Identification of the Optimal Distillation Sequence Based on the Integration of Reaction-Distillation-Recycle System

Abstract

A general method is proposed to target the optimal N-component distillation sequence with the integration of the reaction-distillation-recycle (RDR) system considered. Considering the product distribution of each column and the composition of recycle, a universal logical algorithm is deduced to identify the distillation sequence by the partition method. With the reaction kinetics integrated into this algorithm, a model is built to evaluate the effect of reaction/recycle parameters on the investment and operation cost of each distillation sequence, and the corresponding cost curve is plotted. The optimal one at different reaction and recycle parameters are identified with all distillation sequences compared intuitively. A case of styrene unit is studied and the results show that the method can provide important guidance for the initial process design and optimization.