Chemical Engineering is a very interesting subject. On this page you can get some chemical engineering software. The first is a software that implements the McCabe Thiele method to find the number of theoretical trays required for a distillation column, given the mole fraction of feed, distillate and residue and the relative volatility and reflux ratio of the system. huh ?
McCabe-Thiele Method: This is a method to find the number of theoretical plates required for a distillation column to seperate a mixture, giving the mole fractions of the top and bottom products.
First, the 45 degree line is drawn and then the equilibrium curve is plotted. The equation for the equilibrium curve is given by y=ax/(1+(a-1)x),where a (or alpha) is the relative volatility of the system, to be given by the user. Then the Rectifying Operating Line (ROL) is drawn. As you all should be knowing, we need two points to draw a line. One point for the ROL is the Mole fraction of distillate (Xd) extended to the 45 degree line. The other point is the intercept on the y-axis. This point is given by Xd/(RR+1), where RR is the Reflux Ratio.
The q-line is drawn as follows: One point is the mole fraction of feed (Xf) extended to the 45 degree line. The slope is infinity (vertical line) for a feed of saturated liquid. If the feed is saturated vapor, the q-line is horizontal. If it is a 50-50 mixture, its slope is (-1). The Stripping operating line(SOL) is drawn as follows: One point is the mole fraction of the bottom product (Xb) and the other point is the point of intersection of the ROL and Q-line. After the SOL is drawn, the number of plates are calculated by drawing consecutive horizontal and vertical lines between the equilibrium curve and first the ROL(till the feed plate) and then the SOL, starting from Xd till Xb. The number of horizontal lines gives the number of theoretical plates required.
The source code is also available. It is written in c++. We suggest you download the source code and compile it and run, if you dont want to take chances with an .exe file.
This is the beta version(ver 0.1) and there is no Graphical interface, as yet. Future versions may have graphical support, and will be more user-friendly and would be able to handle feed in various ratios of liquid-vapor. Additionally, calculation of minimum reflux ratio, minimum number of plates required etc. would also be possible. But the next version will not be available before november.
McCabe.zip - Download the zip file(has exe, .bgi and source code). Store the exe and bgi file in the same directory and run.
Source Code - The source code (txt file)
More chemical engg software is coming your way, very soon !
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