Study on the feasibility of split crossing distillation compartment boundary

This paper proposes a graphical method for analyzing the feasibility of splits crossing distillation compartment boundaries. In this method, the univolatility curve, which reflects the inflexions of residue curves, and the volatility order diagram, are employed. The analysis shows that, for ternary system with one binary minimum azeotrope, splits can only cross the distillation compartment boundary in one direction. For a given feed composition, the feasible product compositions lie in a small region bounded by two straight lines: one passes through the stable (or unstable) node and feed point; the other is the transition line passing through the feed point and tangential to the feed residue curve. Aspen Plus simulation is used to check the feasibility of splits and product composition regions. The results are in good agreement with the analysis. The proposed method is simpler than the existing residue curve map based tools but does effectively predict feasibility with the same efficiency. It can only apply to ternary mixtures at present.

[1]  Michael F. Doherty,et al.  Design and synthesis of homogeneous azeotropic distillations. 2. Minimum reflux calculations for nonideal and azeotropic columns , 1985 .

[2]  J. Stichlmair,et al.  Separation regions and processes of zeotropic and azeotropic ternary distillation , 1992 .

[3]  Manfred Morari,et al.  The Curious Behavior of Homogeneous Azeotropic Distillation-Implications for Entrainer Selection , 1992 .

[4]  Sigurd Skogestad,et al.  Azeotropic phase equilibrium diagrams: a survey , 2003 .

[5]  Michael F. Doherty,et al.  On the dynamics of distillation processes—I: The simple distillation of multicomponent non-reacting, homogeneous liquid mixtures , 1978 .

[6]  Michael F. Doherty,et al.  On the dynamics of distillation processes—III: The topological structure of ternary residue curve maps , 1979 .

[7]  Manfred Morari,et al.  Homogeneous azeotropic distillation: Comparing entrainers , 1991 .

[8]  Warren D. Seider,et al.  Journal review. Azeotropic distillation , 1996 .

[9]  M. Doherty,et al.  Design and synthesis of homogeneous azeotropic distillations. 1. Problem formulation for a single column , 1985 .

[10]  Arthur W. Westerberg,et al.  Algorithm for Generating the Distillation Regions for Azeotropic Multicomponent Mixtures , 1997 .

[11]  Megan Jobson,et al.  Multicomponent homogeneous azeotropic distillation. 3. Column sequence synthesis. , 2001 .

[12]  A. W. Westerberg,et al.  The product composition regions of single-feed azeotropic distillation columns , 1992 .

[13]  M. F. Malone,et al.  Feasibility of separations for distillation of nonideal ternary mixtures , 1993 .

[14]  Megan Jobson,et al.  Multicomponent homogeneous azeotropic distillation 1. Assessing product feasibility , 2001 .

[15]  E. Blass,et al.  Best products of homogeneous azeotropic distillations , 1994 .

[16]  Michael F. Malone,et al.  Structure of Distillation Regions for Multicomponent Azeotropic Mixtures , 1998 .