Number of plates in distillation column using Aspen HYSYS

This tutorial explains how to simulate a shortcut distillation to find the number of theoretical plates or trays in a distillation column. Example is adopted from the book titled as Coluson and Richardson's Chemical Engineering. Volume 2, Particle Technology and Separation Processes by Richardson, Harker, Backhurst, and Coluson. It is example 11.7 page 564 (5th Edition).

[@uyendao816]

It's very informative 👍

[@hamedheidariyan4830]

I have a question. How can we estimate the actual number of trays in the refinery process (distillation column) ? Is there any way to calculate case trays for the distillation column in oil Refinery Process? and how can we choose the feed tray?

[@drzamansajid]

Hello Hamed, Shortcut distillation column determines the number of trays needed. It is explained in this video. Once your simulation is converged, you need to go to the Performance tab and see the actual number of trays. It is at 8:42. A physical plant will use the same number of plates with some plus-minus margin. I hope this helps.

[@hamedheidariyan4830]

​@@drzamansajid thank you. can we use this method for a complex crude oil in refinery process to determine the number of trays? in this way can we define the specs in shortcut column as well as refinery distillation column?

[@drzamansajid]

@@hamedheidariyan4830 Yes, you can use it for complex crude oil to find the number of trays in a distillation column. For the shortcut column, you can use some components but you need to specify the composition of at least a top and a bottom product to find the actual number of plates, as shown in this video. I hope this helps.

[@hamedheidariyan4830]

@@drzamansajid Thank you for all your perfect help