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Unit Operations


Distillation Tray Efficiency
Distillation Tray Efficiency

Tray efficiency measures the performance of a distillation tray or trays against the maximum theoretical performance. Similarly, a concept called Height Equivalent to Theoretical Plate (HETP) is used to measure the performance in a packed column. This article describes methods of quantifying tray efficiency in distillation tray analysis.


McCabe-Thiele Plot
McCabe-Thiele Plot

A McCabe-Thiele plot is a simplified tool to assist in understanding distillation. It is a method for calculating the number of theoretical trays required for the distillation of a binary mixture. This article describes how to apply the McCabe-Thiele method.


Distillation Fundamentals
Distillation Fundamentals

Distillation is a process by which a liquid mixture is separated into fractions with higher concentrations of certain components by exploiting differences in relative volatility. In industrial settings such as oil refineries and natural gas processing plants this separation process is undertaken using a distillation column. This article describes the basic principles and operation of a distillation column and the equipment and terminology used when discussing distillation.


Terminal Velocity of Particles for Gravity Separation
Terminal Velocity of Particles for Gravity Separation

There are many operations in which two phases must be separated. These separations may be gas-liquid, gas-solid, liquid-liquid or liquid-solid, with several factors such as relative densities, gravity, fluid velocities and the shape of particles and/or droplets influence the phase separability. In this article we present the fundamentals of these separations and provide the Stoke’s, Intermediate and Newton’s formulae for calculating the terminal velocities of settling particles to analyse separation systems.