Design and control of an energy-efficient triple-column pressure swing distillation configuration for separation of acetone-methanol-hexane mixture

• Published in: Computers & chemical engineering 2022-04, Vol.160, p.107731, Article 107731
• Main Authors: Akinciturk, Tan, Kaymak, Devrim B.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Dynamic control; Heat integration; Pressure-swing distillation; Process design; Ternary azeotropes
• ISSN: 0098-1354; 1873-4375
• DOI: 10.1016/j.compchemeng.2022.107731

•A triple-column pressure-swing distillation process is developed for separation of acetone-methanol-hexane mixture.•The mixture includes three binary and one ternary homogeneous azeotropes.•Two alternative process configurations are proposed based on ternary maps at different pressures, and compared in terms of TAC.•The feasible process configuration is further improved in terms of energy saving by applying heat integration.•An effective plantwide control structure is designed for the feasible heat-integrated process configuration. Although several studies on the design of ternary mixtures with multiple binary azeotropes can be easily found in the existing literature, there are only a few recent design studies dealing with ternary mixtures including both binary and ternary azeotropes. In this study, two alternative triple-column pressure swing distillation (PSD) configurations are proposed for acetone-methanol-hexane mixture including three binary and one ternary minimum boiling homogeneous azeotropes. They are compared based on total annual cost by analyzing ternary maps at different pressures. Results show that methanol-acetone-hexane (M-A-H) separation sequence obtained by a column configuration operating at 0.5, 1 and 5 bar has a better economic performance compared to acetone-methanol-hexane (A-M-H) separation sequence. Moreover, the fully heat-integrated M-A-H configuration results in a further saving of 13.8%. Furthermore, the plantwide control structure of the heat-integrated M-A-H configuration including a pressure-compensated temperature controller shows a good performance against disturbances in feed flowrate and composition.