K-FlashPro: An alternative software for determining the equilibrium constants K of light hydrocarbons in a flash evaporator

K-FlashPro: Un software alternativo para determinar las constantes de equilibrio K de hidrocarburos ligeros en un evaporador flash

Juan Jesús Reyes Valdez* 

Instituto Politécnico Nacional, CICATA, Unidad Altamira

ORCID 0000-0002-0208-6667

Yarazett Hernández Castillo

Universidad Tecnológica de Altamira

ORCID 0000-0003-4890-3228

Sandra Edith Benito Santiago

Universidad Tecnológica de Altamira

ORCID 0000-0002-5326-0397

Carolina Estrada Moreno 

Instituto Politécnico Nacional, CICATA, Unidad Altamira

ORCID 0000-0003-4995-9522

Received: February 6th, 2025 | Accepted: February 13th, 2025 | Published online: February 14 th, 2025 

How to cite:
Reyes-Valdez, J.J., Hernández-Castillo, Y., Benito-Santiago, S.E. & Estrada-Moreno, C. (2025). K-FlashPro: An alternative software for determining the equilibrium constants K of light hydrocarbons in a flash evaporator. Revista Multidisciplinaria de Ciencia Básica, Humanidades, Arte y Educación, 3(10), 86-92. https://www.mjshae.org/2025/02/k-flashpro-alternative-software-for.html [.RIS]

Abstract:

Flash evaporation (FE) is a process widely used in industry to separate volatile compounds from a mixture. The analysis of this process is of great importance due to its rapid nature and variable thermodynamic properties. However, liquid-vapor equilibrium calculations with equations of state consume a large amount of time in numerical simulations. For this reason, in this work a software is presented to solve the Rachford-Rice equation, using McWilliams correlation and Newton Raphson method. Up to 5 compounds were considered to perform the simulation. Three case studies were proposed with the most used specific variables, such as temperature, pressure, molar composition and vapor fraction. The results obtained were compared with the process simulation software ASPEN version 12. In all cases, the results were similar to those of the commercial software. 

Keywords: flash evaporation; Rachford-Rice equation; Newton-Raphson method; algorithm.

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