Distillation Designer is a self-explanatory OS X application that enables users to use the popular McCabe-Thiele method to analyze and design continuous flow distillation systems.

Distillation is a physical separation process or unit operation method used to separate various mixtures using the differences in volatility of the elements present in a boiling liquid mixture. The process is used in different industries to remove impurities from water, separate crude oil into more fractions, to separate the components of the air and more.

The continuous distillation is a different form of distillation and involves a continuing separation process that is constantly fed with the mixture and which is capable of continuously removing separate fractions as output streams.

The McCabe-Thiele method is one of the easiest and useful method for the analysis of continuous, also known as binary, distillation. The method was first published in 1925 by Warren L. McCabe and Ernest W. Thiele.

Distillation Designer comes with a user-friendly interface from which you can manually define the minimum reflux ratio, load data files, determine the optimal value by plotting Reflux versus stages and check the input data before plotting the McCabe-Thiele graph.

Distillation Designer also offers support for boiling point graphic capable to display vapor-liquid compositions. You can perform q-Line calculations using component thermodynamic properties. The generated graphs can be easily exported by dragging and dropping them directly to your Mac’s desktop.

From Distillation Designer’s main window you can select the desired binary mixture and define the data set via the “Data Set” slide sheet. From here you can manually insert the data and specify the molecular weight, latent heat and specific heat of both elements. The left panel helps you define the feed along with the distillate conditions and specify the optimum factor.

Distillation Designer is an easy-to-use utility that comes as a solution for students studying chemical engineering.