We wish to distill an ethanol-water mixture to produce 2250 lb of distillate product per day. The distillate product is 80 mol% ethanol and 20 mol% water. an R (L/D) of 2.0 is to be used. The column operates at 1 atm. A packed column will use 5/8-inch plastic Pall rings.

Calculate the diameter at the top of the column:

Operation is at 75% of flooding

. Operation is at 0.25-inches of water per foot of packing.

Repeat (a) and b) for a feed that is 22,500 lb of distillate product per day