Abstract
In extractive distillation, the addition of entrainer may reverse the relative volatility of the feed components causing the component with higher-boiling point to be removed as the distillate from the extractive column. In this study, the energy saving possibility of a three-column extractive distillation system was studied when this phenomenon occurred. Based on a three-column conventional extractive distillation system, an innovative energy-saving extractive distillation process with lower capital investment was developed by combining preconcentration column and extractive distillation column. Two important case studies were investigated to verify the above-mentioned energy and economic advantages: the separation of n-propanol-water using N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) as entrainer and the separation of ethyl acetate–ethanol using furfural as entrainer. In order to separate these two mixtures, first a three-column extractive distillation sequence including a preconcentration column was applied to diluted fresh feedstock. Then, based on this three-column conventional extractive distillation system, an innovative energy-saving distillation process was developed. For the two separated mixtures, based on the method of global economic optimization, a scheme with optimum design variables was developed for both of the conventional distillation and the new proposed distillation processes. Results revealed that the new process offered 22.76% and 17.25% energy-savings respectively. Similar percentage of reduction in total annual costs (TAC) can also be obtained when compared to the conventional distillation process.
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