from air (21%O₂ and 79% N₂). The feed flow rate is 100 moles of air per second, and the column isoperated so that 80% of the oxygen is recovered in the bottoms. Evaluate thecomposition and flow rates of both the bottoms and distillate.B) Although the vapor pressures for O₂ and N₂ are a strong function of temperature, theratio of the vapor pressures (at any given temperature) is nearly constant with arelative volatility of a = (YN2/Y02)/(XN2/X02) = 3.6. Construct the equilibrium plot ofYN2 versus XN2 for the O₂ and N₂ system using this value of a. Note: even though thegoal of the separation is to purify the oxygen, it is typical to construct a plot of theequilibrium data using the more volatile component (in this case nitrogen)

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Introduction to Chemical Engineering Thermodynamics

8th Edition

ISBN:9781259696527

Author:J.M. Smith Termodinamica en ingenieria quimica, Hendrick C Van Ness, Michael Abbott, Mark Swihart

Publisher:J.M. Smith Termodinamica en ingenieria quimica, Hendrick C Van Ness, Michael Abbott, Mark Swihart

Chapter1: Introduction

Section: Chapter Questions

Problem 1.1P

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Relatively pure oxygen is required in a large number of applications ranging from
incubators for premature babies in neo-natal intensive care units to the use of
oxygenation reactions in the production of various chemicals. An attractive way of
generating this high purity oxygen is to use a small distillation column, with oxygen
removed in the bottoms. The distillate, which is simply a more concentrated nitrogen
stream, can be directly discharged into the atmosphere. The column obviously operates
at very low temperatures (typically referred to as cryogenic distillation) to attain the
desired VLE for the O2-N2 system.