SIMULATION OF AN EXTRACTION COLUMN FOR AL COHOLS RECUPERATION

In this work we used the Chem CAD III chemical simulation package to i nvestigate the suitability of n-amyl acetate and isoamyl acetate as ex tractants for the recovery of ethanol or methanol from dilute aqueous solution at 25 degrees C. Liquid-liquid equilibria were calculated usi ng NRTL equations that had previously been fitted to experimental data for these systems. The calculated results (alcohol recovery yield as a function of the number of theoretical colums plates and the extracta nt/feed ratio for various initial alcohol concentrations) have been pl otted (using Mathematica) as response surfaces bounded by the limits o f convergence of the simulation algorithm.