Simulation Optimization and Experimental Study of Cross-Wall Adiabatic Dividing Wall Column Used to Separate Hexane-Heptane-Octane System

Through separation of the hexane-heptane–octane system in a cross-wall adiabatic dividing wall column, the effects of feed position, side-draw position, liquid split ratio, vapor split ratio and their interactions on the energy consumption were analyzed by Aspen Plus under the constant product purity, and the response surface model for the energy consumption was regressed. Based on the restriction on the optimal operating zone, the comparison of different combinations of surrogate models and optimization methods showed that, the combination of the Kriging model and multi-island genetic algorithm(Kriging-MIGA) had better prediction ability than the combination of the response surface model and partial derivative method(RSM-PD), and RSM-PD had better optimization effect than Kriging-MIGA. With a self-made cross-wall adiabatic dividing wall column, the temperature at measuring points and the energy consumption were measured during experiments, the comparison between measured values and simulated ones demonstrated that the optimized values of variables searched by RSM-PD and Kriging-MIGA could be both used as the optimum technological conditions since the experimental reliability was ensured, with the optimum technological conditions shown below: The feed position is 6, the side-draw position is 7, the combinations of liquid split ratio and vapor split ratio are [0.14, 0.5] and [0.16, 0.52], respectively. RSM-PD and Kriging-MIGA can provide the appropriate optimization methods for the dividing wall column.

Energy conserving effects of dividing wall column

The energy-conserving performance of dividing wall column(DWC) is discussed in this paper. The heat transfer through the dividing wall is considered and the results are compared with that of common heat insulation dividing wall column(HIDWC). Based on the thermodynamic analysis of heat transfer dividing wall column(HTDWC) and HIDWC, both computer simulation and experiments are employed to analyze the energyconserving situation. Mixtures of n-hexane, n-heptane and n-octane are chosen as the example for separation.The results show that the energy consumption of HTDWC is 50.3% less than that of conventional distillation column, while it is 46.4% less than that of HIDWC. It indicates that DWC is efficient on separating threecomponent mixtures and HTDWC can save more energy than HIDWC. Thus it is necessary to consider the heat transfer while applying DWC to industry.

A novel kind of multiple steady states characteristics in the dividing wall column

In this article, one kind of multiple steady states(MSS) phenomenon was investigated for a dividing wall column(DWC). The four-section model constructed in Aspen Plus was employed to simulate two DWC cases: mixture of n-hexane, n-heptane and n-octane;system of methanol, ethanol and n-propanol. It can be seen that there is a range of vapor split ratio in which multiple solutions of reflux ratio exist for fixed DWC configuration with the same feed and product streams. The width and the curve shapes of the MSS region, and the number of solutions change with the liquid split ratio. This MSS phenomenon was further explained using the component recovery around the prefractionator and the component recycling flow inside the DWC. This MSS phenomenon is helpful for DWC design by knowing the probable existence of multiple solutions in advance.

Experimental and simulation of the reactive dividing wall column based on ethyl acetate synthesis

Reactive dividing wall column(RDWC) is a highly integrated unit which combines reaction distillation(RD) with dividing wall column separation technology into one shell, and it realized the chemical reaction and the separation of multiple product fractions simultaneously. In this paper, the reaction of esterification with acetic acid and ethanol to produce ethyl acetate was used as the research system, experiments and simulations of the RDWC were carried out. This system in the traditional process mostly used the homogeneous catalyst(e.g. sulfuric acid). However, in view of the corrosion of the equipment caused by the acidity of the catalyst, we used the heterogeneous catalysts – iron exchange resins – Amberlyst15 and proposed a novel catalyst loading method. Firstly,the reliability of the model of the simulation was verified by the experimental study on the change of liquid split ratio and reflux ratio. After that, the four-column model was established in Aspen Plus to analyze the effects of the amount of azeotropic agent, reflux ratio and acetic acid concentration. Finally, for a fair comparison, the economic analysis was conducted between traditional RD column and RDWC. The results showed that RDWC can save34.7% of total operating costs and 18.5% of TAC.

Numerical Investigation on Effect of Vapor Split Ratio to Performance and Operability for Dividing Wall Column

Operability problem of dividing wall column (DWC) raised by vapor split was investigated by numerically analyzing four cases defined by different compositions of a three-component mixture. DWCs were firstly designed for each case by optimizing the vapor split to the two sides of the dividing wall, and then their feasibilities and total annual costs in operation were evaluated against different vapor split ratios. The analysis on the operability of the DWC for four cases was made based on two scenarios: (1) vapor split is shifted by the vapor resistance difference between the column sections in the two sides of the dividing wall and (2) the feed composition is changed. It was demonstrated that the positioning of the dividing wall and the decision on the vapor split may affect significantly the operability of a DWC.

