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Approximate design of fully thermally coupled distillation columns

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Abstract

An approximate design procedure for fully thermally coupled distillation columns (FTCDCs) is proposed and applied to example ternary systems. The procedure gives a fast solution of structural and operation design for a preliminary study of the FTCDC. The structural information resolves the design difficulty, caused from the interlinking streams of the column, which is encountered when a conventional design procedure is implemented. The design outcome explains that how the thermodynamic efficiency of the FTCDC is higher than that of a conventional two-column system and how the system of a separate prefractionator is different from a dividing wall structure. From the design result of three example systems with three different feed compositions, the useful performance of the proposed scheme is proved. In addition, the structural design of the FTCDC gives better understanding of the system and leads to high efficiency design of the column.

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Abbreviations

A:

flow rate of component A in feed [mol/h]

B:

flow rate of component B in feed or bottom product [mol/h]

C:

flow rate of component C in feed [mol/h]

D:

overhead product

F:

feed

i:

component

L:

liquid flow rate [mol/h]

NC:

number of components

NF:

feed location

NP:

side product location

NR:

upper interlinking stage in a main column

NS:

lower interlinking stage in a main column

NT:

number of trays in a main column

NT2 :

number of trays in a prefractionator

RP:

liquid split ratio

S:

side product

V:

vapor flow rate [mol/h]

VC:

vapor split ratio

x:

liquid composition [mol fraction]

y:

vapor composition [mol fraction]

α:

relative volatility

Β:

middle component split ratio

Φ:

parameter in Eq. (5)

i:

component i

j:

component j

n:

tray number from bottom

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. of Chem. Eng., Dong-A University, 604-714, Busan, Korea

    Young Han Kim, Masaru Nakaiwa & Kyu Suk Hwang

  2. Energy-Efficient Chemical Systems Group, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, 305-8565, Tsukuba, Japan

    Masaru Nakaiwa

  3. Dept. of Chemical Engineering, Pusan National University, 609-735, Busan, Korea

    Kyu Suk Hwang

Authors
  1. Young Han Kim
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  2. Masaru Nakaiwa
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  3. Kyu Suk Hwang
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Correspondence to Young Han Kim.

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Kim, Y.H., Nakaiwa, M. & Hwang, K.S. Approximate design of fully thermally coupled distillation columns. Korean J. Chem. Eng. 19, 383–390 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02697144

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02697144

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