Modeling of the evaporation of liquids and condensation of their vapor during distillation

This paper considers the evaporation process in an evaporator–connecting tube–condenser system under conditions such that the evaporation rate is determined by the evaporation and condensation mechanisms and the hydraulic resistances of the evaporation and condensation compartments and connecting tube. We present a mathematical model and numerical simulation results that demonstrate quantitative patterns of a steady-state evaporation process in a closed evaporation–condensation system. For a particular example of selenium vacuum distillation, we have determined the evaporation coefficient of selenium from experimental data on the temperature dependences of the selenium evaporation rate and saturated vapor pressure.