Rate-based Process Flowsheets & Simulations
Explore 2 validated, solved Rate-based simulation flowsheets in MaximaLabs — real components: n_pentane, n_hexane, n_heptane, methane, co2, h2s. Open any one directly in your browser.
Solved via: PENG-ROBINSON, ENRTL-MDEA-PZ.
Rate-based distillation (Maxwell-Stefan, ChemSep-style)
A depentanizer split (n-pentane overhead from an n-pentane/n-hexane/n-heptane feed) solved with a rigorous rate-based (nonequilibrium) stage model rather than the usual equilibrium-stage assumption. Every stage carries separate bulk vapor and liquid compositions with a vapor-liquid interface in equilibrium and finite Maxwell-Stefan mass-transfer fluxes across each film, and the per-stage transfer coefficients come from the real Chan-Fair (1984) tray-efficiency correlations off estimated tray geometry -- the exact physics ChemSep and Aspen RateSep are built on. The result: real trays lag equilibrium, so the finite-transfer distillate is measurably less pure (~98.7% C5) than an equilibrium-stage model predicts (~99.8%) on the identical column -- roughly 5x more hexane slips overhead. Open the equivalent equilibrium column ('ethanol-water-distillation' or any 'distillation' node) to see the gap the equilibrium-stage assumption hides. As the mass-transfer coefficients grow the model collapses back onto the equilibrium column (the built-in validation limit).
4 unit ops • PENG-ROBINSON
26 0
View & openRate-based reactive amine absorber (packed, MDEA/PZ)
A packed acid-gas absorber sized the way ChemSep / Aspen RateSep size one -- by real mass-transfer rate over a PACKED HEIGHT, not an assumed stage count. Sour gas (CO2 + H2S in methane) contacts a piperazine-promoted MDEA solvent in a structured-packed column, and the recovery of each acid gas is set by three coupled pieces of physics: the Onda-Takeuchi-Okumoto (1968) gas/liquid film coefficients and wetted area over the packed height (the rate), a reaction-enhancement factor on the liquid film from the Hatta number (the reaction speeding up liquid-side transfer), and the reactive vapor-liquid equilibrium from the electrolyte 'enrtl-mdea-pz' package (the capacity). The result is a genuine design curve: CO2 recovery climbs from ~85% at 0.3 m of packing to pipeline spec by ~1.5 m (5 ppm CO2, 3 ppm H2S) -- run the built-in packed-height sweep to see it. A revealing rate-based insight the equilibrium-stage shortcut can't give: the fast amine reaction makes the liquid resistance negligible, so this absorber is gas-film-controlled -- recovery barely moves with solvent rate but scales directly with packed height. Honesty notes (see flowsim/solver/unitops/rate_based_absorber.py): dilute-absorption HTU-NTU with a lean-solvent Colburn form, mean-property diffusivity, a pseudo-first-order (Ha/tanh Ha) enhancement with no instantaneous-reaction cap, and screening-grade reaction rate constants -- it captures the real rate-based behaviour (recovery vs. height, gas-film control) without claiming RateSep-grade rigor. The companion 'mixed-amine-acid-gas-treating' showcase runs the full absorber-stripper loop with the equilibrium-stage (Kremser) absorber for contrast.
5 unit ops • ENRTL-MDEA-PZ
20 1
View & open