DOI: 10.36347/sjet.2017.v05i10.008

Pages: 577-583

The dynamic behavior was represented in mathematical form. Given the model equations, MATLAB codes were written for the dynamic simulation of the column. The model considers a mixture of two (2) components (ethanol and water) separated in a 12, 14 and 16 trays column. A comparison between ASPEN HYSYS and MATLAB simulated cases were made in terms of liquid distribution in the column and temperature profile of the column. The simulation shows the uneven distribution of the temperature across the distillation column with a difference of 15oC between the top and the bottom for MATLAB case and 14oC for HYSYS case, which is reasonably close to each other. The simulation show the dynamics at start up and the steady state and it was also used to find the best feed tray for the separation which is located to be the seventh tray, with the concentration of feed (0.44mol/dm3), the top product is at 0.9mol/dm3 and bottom product is about 0.1mol/dm3. Further investigation shows that ASPEN HYSYS case cannot attain 94% ethanol purity probably due to its ability to form azeotrope while 98% purity of benzene is achieved with benzene-toluene mixture with the same software. Conclusively, it’s advisable and more professional to use ASPEN HYSYS for the simulation of a binary solution which can form azeotrope at certain composition.