A feed stream in an oil refinery contains 27 wt.% pentane (C5H12) and 40 wt.% he

Question

A feed stream in an oil refinery contains 27 wt.% pentane (C5H12) and 40 wt.% hexane (C6H14), with the remainder being heptane (C7H16). This is fed to a distillation column which produces an overhead tops distillate product containing no (0 wt.%) heptane and a bottoms product containing no (0 wt.% pentane). If the mass of tops product is 35 kg per 100 kg of feed, determine the concentration of pentane in the tops product. Type in your answer as a weight percentage, rounded to the first decimal place, but without the symbol.

Explanation / Answer

The original feed contains 27wt% pentane so in 100 Kg feed it is 27 Kg Pentane

40 Kg Hexane and 100 - (40 + 27) = 33 Kg Heptane

The bottom contains no pentane and the top contains no heptane

So from 100 Kg feed the top is 35 Kg and out of this 27 Kg is pentane

so the concentration of pentane in the top is 27/35 x 100 = 77.14 wt% pentane and the remaining hexane which is 100 -77.14 = 22.86 wt% hexane.

SO the answer to first decimal place is 77.1 wt% pentane

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