Reduction of Energy Consumption and Greenhouse Gas Emissions in a Plant for the Separation of Amines

The chemical industry comprises of the companies that produce industrial chemicals. It is central to the modern world economy, converting raw materials into more than 70 000 different products. However, environmental regulations and the risk of climate change are putting pressure on the chemical industry to minimize greenhouse gas emissions. In this work, we use the concept of process intensification (using thermally coupled distillation) to reduce energy consumption and CO2 emissions in a plant for the separation of amines. The results show that the use of thermally coupled distillation sequences can be related to a reduction in energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, and good theoretical control properties in the re-designed plant.