Optimization of Dividing Wall Column with Heat Transfer Process Across the Wall for Feed Properties Variation

This paper investigates the thermal-coupled effect across the wall and the optimal heat transfer region of the wall for enhancing the energy saving effect of dividing wall column (DWC), and also studies the effects of feed thermal condition (q) and middle component composition of feed (cB) on the heat transfer process, the optimal heat transfer region, and the maximum heat transfer quantity across the wall. The simulation results show that the maximum heat transfer quantity across the wall and the potential for energy saving increase with the increase of q, while with the limitation of temperature difference across the wall, the beneficial heat transfer effect between certain range of stages, which are involved in the optimal heat transfer region, cannot be realized completely for a specific value of q. Besides, compared with q, a changing cB does not change the degree of realizing the beneficial heat transfer effect, but can bring about the variation of liquid split ratio (RL) and vapor split ratio (Rv). Thus, for achieving a maximum energy-saving effect of DWC, different q and cB need to find its own corresponding suitable heat transfer process across the wall.

Reactive dividing wall column for hydrolysis of methyl acetate:Design and control

Reactive distillation and dividing wall column distillation are two kinds of effective separation technologies,and their integrated configuration,reactive dividing wall column(RDWC),presents attractive advantages.In this study,the rigorous simulation of RDWC for methyl acetate hydrolysis is performed,and sensitivity analysis is conducted to obtain the minimum reboiler duty.Then a comparison is made between the conventional process and RDWC process,and it shows that 20.1% energy savings can be achieved by RDWC process.In addition,the dynamic characteristic of RDWC is studied and an effective control strategy is proposed.The simple PI control scheme with three temperature loops can obtain reasonable control performance and maintain products at desired purities.It is proved that this RDWC process is an energy efficiency alternative with good controllability.

Composition control and temperature inferential control of dividing wall column based on model predictive control and PI strategies

The dividing wall column （DWC） is considered as a major breakthrough in distillation technology and has good prospect of industrialization. Model predictive control （MPC） is an advanced control strategy that has acquired extensive applications in various industries. In this study, MPC is applied to the process for separating ethanol, n-propanol, and n-butanol ternary mixture in a fully thermally coupled DWC. Both composition control and tem- perature inferent/al control are considered. The multiobjective genetic algor/thm function ＂gamult/obj＂ in Matlab is used for the weight tuning of MPC. Comparisons are made between the control performances of MPC and PI strategies. Simulation results show that although both MPC and PI schemes can stabilize the DWC in case of feed disturbances, MPC generally behaves better than the PI strategy for both composition control and tempera- ture inferential control, resulting in a more stable and superior performance with lower values of integral of squared error （ISE）.

Shortcut Method of Design and Energy-Saving Analysis of Sargent Dividing Wall Column

The Sargent dividing wall column can implement four products separation sequences in one column based on Fully Thermally Coupled Distillation Column. The initial design parameters are required for the design optimization or dynamic control of the Sargent dividing wall column, and in order to make the rigorous simulation of the Sargent dividing wall column more conducive to convergence, a ten column model for complex Sargent column is established in this paper,and the shortcut design method of this model is proposed. The internal minimum vapor and liquid flow are obtained by the Underwood equations and the mass balance method and the V-min method. The separation for a 4-component shortcut mixture of pentane, hexane, heptane and octane was considered, while the initial values of design parameters and the ratio of vapor-liquid distribution of each column were calculated by using the shortcut design method of a ten column model. And by comparing the shortcut calculations with rigorous simulation results, the practicality and reliability of shortcut calculations were verified. The reason for energy saving was analyzed based on back-mixing. A virtual heat exchanger is proposed to make the Sargent dividing wall column more energy efficient.

Control of reactive dividing wall column for selective hydrogenation and separation of C3 stream

In our previous work, the reactive dividing wall column(RDWC) was proposed and proved to be effective for selective hydrogenation and separation of C3 stream. In the present paper, the dynamics and control of the proposed RDWC are investigated. Four control structures including composition and temperature controls are proposed. The feed forward controllers are employed in the four control strategies to shorten the dynamic response time, reduce the maximum deviations and offer an immediate adjustment. The control structures are compared by applying them into the RDWC system with 20% disturbances in both the feed flow rate and the feed compositions, and the results are discussed.

