USING EXERGY LOSS PROFILES AND ENTHALPY-TEMPERATURE PROFILES FOR THE EVALUATION OF THERMODYNAMIC EFFICIENCY IN DISTILLATION COLUMNS

Abstract

In this work the temperature-enthalpy profile and the exergy loss profile are used together
to improve thermodynamic efficiency of distillation columns, by identifying possible
benefits of using side exchangers. The method proposed is to compute the exergy loss
profile and to analyse the distribution of the losses across the column stages. The present
work aims at applying the stage-by-stage exergy analysis to the distillation of non-ideal
mixtures, e.g. methanol/water. For these systems the use of thermodynamic excess
properties is required: Gibbs free energy for phase equilibrium and enthalpy of solution
for energy balance. Initial studies showed that the enthalpy of solution has a small effect
on the overall energy balance of the distillation column, but a significant impact on the
exergy loss profiles. Some profiles even showed a violation of the second law of
thermodynamics, with entropy being destroyed on some stages, clearly indicating that a
wrong approach to exergy calculation was being used.A model for exergy calculations of
non-ideal solutions is presented. The exergy values so computed are then checked by a
consistency test, using the reversible column profile. Finally, the exergy procedures are
used to study a typical methanol/water distillation columns, where the exergy profiles are
used to identify scope for intermediate heat exchange.