An internal thermal integration arrangement for multicomponent batch rectifier: Introducing vapor recompression mechanism

Abstract

In the first paper of this series, an internal heat integrated distillation column (HIDiC) configuration is proposed first time for batch processing that shows a substantial improvement in cutting the energy consumption, CO2 emission and cost. Aiming to further boost the potential of this general batch HIDiC rectifier, the heat pump assisted vapor recompression (VRC) mechanism is introduced in it to enhance the use of internal heat source. Proposing a variable manipulation policy, an operating methodology is figured out to run the hybrid batch HIDiC-VRC configuration at transient states. Finally, the batch processing of a ternary hydrocarbon system is used to demonstrate the thermally integrated hybrid configuration, showing its superiority in reducing the degree of irreversibility over the general HIDiC with reference to a conventional standalone structure.