2 replies to this topic

[Malak57]

Hello
I'm trying to simulate the production of lactic acid from glycerol via oxidation. It consist of heater-reactor-cooler and then the purification step using different distillation column.
I don't have enough data, now i am trying to simulate the distillation column but i don't know how i choose their specifications. I am trying for long time, did not converged.

[latexman]

You told us what you are doing, but you asked no question, and gave no details.  Who do you think we are?  The Amazing Kreskin?

[Pilesar]

Developing a distillation separation from scratch is not easy. Trial and error specifications will be frustrating. If you can, spend more effort doing research to find what others have done with similar separations to get a starting point. You will need reasonable thermodynamic methods to have a chance at a good model, so try to find some data to use in checking the thermo. Before you try to model rigorous distillation, look first to phase diagrams, residue curves, simple flashes, etc, to try to understand the possibilities. Those may not help you much, but just jumping into rigorous distillation is probably a dead end for sure and it won't give any hints on where to make changes. There are distillation synthesis software tools available but I think they can waste a lot of time if you don't have someone experienced to guide you. Put more effort into a literature search and perhaps you will find a relevant published master's thesis. You might also contact your software suppliers to get their suggestions.