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DEGREE REGULATIONS & PROGRAMMES OF STUDY 2022/2023

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DRPS : Course Catalogue : School of Engineering : Postgrad (School of Engineering)

Postgraduate Course: Separation Processes (MSc) (PGEE11156)

Course Outline
SchoolSchool of Engineering CollegeCollege of Science and Engineering
Credit level (Normal year taken)SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) AvailabilityNot available to visiting students
SCQF Credits10 ECTS Credits5
SummaryOne half of this course covers adsorption and crystallization processes. The section on adsorption processes is aimed to understand how to design and operate a cyclic adsorption process and estimate its performance. To this end, we apply a mathematical method called Equilibrium Theory to various adsorption systems and learn a graphical method to construct a cyclic adsorption process cycle. The crystallisation process section comprises solid/liquid phase equilibrium, mass and energy balances and the analysis of a crystalliser (MSMPR).

The other half of the course, on distillation, comprises a discussion of composition and temperature profiles in ideal distillation columns, followed by examples and purposes of non-standard configurations and energy integration schemes for distillation. The modelling basis for tray-by-tray simulation of distillation columns is followed by a review of how azeotrope - forming mixtures can be separated. Topics include the causes of non-ideality, extractive and azeotropic distillation and composition trajectories.
Course description Lectures 1-2: Adsorption breakthrough

Lectures 3-4: Equilibrium theory analysis of a PSA

Lecture 5: PSA scheduling

Lecture 6: Adsorption processes

Lecture 7-8: Phase equilibria in crystallization.

Lecture 9-10: Crystallizers

Lecture 11: Composition profiles in ideal distillation.

Lecture 12: Non-standard columns.

Lecture 13: Energy integration in ideal columns.

Lecture 14: Causes of non-ideality.
Non-ideal K-values: relation to activity coefficients.
Azeotropes. Pzx and Tzxzy diagrams for non-ideal and azeotropic systems.
Difficulty of separating azeotropes.
Infinite dilution K-values to predict azeotropes.

Lecture 15: Extractive distillation.

Lecture 16: Azeotropic distillation : ethanol z water z benzene example.

Lecture 17: Choice of mass separating agent.

Lecture 18: Use of pressure to break azeotropes.

Lecture 19: Non-ideal composition profiles.

Lecture 20: Distillation trajectories and distillation boundaries.
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Other requirements None
Course Delivery Information
Academic year 2022/23, Not available to visiting students (SS1) Quota:  None
Course Start Semester 2
Timetable Timetable
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) Total Hours: 100 ( Lecture Hours 20, Formative Assessment Hours 1, Summative Assessment Hours 2, Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 2, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 75 )
Assessment (Further Info) Written Exam 100 %, Coursework 0 %, Practical Exam 0 %
Additional Information (Assessment) 100% Exam.
Feedback Not entered
Exam Information
Exam Diet Paper Name Hours & Minutes
Main Exam Diet S2 (April/May)2:00
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
  1. Design stepwise configuration of a multi-column cyclic adsorption process by a short-cut method. - Describe how various adsorption processes work in the context of actual industrial processes containing the adsorption.
  2. Describe how to configure acid gas removal processes having absorption columns. - Construct the mass and energy balances around a crystalliser and design a crystallizer given the target specification.
  3. Recognise design faults from column temperature/composition profiles in distillation columns for ideal binary mixtures, Describe tray by tray distillation methods. - Discuss heat integration for distillation, citing and explaining a number of strategies.
  4. Describe and discuss the causes and consequences of non-ideality in distillation, with particular reference to Hydrogen Bonding. - Explain features of non-ideal distillation profiles and how they differ from ideal.
  5. Draw flowsheets for and describe details of azeotropic and extractive distillation systems for separating non-ideal systems, including those with azeotropes. - Sketch distillation boundaries for ternary systems, and calculate the consequent limits on separations for azeotropic systems.
Reading List
Adsorption part
Principles of Adsorption and Adsorption Processes, 1984.Ruthven D.M. ¿ Wiley.
Pressure Swing Adsorption, 1994 Ruthven D.M., Farooq S., Knaebel K.S. ¿ Wiley.
Perry's Chemical Engineers' Handbook. 7th Ed., 1997. Perry R.H. and Green D.W., McGraw-Hill.

Crystallization part
Unit Operations of Chemical Engineering, 1993.
MaCabe W.L., Smith J.C., Harriott P., McGraw Hill.
Crystallization, 2001 (available in library as electronic resource)
Mullin J.W. Oxford.
Industrial Crystallization, 1995, Narayan S. Tavare

Distillation part
Separation Processes
King CJ (McGraw¿Hill, 1984)
Distillation Design in Practice
Rose LM (Elsevier,1985)
Conceptual Design of Chemical Processes
Douglas J (McGraw¿Hill, 1988)
(Recommended to buy for both this course and CHEE10005 Chemical Engineering Design: Synthesis and Economics 4.
Chapter 7 and Appendices A.2 ¿ A.6 have some excellent material on distillation synthesis and short cut methods.
There is also a good discussion of distillation boundaries for non-ideal separations.)
Conceptual design of Distillation Systems
Doherty MF, Malone MF (McGraw¿Hill, 2001)
Systematic Methods of Chemical Process Design
Biegler LT (Pentice Hall, 1997)
Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills Not entered
KeywordsAdsorption,Absorption,Crystallization,Distillation,Engineering,Process design,Process analysis
Contacts
Course organiserDr Hyungwoong Ahn
Tel: (0131 6)50 5891
Email: h.ahn@ed.ac.uk
Course secretaryMrs Shona Barnet
Tel: (0131 6)51 7715
Email: Shona.Barnet@ed.ac.uk
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