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Energy Reduction in a Divided Wall Distillation Column

Article  in  Revista de Chimie -Bucharest- Original Edition- · July 2008

DOI: 10.37358/RC.08.7.1900

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 Energy Reduction in a Divided Wall Distillation Column

RALUCA ISOPESCU*, ALEXANDRU WOINAROSCHY, LOREDANA DRÃGHICIU

University „Politehnica” of Bucharest, Department of Chemical Engineering, 1-7 Gh. Polizu Str., 011061 Bucharest, Romania

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.

Keywords: divided wall distillation column, energy savings, thermal coupling

Distillation is the most commonly used method for the prefractionater and the main column in a single shell
multicomponent mixture separation in chemical and is a new and challenging design option for distillation
petrochemical industries. The main disadvantage of this systems. This solution (figure 1b) represents the dividing
operation is its large energy requirements; distillation wall distillation column (DWC) and it saves both energy
processes represent more than 40 % of the total energy and capital costs. A DWC column looks like a common
consumption in these industries. Multiple mixtures distillation column with a side-draw. In reality it is a column
separation sequences are generally designed considering that has a vertical separating wall for a given part of its
some empirical rules that can make the operation more length, which defines the “prefractionating” region and the
efficient from economical point of view: (a) the light “main column” region. The reflux that comes from the
component is separated first, (b) the component in the condenser will split on both sides of the separating wall
greatest amount is separated first, (c) the difficult and will make the reflux in the two parts of the distillation
separations are left at the end of the sequence, etc. column. The vapour from the reboiler will also split, in the
Considering for instance a mixture of three components, lower part of the column, in accordance with the liquid
A, B and C, where A is the lightest and C is the heaviest, split and hydrodynamic conditions on both sides of the
the separation into pure products is commonly performed dividing wall.
using simple column sequencing. For some mixtures, and The main advantage of a DWC is that the middle
especially when B is the major component, these solutions component B splits in the prefractionator section, so that
are not thermally efficient. The remixing effect that occurs a high composition of B can be reached in the middle
in a conventional distillation sequences is associated with product that is drawn out from a given tray on the right
higher energy consumption [1]. In the conventional direct hand side of the dividing wall. Assuming that the heat
separation sequence the concentration of component B transfer across the dividing wall is negligible, DWC is
in the first column reaches a high value below the feed thermodynamically equivalent to the Petlyuk column.
stage and then decreases towards the bottom of the When compared to conventional two-column system a
column as the concentration of the heavy component capital cost saving of up to 40% can be expected [3].
increases. In the second column, a supplementary amount To evaluate if DWC is a good solution, the
of energy is required to concentrate component B as a top thermodynamic properties of the components and the
product. In a thermally coupled distillation scheme this composition of the feed and products must be considered.
effect is diminished and a higher efficiency in energy use Some guidelines are proposed concerning product purity
can be realised. Typical thermally coupled solutions are requirements and feed composition.
the side striper, side rectifiers, already in large use in oil -Product purity: the purity of the middle product is higer
refineries, and the Petlyuk column, which is a total thermal then can be achieved in a simple side draw column. The
coupled solution (fig. 1a). The Petlyuk column is a well- DWC is a good solution when high purity of the middle
known concept [2] but the practical solution that includes product is required;

