Abstract

Novel dividing wall columns (DWCs) can be obtained by converting thermal couplings to liquid‐only transfer streams. Here, we develop a simple four‐step method to generate a complete set of DWCs containing n − 2 dividing walls, for a given n‐component fully thermally coupled (FTC) distillation. Among the novel DWCs, some easy‐to‐operate DWCs possess the property that the vapor flow in every section of the DWC can be controlled during operation by means that are external to the column. We develop a simple method to enumerate all such easy‐to‐operate DWCs. We expect that the easy‐to‐operate DWCs can be operated close‐to‐optimality; leading to a successful industrial implementation of the n‐component (n ≥ 3) FTC distillation in the form of a DWC. As an illustration, we show figures of all easy‐to‐operate DWCs with two dividing walls for the four‐component FTC distillation. © 2015 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 62: 1200–1211, 2016

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