Adistillation column with 100 kmol/h feed of 41 mole % a (and the rest b) produces a distillate product with xd = 0.92 and a bottom stream with xbot = 0.05 of the more volatile species a. cmo is valid and the equilibrium data is give by y = ax/[1+(a-1)x], where a = 2.86.

a) if the feed is saturated liquid, determine the minimum reflux ratio.

b) if the feed is saturated vapor, determine the minimum reflux ratio. for question c and d, the reflux ratio is 1.5 and the feed is a saturated mixture with q = 0.45.

c) determine the liquid flow rate lbar in the stripping section of the column.

d) determine the mole fraction of a in the vapor stream entering the top equilibrium stage.