A Dynamic Modeling For Cyclic Total Reflux Batch Distillation

Cyclic total reflux(CTR) batch distillation is a promising mode of the process but lacking of appropriate modeling for the period of filling the reflux drum.A new dynamic modeling method for the simulation of CTR batch distillation is proposed in this work,in which the changes in column holdup and liquid flow rate during the filling of the drum,and the consequent change in valid number of theoretical plates are considered.The effect of drum holdup on operation time is investigated and the optimal drum holdup is obtained from the simulation.The dynamic modeling is compared to the conventional modeling without consideration of change in liquid flow rate. The experimental result shows that the present modeling is more reliable and more accurate,especially for the column with large liquid holdup.

Shortcut Procedure for Inverted Batch Distillation Column (I) Multicomponent Ideal System

Inverted batch distillation column(stripper) is opposed to a conventional batch distillation col-umn(rectifier). It has a storage vessel at the top and products leave the column at the bottom. The batch stripper is favourable to separate mixtures with a small amount of light components by removing the heavy components as bottom products. In this paper, we are presenting a shortcut procedure based on our earlier work for design and simulation of the inverted batch distillation column, which is equivalent to the Fenske-Underwood-Gilliland procedure for continuous distillation. Given a separation task, we propose to compute the minimum number of stages(Nbmin) and the minimum reboil ratio(Rbmin) required in a batch stripper,which are the stages and reboil ratio required in a hypothetical inverted batch distillation column operating in total reboil ratio or having an infinite number of stages, respectively. Then, it is shown that the performance of inverted batch columns with a finite number of stages and reboil ratios could be correlated in Gilliland coordinates with the minimum stages Nbmin and the minimum reboil ratio Rbmin.

The Operation of Draining Column Holdup for Slop Cut Withdrawal in Batch Distillation

The new mode of operation for slop cut withdrawal in batch distillation, i.e., draining Column liquid holdup at the end of slop cut period, was proposed. And the stopping criterion for the operation was investigated, Experiments were carded out with isopropanol-n-propanol binary system and isopropanol-n-propanol-n-butanol ternary system in a distillation column with a liquid collector installed between the reboiler and the column section, Experimental results in a Ф 45mm batch column show that the proposed policy can overcome the flywheel effect caused by column liquid holdup and thus cut down operation time and energy consumption 31%-61%.

Composition Estimation of Reactive Batch Distillation by Using Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System

Composition estimation plays very important role in plant operation and control.Extended Kalman filter(EKF) is one of the most common estimators,which has been used in composition estimation of reactive batch distillation,but its performance is heavily dependent on the thermodynamic modeling of vapor-liquid equilibrium,which is difficult to initialize and tune.In this paper an inferential state estimation scheme based on adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system(ANFIS) ,which is a model base estimator,is employed for composition estimation by using temperature measurements in multicomponent reactive batch distillation.The state estimator is supported by data from a complete dynamic model that includes component and energy balance equations accompanied with thermodynamic relations and reaction kinetics.The mathematical model is verified by pilot plant data.The simulation results show that the ANFIS estimator provides reliable and accurate estimation for component concentrations in reactive batch distillation.The estimated states form a basis for improving the performance of reactive batch distillation either through decision making of an operator or through an automatic closed-loop control scheme.

Overhead Concentration Platform of Total Withdrawal Operation in Cyclic Total Reflux Batch Distillation

The total withdrawal operation is an inevitable section in cyclic total reflux batch distillation.In the operation,an interesting phenomenon "overhead concentration platform"(OCP) appears,which is defined as a period of time with high overhead concentrations when the operation is changed from total reflux to total withdrawal.The OCP phenomenon and its influential factors,such as the theoretical stage number,feed concentration,and feed composition,are examined by simulations and experiments.The experimental equipment is a column with random packings.It is shown that the number of theoretical stages influences the OCP more significantly than the other factors.

