Patent Document ID: 4047004
Application ID: 05689262
Patent Flag: 1

Claim One:
1. In separation processes wherein a multicomponent feed stream in which the relative volatility of the individual components thereof are relatively insensitive to changes in temperature is supplied to a multi-stage fractionating tower, the method comprising: performing heat, material and equilibrium balances for the stages of said tower to determine a singla principal variable S at each stage representing the product of the flow ratio times the equilibrium constant of a base component at the temperature of that stage and with initially assumed values representative of constant relative volatilities of said components based upon assumed temperatures, and repeating the heat, material and equilibrium balances with new values for said constant relative volatilities based upon the newly found temperatures for the respective stages to determine a new value of the principal variable S at each stage until the last newly found temperatures substantially correspond with the assumed temperatures.