Most awesome! You’ve found the Excel spreadsheets used in almost every book example. The analysis of equilibrium stage separation processes usually involves coupled, non-linear, algebraic equations: material and energy balances, phase equilibrium relationships, and miscellaneous process specifications. These can be tedious if not impossible to solve by hand. Fortunately, the Excel Solver tool uses efficient iterative methods to solve fairly complex problems. Please download these simulations and modify to your heart’s delight! If you totally mess up a spreadsheet, you can always come back here and download it again.

PFDs, mole and energy balances, phase equilibrium, spreadsheets.

​VLE data for most chemicals used in the book or practice problems. These are generated using Raoult’s law for ideal solutions and ChemCAD if not ideal.

Mathematical and graphical analysis of a single equilibrium stage.

Single stage evaporator with energy balance.

Single stage condenser with energy balance.

Adiabatic flash pot with energy balance.

Single equilibrium stage with energy balance using NIST enthalpies.

Several equilibrium stages in series. I start with 2 stages without recycle, then with recycle, then five stages (all solved with the “brute force” method. Concept of “stepping off the stages” introduced.

Stage by stage analysis of distillation column – Lewis method. This is a “new and improved” version that allows you to include mixed feeds.

Graphical design of distillation column – McCabe-Thiele method.

Stage by stage analysis of distillation column with energy balances.

Multiple feeds to a distillation column.

Direct steam injection instead of using a reboiler.

Multiple products from a distillation column.

   Similar to Excel “Lewis” except you can specify % liquid in feed.

Distillation of butane/hexane/octane. Several solution methods demonstrated. Note that in Example 10.1, I accidently switch to BTX notation but the results are correct. (See Errata)

Distillation of butane, hexane, octane, and decane.

Distillation of benzene, toluene, o-xylene.

Distillation of benzene, toluene, ethyl benzene, o-xylene.

Distillation of non-ideal pair ethanol and water.

Stage by stage analysis of absorbers.

Stage by stage analysis of strippers.

Graphical design of absorbers.

Graphical design of strippers.

Rigorous design of absorber (adiabatic and multi-component).

Estimation of required stages using Murphree efficiency.

1, 2, 3-stage extraction of acetic acid from water using isopropyl acetate with a polynomial fit of LLE.

Single-stage extraction of acetic acid from water using methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE). Generation of LLE graphs and polynomial equations is demonstrated.

Single-stage extraction of acetic acid from water using isopropyl acetate. LLE is generated using the NRTL activity coefficient.