Design and control of a middle-vessel batch distillation for separating DMC–EMC–DEC mixture

In this paper, the mixture of dimethyl carbonate, ethyl methyl carbonate and diethyl carbonate was separated by middle-vessel batch distillation with feeding in middle-vessel and process control characteristics were researched. The steady state simulation results in Aspen Plus were exported to Aspen Dynamics. Then control effect of liquid level control with HighSelector, composition control(structure1, structure2) and temperature control(proportional action, proportional integration action) were proposed. Composition control structure 2 and temperature control with PI action were investigated to achieve a good control effect.

Total Reflux Operation of Multivessel Batch Distillation for Separation of Binary Mixtures

Multivessel batch distillation(MVBD) is mainly used to separate mixtures with more than two components. In this article, a new operation mode with MVBD is proposed for separation of binary mixtures under total reflux. A mathematic model is setup for the simulation. The proposed operation policy and the regular operation with constant reflux are compared theoretically and experimentally. The results show that the new operation mode has great advantages in time saving and operation flexibility. MVBD presents great potential for separation with high efficiency.

A Combination of Varying Column Pressure and Total Reflux-Total Efflux in Batch Distillation Operation

A novel operation of batch distillation-combination of varyingcolumn pressure and total reflux-total efflux is studiedexperimentally. In the operation, the product is accumulated at thetop of the column under total reflux and then drained off completely,and the column pressure is varying in the whole process. This processhas been industrialized successfully with large profits. Theconventional model of batch distillation is improved by this methodeffectively: the separation efficiency and the yield of product areincreased greatly, the operation time is shortened and the productioncost is cut down. Moreover, the amount of condensation water isdecreased and the over-high reboiler temperature is lowered.

Minimum Amount of Slop Cut in Batch Distillation

The pulse-control operation technique which alternates between total reflux operation and total efflux operation in batch distillation was studied along with the minimum amount of slop cut. Total reflux time was confirmed by dynamic simulation, and total efflux time was adopted by statistic method. For the mixture of hexane and cyclohexane and the traditional constant reflux ratio operation strategy, the amount of slop cut is 1.8-2.1 times of the minimum amount of slop cut; whereas for the pulse-control operation strategy, it is 1. 2 -1.4 times of the minimum amount of slop cut. So compared with the traditional constant reflux ratio operation, the pulse-control operation can decrease the amount of slop cut and operation time, and meanwhile, enhance separation efficiency and yield.

Improving the accuracy of mechanistic models for dynamic batch distillation enabled by neural network:An industrial plant case

Neural networks are often viewed as pure‘black box’models,lacking interpretability and extrapolation capabilities of pure mechanistic models.This work proposes a new approach that,with the help of neural networks,improves the conformity of the first-principal model to the actual plant.The final result is still a first-principal model rather than a hybrid model,which maintains the advantage of the high interpretability of first-principal model.This work better simulates industrial batch distillation which separates four components:water,ethylene glycol,diethylene glycol,and triethylene glycol.GRU(gated recurrent neural network)and LSTM(long short-term memory)were used to obtain empirical parameters of mechanistic model that are difficult to measure directly.These were used to improve the empirical processes in mechanistic model,thus correcting unreasonable model assumptions and achieving better predictability for batch distillation.The proposed method was verified using a case study from one industrial plant case,and the results show its advancement in improving model predictions and the potential to extend to other similar systems.

Design and Operation of Batch Extractive Distillation with Two Reboilers

This paper proposes a modified operation mode of batch extractive distillation with two reboilers. The seoaration of ethanol and water using as ethylene glycol is well done to validate the feasibility, of this mode. The pilot-plant experimental data under the identical operational conditions between the regular mode and the modified mode are in particular discussed. The studied results prove more practical advantages of tile.modified mode over the regular mode such as easier operation control, more flexibility and higher separation efficiency etc. So it suppues certain guidance for the industrial application of batch extractive distillation process.

