Energy Reduction in a Divided Wall Distillation Column

Abstract

The paper presents the analysis of the thermal efficiency of a dividing wall distillation column and the influence of the feed composition on the reduction of energy consumption compared to a classical scheme of multicomponent mixture separation. The study relays on rigorous simulations in HYSYSTM using thermodynamically equivalent schemes. A case study is presented for the separation of a hydrocarbon mixture: benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, o-xylene separated in three products in a dividing wall column. The dividing wall column solution led to about 40 % energy saving. The efficiency of a dividing wall column increases when the middle component is in large amount in the feed.