Abstract The separation of a multicomponent mixture using distillation is usually possible in a large number of different sequences, which will provide the same products but have different energy demand. In this contribution, we provide a systematic method to find the optimal column sequence based on exergy demand. The screening of design alternatives is done within a superstructure framework, which allows for the decomposition of the separation sequences into unique separation tasks. The use of the task concept significantly reduces the computational work. The individual separation tasks are evaluated using shortcut methods. For the application to azeotropic mixtures, the mixture topology is determined and feasibility checks are performed for every split. In this context, azeotropes are treated as pseudo-components.
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