Fig. 1. Fully thermally compled sequence

a) Petlyuk Column
b) Dividing Wall Column

* email: [email protected],
812 REV. CHIM. (Bucureºti) ♦ 59 ♦ Nr. 7 ♦ 2008
 -feed composition: if component B is a major simple distillation column with a side draw. As mentioned
component the energy reduction compared to classical before in literature [7, 8], this gives a larger variety of
separation schemes is more evident operational alternatives in the production of specified
products but also may increase the difficulty in the design
Mathematical modelling of control schemes. The topology of the simulation scheme
The mathematical model for a DWC is based on the was based on the short-cut method design considering also
representation of the complex distillation column by some corrections. The most important one was to set equal
several tray section interconnected by vapour and liquid the number of trays in the column sections that represent
streams to represent the real flow distribution as in a DWC. the two sides of the dividing wall in order to ensure the
Such internal structures can be built out of two, three, four same pressure drop leading to a feasible practical
or six column sections [4]. A short-cut design step is implementation of this structure. During the simulation step
required to give an initial reliable solution containing design the liquid and vapour split are automatically adjusted to
elements (number of trays, feed and side-draw location) reach a convergent steady state solution. The three
to start a rigorous modeling using HYSYS TM simulator. products’ purities can be adjusted by modifying the reflux,
Several short-cut methods can be used by coupling the the feed and side draw locations. By a trial and error
specific equations used in the design of simple columns method the feed and side draw locations were fixed to
with mass balances equations that describe the realize the desired separation with minimum energy
interconnection between the tray sections [1, 3, 5]. The consumption.
short-cut method used in the present work considered
Fenske-Underwood-Gilliland model for a three columns Case study
equivalent scheme and is implemented in COLOM The present paper studies the possibility of using a DWC
(software DPI-UMIST). A detailed description of the for the separation of a hydrocarbon mixture (benzene,
mathematical model is presented in [3]. Antoine type toluene, ethylbenzene, o-xylene) in three products. The
equations were chosen to represent the liquid-vapor light product contains benzene (> 95 % mol), the middle
equilibrium for the components considered in the mixture. product is toluene (> 92 % mol) and the heavy product is
ethylbenzene and o-xylene (> 95 % mol). The common
HYSYS simulation separation sequence is composed of two distillation
The short-cut design was implemented in HYSYSTM. A columns: the first column separates benzene at the top
sub – flowsheet was considered to represent the top, the (column 1 fig. 3) and the second column has toluene as
right hand side, the left hand side and the bottom of the top product (column 2 in figure 3). The working pressures
column. Applying the subflowsheet facilities, the considered are 1.4 bar in the first column and 1.2 bar in
connection between the tray sections in the DWC are the second column. A feed flow of 200 kmole/h was taken
realised without “cutting” the recycle loops and adding a as an example. The molar feed composition in this case
recycle unit to assure the convergence of the final solution. study is 30 % benzene, 30 % toluene, 10 % ethylbenzene
This way, it is not necessary to initialize the internal and 30 % o-xylene. Considering the specified products’
flowrates, and the refining of the final solution is purities a short cut design for the two columns was easily
straightforward. The four-column model, as implemented performed and the structure was then adjusted in the
in HYSYSTM is presented in figure 2. The tray section denoted frame of HYSYSTM simulator.
by “Top” represents the DWC section which is above the
dividing wall, the “Prefractionater” corresponds to the left
hand side of the dividing wall (fig. 1), the “Side-draw”
sections is the tray section placed on the right hand side of
the dividing wall while “Bottom” denotes the part of the
DWC below the dividing wall.
The structure defined by the DWC has five degrees of
freedom, compared to three degrees of freedom for a

Fig. 3. Separation flowsheet using a classical sequence

of simple columns
The molar concentration of toluene in the first column
is presented in figure 4 and it reveals the so called “remixing
problem” consisting in the increase of toluene
concentration from tray 9 (the feed tray) up to 50 % on tray
17, and then decreasing to 40% in the bottom of the column.
The second column aims to concentrate toluene in the
top and will thus require a greater energy consumption.
The DWC will replace the two columns from the
separation scheme. In this case study the feed of the DWC
is at 1.4 bar and the composition and flowrate have the
same values as in the two columns sequence case.
In order to study the possible influence of feed
composition on the thermal efficiency of the DWC, several
simulation were done, for variable toluene molar fractions
in the feed. The toluene content varied in the range 10 %
to 70 % (mol).
Fig. 2. The four tray sections flowsheet model in HYSYSTM

