Homogeneous azeotropic distillation: separability and flowsheet synthesis
Abstract
When designing a homogeneous azeotropic sequence which separates a binary azeotrope into two pure products, we must first choose the entrainer. In the case of homogeneous azeotropic distillation, separability at finite reflux and at infinite reflux are not equivalent and must be examined separately. By analyzing the profiles of columns operated at infinite reflux in detail, we have shown that a binary azeotrope can be separated with only one distillation column. We present a necessary and sufficient condition which identifies such situations. We have found a necessary and sufficient condition for separability in a two-column sequence. When separation is feasible, this condition indicates the flowsheet of the corresponding separation sequence. We have also shown that separation is always feasible in a three-column separation if the azeotrope we want to separate is a saddle. Finally, we examine two situations where separation is feasible at finite reflux but not at infinite reflux.
Additional Information
© 1992 American Chemical Society. Received for review January 30, 1991; Revised manuscript received January 28, 1992; Accepted May 25, 1992. We acknowledge gratefully the financial support of Rhône-Poulenc; of the donors of the Petroleum Research Fund, administered by the American Chemical Society; and of the I. S. Latsis Foundation. We thank Prof. Doherty and Jeffrey Knapp (University of Massachusetts, Amherst) for providing us thermodynamic data and subroutines, and Dr. Anthony Skjellum for helping us develop our simulation program. We also thank Prof. Stichlmair (Universitiit-GH Essen) for several enlightened discussions. Finally, we acknowledge use of the Harwell sparse matrix solver (Hopper, 1981).Additional details
- Eprint ID
- 86412
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20180515-140536975
- Rhône-Poulenc
- American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund
- I. S. Latsis Foundation
- Created
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2018-05-18Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
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2021-11-15Created from EPrint's last_modified field