Insights on the dynamic behavior of thermally coupled distillation columns implemented on processes with recycles

Abstract Thermally coupled distillation systems can provide significant energy savings with respect to the energy requirements of conventional distillation sequences. Their analysis, however, has been typically carried out in isolation of the rest of the process under which these separation systems are to be implemented. In this work, a plantwide control analysis of a thermally coupled distillation system with a side rectifier implemented within a reactor-separator-recycle (RSR) system is presented. The energy implications and dynamic performance of such implementation are discussed. Two case studies are analyzed, one based on an ethylbenzene process and the other one on a benzene chlorination process. Although these processes show different details on their control structures, the results show that in both cases the energy savings provided by the thermally coupled structure can be obtained without a deterioration on the overall process operability.

[1]  Sigurd Skogestad,et al.  Plantwide Control for Economic Optimum Operation of a Recycle Process with Side Reaction , 2011 .

[2]  Ignacio E. Grossmann,et al.  Design of distillation sequences: from conventional to fully thermally coupled distillation systems , 2004, Comput. Chem. Eng..

[4]  Arturo Jiménez,et al.  Design of energy-efficient Petlyuk systems , 1999 .

[5]  S. Skogestad,et al.  Control Structure Selection for Reactor, Separator, and Recycle Processes , 2003 .

[6]  E. F. Vogel,et al.  A plant-wide industrial process control problem , 1993 .

[7]  Ilkka Turunen,et al.  Energy saving and capital cost evaluation in distillation column sequences with a divided wall column , 2009 .

[8]  Arturo Jiménez-Gutiérrez,et al.  Steady state analysis of snowball effects for reaction-separation-recycle systems with thermally coupled distillation sequences , 2011 .

[9]  Ignacio E. Grossmann,et al.  Optimal synthesis of complex distillation columns using rigorous models , 2005, Comput. Chem. Eng..

[10]  Michel Perrier,et al.  Study of the divided wall column controllability: influence of design and operation , 2000 .

[11]  William L. Luyben,et al.  Simple Regulatory Control of the Eastman Process , 1996 .

[12]  Gade Pandu Rangaiah,et al.  Plantwide control : recent developments and applications , 2012 .

[13]  Sigurd Skogestad,et al.  Reactor/separator processes with recycles-2. Design for composition control , 2003, Comput. Chem. Eng..

[14]  Achim Kienle,et al.  Nonlinear behavior of reactor separator networks : influence of separator control structure , 2003 .

[15]  Sigurd Skogestad,et al.  Control structure design for complete chemical plants , 2004, Comput. Chem. Eng..

[16]  Arturo Jiménez,et al.  Analysis of control properties of conventional and nonconventional distillation sequences , 2001 .

[17]  W. Luyben.  Snowball effects in reactor/separator processes with recycle , 1994 .

[18]  Jeffrey D. Ward,et al.  Importance of Process Chemistry in Selecting the Operating Policy for Plants with Recycle , 2004 .

[19]  Christodoulos A. Floudas,et al.  Synthesis of isothermal reactor—separator—recycle systems , 1991 .

[20]  K. A. Amminudin,et al.  Design and Optimization of Fully Thermally Coupled Distillation Columns: Part 1: Preliminary Design and Optimization Methodology , 2001 .

[21]  Sigurd Skogestad,et al.  Application of Plantwide Control to the HDA Process. IIRegulatory Control , 2007 .

[22]  C. Triantafyllou.  The Design and Optimisation of Fully Thermally Coupled Distillation Columns , 1992 .

[23]  Duncan A. Mellichamp,et al.  Steady-State Operating Policies for Plants with Multiple Reactions of Equal Overall Order , 2006 .

[24]  Arturo Jiménez,et al.  Controllability Analysis of Thermally Coupled Distillation Systems , 1999 .

[25]  W. Luyben.  Dynamics and control of recycle systems. 1. Simple open-loop and closed-loop systems , 1993 .

[26]  William L. Luyben.  Plantwide Dynamic Simulators in Chemical Processing and Control , 2002 .

[27]  Samuel W. Bodman.  The Industrial Practice of Chemical Process Engineering , 1968 .

[28]  Arturo Jiménez-Gutiérrez,et al.  Optimum design of Petlyuk and divided-wall distillation systems using a shortcut model , 2010 .

[29]  Sigurd Skogestad,et al.  The Dos and Don’ts of Distillation Column Control , 2007 .