Heuristic synthesis of nonsharp separation sequences

The preliminary synthesis of ordinary distillation schemes for separating a single feed into desired products is examined. Nonsharp products are emphasized, i.e., when components are desired in more than one product. Such sets lead naturally to columns with incomplete separation of the key component...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:AIChE journal 1988-05, Vol.34 (5), p.763-780
Main Authors: Bamopoulos, George, Nath, Ravindra, Motard, Rodolphe L.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Applied sciences
Chemical engineering
Distillation
Exact sciences and technology
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Summary:The preliminary synthesis of ordinary distillation schemes for separating a single feed into desired products is examined. Nonsharp products are emphasized, i.e., when components are desired in more than one product. Such sets lead naturally to columns with incomplete separation of the key components, including one‐section columns. Stream bypassing around separators and limited stream splitting are permitted. Sequences cannot have separators with identical key components, and only limited product fragmentation is considered. A heuristic ordering of separation options, coupled with a depth‐first application on a pictorial or a matrix representation of a stream, is proposed. Subsequently a best‐first search identifies the few better schemes. Partial sequences are (sub)optimized heuristically. Employing the present methodology on an example problem of four components and products resulted in annual cost savings of 42%, compared to the best sequence isolating the feed components.
ISSN:0001-1541
1547-5905
DOI:10.1002/aic.690340507