A Quasi-steady-state Model for Numerical Simulation of Batch Extractive Distillation

Batch extractive distillation(BED)is a special method used in the distillation process by adding a solvent into the batch distillation column to alter the relative volatility of the components and improve the separation. A comprehensive design and simulation method is required due to the complexity of BED.In this study,a quasi-steady-state model for BED is proposed,the derivation and solution of the model are presented.This shortcut model can be used to simulate the composition and temperature of the reboiler,the top and other plates of the column in a batch extractive distillation operation.The calculated values are in good agreement with the experimental data.The results show that the quasi-steady-state model is a practical method because of some advantages such as high precision and fast calculation.

Batch Extractive Distillation in a Column with a Middle Vessel

Batch extractive distillation was studied in a column with amiddle vessel. The process was simulated by a constant holdup modeland solved by two point implicit method. Acetone and methanol mixturewas separated in such a setup using water as solvent. The simulationagrees well with experimental results. The experimental andsimulation results show that the solvent at the bottom and theproduct at the top of the column can be withdrawn simulataneously fora long period of time. It needs more time for the solvent to reachhigh purity than that required for the more volatile component toreach high purity, so that the time to withdraw solvent from thebottom is delayed.

Separation of Benzene and Cyclohexane by Batch Extractive Distillation

Azeotropic liquid mixture cannot be separated by conventional distillation. But extractive distillation or combination of the two can be valid for them. An experiment to separate benzene and cyclohexane by batch extractive distillation was carried out with N, N-dimethylformide （DMF）, dime- thyl sulfoxide （DMSO） and their mixture as extractive solvent. The effect of the operation parameters such as solvent flow rate and reflux ratio on the separation was studied under the same operating conditions. The results show that the separation effect was improved with the increase of solvent flow rate and the reflux ratio; all the three extractive solvents can separate benzene and cyciohexane, with DMF being the most efficient one, the mixture the second, and DMSO the least. In the experiment the best operation conditions are with DMF as extractive solvent, the solvent flow rate being 12.33 mUmin, and the reflux ratio being 6. As a result, we can get cyclohexane from the top of tower with the average product content being 86.98%, and its recovering ratio being 83.10%.

Shortcut Algorithm for Simulation of Batch Extractive Distillation

The batch extractive distillation (BED) process has the advantages of both batch and extractive distillation. It is one of the most promising means for the separation of azeotropic and close-boiling point systems. However, so far this process has not been applied in industry due to its over-complexity. A new shortcut model was proposed to simulate the operation of the batch extractive distillation operations. This algorithm is based on the assumption that the batch extractive distillation column can be considered as a continuous extractive distillation column with changing feed at any time. Namely, the whole batch process is simulated as a succession of a finite number of steady states of short duration, in which holdup is considered as constant mole. For each period of time the batch extractive distillation process is solved through the algorithm for continuous extractive distillation. Finally, the practical implementation of the shortcut model is discussed and data from the laboratory and literature are presented. It is found that this model has better adaptability, more satisfactory accuracy and less calculative load than previous rigorous model. Hence the algorithm for simulating BED is verified.

A convenient preparation of ethoxymethoxymethane and its effect on the solubility of methanol/gasoline blends

Ethoxymethxoymethane （EMM） was conveniently prepared by acetalization of aqueous formaldehyde with methanol andethanol in a batch reactive distillation mode using a cation-exchange resin catalyst for the first time. EMM was found tO be asignificant cosolvent of methano1/gasoline blends, ？ 2009 Ai You Hao. Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Chinese Chemical Society. All fights reserved.

The energy consumption in a batch stripper and a batch rectifier

The energy consumption in a batch rectifier and a batch stripper was investigated with a shortcut mathematical model.The minimum energy consumption of a batch stripper was compared to that of a batch rectifier under“general constant reflux”and“general constant distillate composition”with the ratio of minimum energy consumption E_(S)/E_(R).When the feed contains a large amount of light component,the product purity specification is low and the relative volatility is small,the minimum energy consumption of a batch stripper is less than that of a batch rectifier under“general constant reflux”and“general constant distillate composition”.When the feed contains a small amount of light component,the product purity specification is very high and the relative volatility is low,a batch stripper can also consume less energy only in the“general constant distillate composition”operation mode.In other cases,a batch rectifier can consume less energy.