Vertical partition in fractionating tower to configure a novel heat integrated distillation hybridized with vapor recompression

Abstract

This work aims at introducing the vapor recompression (VRC) mechanism in a novel divided-wall heat integrated distillation column (HIDiC). To generate an internal heat source and utilize it in an optimal way, the cylindrical shell of the distillation column is proposed to divide by a metal wall into two semi-cylinders to operate within the HIDiC framework. This divided-wall HIDiC leads to exchange the heat between two diabatic sections, thus reducing the external supply of thermal utilities in both the reboiler and condenser. Introducing thermal coupling further between the overhead vapor of high pressure (HP) column (i.e., right semi-cylinder) and the reboiler content of low pressure (LP) column (i.e., left semi-cylinder) under the framework of VRC scheme, the resulting vapor recompressed divided-wall HIDiC shows its potential in further cutting the utility consumption and cost. Using two performance indicators, namely energy savings and total annual cost (TAC) or equivalent payback period, the performance improvement achieved through the proposed heat integrations is quantified through a simulated multicomponent reactive distillation.