A thermodynamic approach to heat integration in distillation systems

Abstract

Abstract Starting from a conventional distillation system without heat integration, a series of bottlenecks from the viewpoint of energy conservation is sequentially found by a thermodynamic analysis using a heat availability diagram, and modified systems are evolutionally synthesized as the result of debottlenecking. The present approach has made possible a unified interpretation of various energy integrated distillation systems with multieffect columns, intercondensers/interreboilers, heat pumps, etc.