Higher energy saving with new heat integration arrangement in heat‐integrated distillation column

Abstract

In conventional heat‐integrated distillation columns (HIDiCs), the internal heat exchange is executed between the pressurized rectifying section and the stripping section, which are located at the same elevation. In such a structure, the amount of heat exchanged between two sections depends on the temperature profile of both sections. The resulting enthalpy profile inside the column departs from that in reversible distillation, which is the ideal distillation operation in view of energy conservation. More energy saving may be achieved by providing appropriate arrangement of heat exchanges between sections. The interactive graphical design method to determine the appropriate heat exchange arrangement in a previous paper was developed for a binary system. The design method was extended and applied to a multicomponent system by adopting the idea of a quasi‐binary system. Also, a new HIDiC structure that can realize the outcomes of the proposed design method was developed. The economics of the proposed structure was precisely evaluated through a case study of a commercial scale column. It demonstrated that the proposed structure has attractive economics. © 2015 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 61: 3479–3488, 2015