Simplified Calculation for the Liquid Holdup Effect in Batch Distillation

One of the processes that has received major attention during past years is the batch distillation process; among other reasons this is because of its flexibility and versatility during the separation process of small amounts of mixtures for both obtaining products of great added value and recovery of compounds or solvents that if spilled into the environment would have a considerable impact on ecosystems. Efforts aimed to improve operation policies concerning the above-mentioned process have been made; this has been considered because any small change may represent important variations regarding the costs of the process, and as a result the present work aims to study the liquid holdup in the columns, as well as in the reflux tank. It is worth mentioning that previous studies had concluded that liquid holdup can affect the quality of the final product as well as the energy requirements needed to carry out the process. A number of research works have been studied to confirm the conclusions of similar studies and to establish a policy regarding the liquid holdup without using complex mathematical methods.