Modelagem e simulação de uma coluna de destilação para separação dos componentes reacionais do biodiesel em MATLAB

Abstract

Modelling is one of the most diverse and fascinating fields of engineering, since it is capable of predicting results related to physical and chemical phenomena through mathematical models derived from experimental data or analytically. This paper covers the modeling and simulation of a multistage distillation column for separating a mixture containing the biodiesel reactional components in MATLAB. The vapor-liquid equilibrium data necessary for the computation of equilibrium composition throughout the column are obtained using the UNIQUAC method for calculating the activities coefficients of components in mixture using experimental parameters available in literature for the system containing water, ethanol, glycerol and soybean oil, modeled as a pseudo-component consisting of a mixture of fatty acids.