Extractive Distillation Process Combined with Decanter for Separating Ternary Azeotropic Mixture of Toluene-Methanol- Water

Tetrahydrofuran (THF) is widely used in many processes as solvent or chemical intermediate. It is necessary to separate mixture of THF-water, because in most commercial production processes, THF is produced from its water mixture. However, the above mixture cannot be separated with ordinary distillation, since THF and water can form azeotrope. Instead, extractive distillation (ED) and pressure-swing distillation (PSD) have been widely applied for commercial separation of mixture of THF-water. In this paper, Aspen Plus simulator is used to simulate extractive distillation and pressure-swing distillation process for separation of mixture of THF-water. Economic analysis is carried out by Aspen Process Economic Analyzer (APEA) for the two processes. The conclusion obtained based on the above process simulation and analysis is that the total annualized cost of the extractive distillation is slightly lower than that of pressure-swing distillation. The results obtained provide useful references for commercial separation of mixture of THF and water.

This study gives a brief overview about using dividing-wall column (DWC) technology in azeotropic and extractive distillation processes aimed to break azeotropes. The relevant case study considered here is the bioethanol dehydration process that requires significant energy to overcome the azeotropic behaviour of ethanol-water mixture. The results of the rigorous Aspen Plus simulations show that energy savings of 10– 20 % are possible for the novel process intensification alternative based on DWC, while using less equipment units as compared to the conventional azeotropic and extractive distillation configurations.

Energy-saving exploration and optimization of methyl alcohol – Methyl ethyl ketone – Tertbutyl alcohol separation by extractive dividing-wall distillation with ionic liquid as extractant

Design and optimization for the separation of xylene isomers with a novel double extractants-based extractive distillation

Improved design and optimization for separating tetrahydrofuran–water azeotrope through extractive distillation with and without heat integration by varying pressure

Economic and entropy production evaluation of extractive distillation and solvent-assisted pressure-swing distillation by multi-objective optimization

Extractive distillation using salt-based deep eutectic solvent as entrainer for separating acetonitrile-water mixture

Investigation on energy-saving extractive distillation for recovering ethanol and 1,4-dioxane from wastewater

This paper presents a framework for finding homogeneous entrainers E to separate non-ideal mixtures AB by extractive distillation. The framework is a systematic approach to convert a Computer Aided Molecular Design into a mixed integer non-linear program (MINLP). It is based on the thermodynamic properties of binary mixtures AE and BE and of isovolatility curve maps of the ternary mixture ABE. Entrainer candidates are ranked by the maximization of the driving force of A and B in their respective mixtures AE and BE as well as by minimizing the entrainer composition xE corresponding to a fixed value of the relative volatility aAB. The framework application is highlighted through an entrainer problem design for the separation of acetone – methanol by extractive distillation process.

Energy-efficient extractive distillation combined with heat-integrated and intermediate reboilers for separating acetonitrile/isopropanol/water mixture

A multiobjective genetic algorithm optimization of the extractive distillation process of acetone–methanol minimum azeotropic mixture with heavy entrainer water is investigated. The process includes the extractive and entrainer regeneration columns, and the optimization minimizes the energy cost objective function (OF) and total annual cost (TAC) and maximizes efficiency indicators Eext and eext that describe the ability of the extractive section to discriminate the product between the top and the bottom of that section. Earlier work (You et al. Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 2015, 54, 491) found that improvement of some designs in the literature led to an increase in those indicators. A two-step optimization strategy for extractive distillation is conducted to find suitable values of the entrainer feed flow rate, entrainer and azeotropic mixture feed locations, total number of trays, two reflux ratios, and two distillates in both the extractive column and the entrainer regeneration column. The first step relies up...

Effect of entrainers with different boiling point sequences on the design and performance for side-stream extractive distillation processes

Efficient purification of butanone and ethyl acetate from waste water by extractive distillation based on cost, thermodynamic and environmental analysis

Thermodynamic and economic comparison of extractive distillation sequences for separating methanol/dimethyl carbonate/water azeotropic mixtures

Economic, environmental, and exergy analysis of an efficient separation process for recovering low-carbon alcohol from wastewater