Dynamic simulation of a multicomponent distillation column with asymmetric dynamics

The dynamic behavior of an existing industrial distillation column with eight components and twenty trays has been investigated. The column exhibits “asymmetric dynamics”, since the time required to move from one steady state to another can vary significantly depending on the direction of the change. The column also exhibits highly nonlinear behavior and very long response times for intermediate ranges of step disturbances. These long response times are associated with the migration of key components through the column. On a etudie le comportement dynamique d'une colonne a distiller industrielle existante impliquant huit composants et vingt plateaux. La colonne presente une “dissymetrie de comportement”, vu que le temps requis pour passer d'un regime stationnaire a un autre peut varier de facon significative selon la direction du changement. La colonne presente aussi un comportement non lineaire et des tres longs temps de reponse, pour les gammes intermediaires de perturbations par echelons; ces long temps des reponses sont associes a la migration des principaux composants a travers la colonne.