Comparative Analysis Between Manual and Computer Aided Design of Minimum and Optimum Reflux Ratio at Minimum Reflux Operating Condition of a Distillation Column

Abstract

This work presents the comparative analysis between manual and computer aided design of minimum and optimum reflux ratio at minimum reflux condition of a distillation column. The Underwood’s shortcut design model for determining a column’s minimum reflux ratio is applied, and a multiplier of the minimum reflux is used to obtain the optimum reflux ratio of the column. Matlab R2008b is the computer software used to achieve the computer aided design of the reflux due to the need for fast convergence solution to iterative computations. The manual design is a pen and paper approach. The results obtained from both methods were compared for better analysis of the column’s separation efficiency at the reflux operating conditions.