Your company needs to evaluate the separation of an equimolar mixture of ethanol (1) + n-hexane (2)

Question:

Your company needs to evaluate the separation of an equimolar mixture of ethanol (1) + n-hexane (2) at 318.15 K. While looking at some company notebooks, you find data for this system at 318.15 K as follows:

You show this to your boss and she mentions “Oh yeah . . . I remember when this was done. It was to determine infinite dilution values quickly in order to parameterize a model. I don’t think we ever did that, however. You should do this to see if we can flash the mixture at 65 kPa.”

Since you follow the instructions of your boss, use the data in Table P11-26 to parameterize the 2-parameter Margules equation and determine if the mixture will flash at 65 kPa and 318.15 K. If it does flash, determine the amount and composition of the stream(s) exiting the unit, if the feed enters at 50 mol/min.

TABLE P11-26 Vapor-liquid equilibrium of ethanol (1) + n-hexane (2) at 318.15 K. P[kPa] 45.75 48.251 25.256