Reactive dividing-wall column for the co-production of ethyl acetate and n-butyl acetate

Reactive dividing-wall column(RDWC) technology plays a critical role in the energy saving and high efficiency of chemical process.In this article, the process of co-producing ethyl acetate(EA) and n-butyl acetate(BA) with RDWC was studied.BA was not only the product, but also acted as entrainer to remove the water generated by the two esterification reactions.Experiments and simulations of the co-production process were carried out.It was found that the experimental results were in good agreement with the simulation results.Two kinds of RDWC structures(RDWC-FC and RDWC-RS) were proposed, and the co-production process operating parameters of the two types of RDWC were optimized by Aspen Plus respectively.The optimal operating parameters of the RDWC-FC were determined as follows: 0.6 of the reflux ratio of aqueous phase(RR), 0.66 of the vapor split(R_V) and 0.51 of the liquid split(R_L).And the optimal operating parameters of the RDWC-RS were shown as follows: RR was 0.295 and R_V was 0.61.Furthermore, the energy saving analysis of the co-production process was based on the annual output of 10000 tons of EA, compared with the traditional reaction distillation(RD) to prepare EA and BA, the reboiler duty of the RDWC-FC column could save 20.4%, TAC saving 23.6%; RDWC-RS reboiler energy consumption could save 17.0%, TAC 22.2%.

Application of the dividing wall column to olefin separation in fluidization methanol to propylene(FMTP) process

Dividing wall column(DWC)is shown to be energy efficient compared to conventional column sequence for multi components separation,which is used for olefin separation in fluidization methanol to propylene process in the present work.Detailed design for pilot DWC was performed and five control structures,i.e.composition control(CC),temperature control(TC),composition-temperature control(CC-TC),temperature difference control(TDC),double temperature difference control(DTDC)were proposed to circumvent feed disturbance.Sensitivity analysis and singular value decomposition(SVD)were used as criterion to select the controlled temperature locations in TC,CC-TC,TDC and DTDC control loops.The steady simulation result demonstrates that 25.7% and 30.2% duty can be saved for condenser and reboiler by substituting conventional column sequence with DWC,respectively.As for control structure selection,TC and TDC perform better than other three control schemes with smaller maximum deviation and shorter settling time.

Investigation of the operability for four-product dividing wall column with two partition walls

For separating some specific four component mixtures into four products, the four-product dividing wall column(FPDWC) with two partition walls can provide the same utility consumption with the extended Petlyuk configuration, although with structure simplicity. However, the reluctance to implement this kind of four product dividing wall column industrially also consists in the two uncontrollable vapor splits associated with it. The vapor split ratios are set at the design stage and might not be the optimal value for changed feed composition, thus minimum energy consumption could not be ensured. In the present work, a sequential iterative optimization approach was initially employed to determine the parameters of cost-effective FPDWC. Then the effect of maintaining the vapor split ratios at their nominal value on the energy penalty was investigated for the FPDWC with two partition walls, in case of feed composition disturbance. The result shows that no more than + 2% above the optimal energy requirements could be ensured for 20% feed composition disturbances, which is encouraging for industrial implementation.

Simulated annealing-based optimal design of energy efficient ternary extractive dividing wall distillation process for separating benzene-isopropanol-water mixtures

This article investigates the performances of different extractive distillation processes intensified with dividing-wall column for separating benzene-isopropanol-water ternary mixtures.All the processes with ethylene glycol as solvent are optimized with the minimal total annual cost(TAC)as target.In order to get the global optimal solution intelligently,an improved simulated annealing algorithm is adopted,which is programmed in MATLAB and linked to Aspen Plus.The results show that the extractive dividing wall column-solvent(EDWC-S)process consisting of an extractive dividing wall column and a solvent recovery column is the best scheme.It can reduce the TAC by 28.65%and CO_(2) emissions by 32.84% compared to the conventional triple-column extractive distillation process.

隔壁塔(DWC)在NMP精制过程中的应用

传统的N-甲基吡咯烷酮(NMP)精制要需常压塔、负压脱水塔和精馏塔三塔串联操作,过程复杂且能耗较高。本文首先对某企业的NMP精制过程进行了数据采集、模拟计算及优化,并以优化的传统工艺年总成本(TAC)为基准,与侧线采出和隔壁塔工艺(DWC)进行对比。结果显示:当前运行工艺优化后可节能30%以上。DWC比优化传统工艺操作操作费用高4.56%,但投资费用低约15.15%,TAC比传统工艺降低近2.4%,具有显著的优越性。

隔壁精馏塔分离氯丙烯工艺模拟优化

针对氯丙烯生产过程中的高能耗问题,提出使用隔壁精馏塔代替常规双塔脱轻脱重分离的新工艺。以某厂3万t/a氯丙烯生产装置为对象,使用Aspen Plus软件对原工艺和改进工艺进行模拟优化,考察塔板数、隔板长度、隔板位置、汽相分配比、液相分配比、进料位置及侧线采出位置对热负荷和经济效益的影响。结果表明:理论板数为52块,垂直隔板位于塔内14块板到43块板之间,质量回流比为59,汽相分配比与液相分配比(质量流量比)分别为1.20和0.32,进料位置为22块理论板,侧线采出位置为33块理论板时,隔壁塔的节能效果最佳,对比传统双塔工艺塔顶冷凝器可节能47.9%、塔底再沸器可节能45.2%、年度总费用降低37.9%。