REV. CHIM. (Bucureºti) ♦ 59 ♦ Nr. 7 ♦ 2008 813

 prefractionator is much higher than the vapour flowrate
in the right side of the dividing wall. That will correspond
to a larger cross section in the prefractionator region.
Concerning the variation of composition along the trays of
the DWC, the top of the column is characterized by high
concentration of benzene (98%), while in the bottom of
the column ethylbenzene and o-xylene are over 95 % (fig.
6). The maximum value of toluene concentration is around
tray number 45 which is the location of the side draw
stream. According to figure 5, the concentration of benzene
and toluene increases from the feed position towards the
top of the prefractionator (from tray number 27 towards
tray 10) while the concentration of toluene and heavy
compounds increase towards the bottom of the
prefractionator (from tray 27 to tray 31). The distribution of
toluene between the top and the bottom region leads to
an important energy reduction for the global separation
Fig. 4. Composition along the trays in the first column of the sequence process. As regarding the temperature profile (figure 7), it
has larger gradients were the composition varies
significantly and is close to the products boiling point at
the trays were products draw is located. For our case study,
the temperature on trays located on each side of the
dividing wall are almost equal (trays 10 to 32 representing
the prefractionater, and trays 33 to 55 representing the side
draw region respectively). In this case the hypothesis that
no heat transfer occurs through the dividing wall is very
close to reality.
Energy consumption analysis
The reboiler duty for the DWC is 2457 kW while for the
sequence with two simple columns the reboilers duties
are 1677 kW for the first column and 1858 kW for the
second column which means that a reduction of about 31
% is obtained using the DWC instead of the simple column
sequence. The advantages concerning lower energy
consumption recommend the DWC for possible retrofit in
Fig. 5. Molar liquid and vapour flows in the DWC the oil refineries [5, 6, 9]. A generally accepted
disadvantage of the DWC solution concerning the energy
Results and discussions consumption is the higher temperature required in the
Main comparative results between the classical two DWC reboiler compared to a two columns system. This
columns sequence and a DWC are presented in table 1. issue is linked with the pressure distribution required for a
For the DWC case, the internal liquid and vapor flowrates multiple mixture separation. In a two columns system the
are represented in figure 5. The number of trays is first column works at a higher pressure to assure a
considered in a “continuous way” on this diagram. convenient condensation temperature in the condenser,
Consequently, trays numbered from 1 to 9 represent the while the second column where the heavy component is
top region, trays number 10 to 32 represent the obtained can operate at a lower pressure and thus the
prefractionator (tray 27 is the feed tray), trays number 33 boiling point in the reboiler is decreased. In a DWC a single
to 55 correspond to the right hand side of the dividing wall operation pressure is defined and, consequently, the boiling
(tray 45 is the side draw location), and the last trays (56 to point in the reboiler will be higher. This side effect is more
63) are the bottom region of the DWC. The liquid flowrate pregnant if the light component has a low boiling point
denotes a steep increase with 200 kmole/h on tray 27 that requires high operating pressures. This is the case in
corresponding to the feed and a steep decrease on tray 45 light hydrocarbon separation flowsheets [3, 7] were the
due to the side draw. As figure 5 shows, for the convergent light components as ethane or butane require high
solution obtained in the frame of HYSYSTM simulator, the pressure to ensure convenient temperatures in the
liquid flowrate on the two sides of the dividing wall are condenser, while heavier fraction can be separated at
almost equal while the vapour flowrate in the
Table 1
COMPARATIVE MAIN RESULTS

814 REV. CHIM. (Bucureºti) ♦ 59 ♦ Nr. 7 ♦ 2008

 Fig. 6. Component distribution along DWC Fig. 7. Temperature profile along the DWC

Table 2
ENERGY REDUCTION FOR A DWC FOR VARIABLE MIDDLE COMPONENT FEED CONCENTRATION

lower pressures. In our case study, were the operating integration and complex columns using short-cut design
pressure is close to the atmospheric pressure, the and a rigorous simulation with HYSYSTM. As results
difference in heavy product boiling point in a simple demonstrate, a DWC can be a good solution for reducing
column sequence and in the DWC is not very important. the energy consumption. The DWC is more efficient in
The fact that all the thermal duty is to be realised with steam terms of energy requirement in the case were the middle
corresponding to the boiling temperature of 163.5oC in a component is in large amount in the feed stream.
DWC, while in the classical system almost half of the
reboilers’ duty is provided for a boiling point of 135oC will References
not significantly increase the cost of the steam. 1.HERNANDEZ, S., SEGOVIA-HERNANDEZ, J. G., RICO-RAMIREZ, V.,
In order to analyse the possible influence of feed Energy 31, 2006, p. 2176
composition, upon the thermal efficiency of the DWC, 2.PETLYUK, F. B., PLATONOV, V. M., SLAVINSKII, D. M., Int. Chem. Eng.
several simulation have been performed by varying the 5, 1965, p.555
concentration of middle component that has to be 3.TRIANTAFYLLOU, C., SMITH, R., Trans. IChemE, 70(A5), 1992, p. 118
concentrated in the side-draw stream which is toluene. 4.ABDUL MUTALIB, M. I., SMITH, R., Trans. IChemE, 76, Part A, 1998,
The same topology of simple columns and DWC were used p. 308
and simulations were performed in the framework of 5.AMMINUDIN, K. A., SMITH, R., Trans. IChemE, 79, Part A, 2001, p. 716
HYSYSTM simulator. The results are presented in table 2. 6.LEE, J. Y., KIM, Y. H., HWANG ,K. S., Chem. Eng. Proc., 43, 2004, 495
As revealed by table 2, the same general structure of a 7.KIM, Y. H., Chem. Eng. J., 89, 2002, p. 89
DWC can be used to separate mixtures of variable feed 8.WOLFF, E. A., SKOGESTAD, S., Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 34, 1995 p. 2094
compositions, while the energy reduction increases with 9.ISOPESCU, R., PLESU,V., BUMBAC, G., POPESCU, C.D., IVANESCU, I.,
the middle component concentration. 15th Romanian International Conference on Chemistry and Chemical
Engineering, Bucharest, 20-22 Sept 2005, 3, p. 140
Conclusions
The present work investigates some possibilities to Manuscript received: 11.03.2008
analyse the separation of a multiple mixture using thermal

REV. CHIM. (Bucureºti) ♦ 59 ♦ Nr. 7 ♦ 2008 815

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