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[Icarus]

Hi everyone,

I need your opinion on the design of an azeotropic distillation column for the dehydration of acetic acid. I have water, vinyl acetate and HAc as my components. Water and VAM form an azeotrope with 92.7% VAM and boils at 66C. Now my problem is that when I estimate the min no. of stages using Fenske, I need the relative volatility (RV), light and heavy keys. Do I take water as my light key or the azeotrope? If its the azeotrope, how do I get the vapor pressure to calculate the RV and the K values. Is it OK to use (Vap Pres(VAM) X 0.927) + (Vap Pres (H2O) X (1-0.927))? Your assistance will be highly appreciated.

Edited by Icarus, 07 April 2010 - 02:41 AM.