HeOH与BuAc酯交换反应共强化系统的评价

鉴于己醇(HeOH)与乙酸正丁酯(BuAc)酯交换反应的不利动力学和热力学特性,采用基于过程强化的反应蒸馏装置是一条有利的途径。常规反应蒸馏塔(CRDC)虽然考虑了反应-分离操作之间的相互耦合,但却完全忽略了分离操作之间的相互耦合,必然导致过大的不可逆性同时可进一步降低系统的稳态性能。单隔离壁反应蒸馏塔(R-SDWDC)的确在一定程度上考虑了分离操作之间的相互耦合,但其外部限定耦合方式致使仍然无法有效降低分离操作的不可逆性。本文基于本课题组最近提出的共强化原理给出了两种双隔离壁反应蒸馏塔(R-DDWDC)的拓扑结构,并将其与CRDC和R-SDWDC进行了深入系统的比较与分析。结果表明,R-DDWDC明显优于CRDC和R-SDWDC,是实施HeOH与BuAc酯交换反应的最佳拓扑结构。得出这一结论的根本原因在于R-DDWDC既能充分考虑分离操作之间的相互耦合,又能有效协调R-DDWDC与反应-分离操作耦合子系统的相互作用。虽然上述结论是通过具有最有利相对挥发度排序的HeOH与BuAc酯交换反应所得到的,但对于任何具有不利动力学与热力学特性的该类反应物系均具有普遍性的指导意义。

蒸汽再压缩隔离壁蒸馏塔的非对称温度控制

蒸汽再压缩热泵(VRHP)可以提升隔离壁蒸馏塔(DWDC)的稳态性能,但也加剧了被控变量间的相互耦合,给蒸汽再压缩隔离壁蒸馏塔(VRHP-DWDC)的平稳操作带来困难。针对分离中间组分(甲苯)绝对占优的苯/甲苯/二甲苯三元物系的VRHP-DWDC,通过非方相对增益矩阵对操纵与被控变量进行配对,并依据闭环响应分析给出了一种新颖的单温度分散控制系统。由于采用塔顶/侧线热泵压缩机分别控制侧线段/公共提馏段的灵敏板温度,不但加快了侧线产品的响应速度,而且降低了塔底产品的峰值偏差。鉴于高度内部耦合以及失真的温度与组分对应关系导致二者存在较大的稳态偏差,采用双温差结构进一步强化系统设计,由此给出了一种非对称温度控制系统,降低了系统内在非线性因素的影响,因而能够减小侧线和塔底产品的稳态偏差。闭环仿真结果显示了该非对称温度控制系统的优越性。研究表明,VRHP的引入虽然加重了VRHP-DWDC的内部耦合,但也提供了压缩机功率这一潜在操作变量,其较好的控制通道特性与双温差结构的有效应用能在一定程度上改善VRHP-DWDC的闭环操作。

DWC分离三组分混合物的研究

为研究分隔壁塔在分离三组分混合物时的分离特性,采用自制小试装置,以乙醇/正丁醇/正己醇三组分混合物为例,考察进料组成、进料速度、回流比、分配比等因素对分离效果的影响,得出DWC的最佳操作条件;并通过计算,进行DWC和常规二塔流程在分离以上三组分混合物的能耗比较。结果表明,当进料中正丁醇体积分数为60%、乙醇和正己醇的体积分数相当,进料速度1.8 mL/min,分配比1∶2,回流比5∶1时,DWC的分离效果最佳,塔顶采出乙醇的质量分数在96%以上,侧线采出正丁醇的质量分数在98%以上,塔釜中无乙醇;DWC与常规二塔流程相比具有明显的节能效果,冷凝器和再沸器的热负荷分别降低27.2%和23.9%以上。

烷烃类混合碳五馏分分离工艺模拟与优化

利用隔壁精馏塔替代混合碳五馏分原有分离流程中的脱丁烷塔和碳五预分离塔,通过Aspen Plus V12软件对混合碳五馏分的提纯流程进行稳态模拟,在此基础上运用灵敏度分析工具,对隔壁精馏塔的操作参数进行优化。结果表明:采用隔壁精馏塔替代脱丁烷塔和碳五预分离塔,最佳原料进料位置为第11块塔板、最佳质量回流比为5、最佳侧线采出位置为第7块塔板、最佳侧线采出量为500 kg h,气相回流位置为第37块塔板,液相回流位置为第12块塔板;在相同进料条件和相同碳五馏分纯度的前提下,与采用常规精馏工艺相比,采用隔壁塔精馏工艺时冷却能耗降低17.04%,加热能耗降低16.69%。