DYNAMIC SIMULATION STUDIES OF A DIVIDED WALL DISTILLATION COLUMN FOR A TERNARY MIXTURE | Journal...

The dividing-wall column (DWC) is the most energy-efficient alternative to traditional distillation columns. The pre-fractionator and post-fractionator are housed in the same shell as the DWC, which has a vertical wall that splits the central area of the column into two pieces. Both the rectifying liquid flowing from the column top and the stripping vapour rising from the column bottom are separated to both sides of the wall in this column layout. DWC minimises the amount of energy required for separation by eliminating undesired mixing near the feed stage in traditional columns.

Simulating a DWC and studying its control behaviour is a difficult endeavour due to the large number of variables involved. A simulated study of a DWC for a ternary mixture of Benzene-Toluene-p-Xylene is reported in this paper. The three shortcut columns were used to make the initial design estimates. The Radfrac model of Aspen Plus simulation software was used to run a thorough simulation of a DWC with a four-column structure. Variations in the process parameters liquid split, vapour split, and reflux rate affect the energy needed for a DWC. The present paper also includes a study of the DWC's control behaviour. ASPEN dynamics software was used to run simulations to investigate DWC control.

Please see the link :- https://www.ikprress.org/index.php/JACSI/article/view/3574