Comparison of the Economy and Controllability of Pressure Swing Distillation with Two Energy-Saving Modes for Separating a Binary Azeotrope Containing Lower Alcohols

Abstract

The pressure swing distillation (PSD) with two different energy-saving modes are put forward to separate a binary azeotrope containing lower alcohols: benzene/methanol. A comparison of the economy and controllability for the partial and fully heat integrated pressure swing distillation (HIPSD) is made by detailed simulation analysis. The optimal operating parameters of partial and fully HIPSD processes are obtained by minimizing total annual cost (TAC). These results show that the fully HIPSD mode saves 5.88% TAC compared with the partial HIPSD mode. Meanwhile, this paper proposes that the composition slope profile can help to select the temperature control stage (TCS), when the temperature profile in the column is rising rapidly near the bottom and the maximum of temperature slope value occurs in the bottom of the column. Several control structures are developed to check the rationality of the selection of the TCS and evaluate the industrial application. These results illustrate the composition/temperature cascade control structure for the PSD with two energy-saving modes can both get good control performances, and the purities of benzene and methanol can be brought close back to the initial value. However, the fully HIPSD mode can only handle much smaller composition disturbances (<10%) compared with the partial HIPSD mode. Therefore, the selection of energy-saving modes for the separation process should weigh economy against controllability.