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Multicomponent thermally coupled systems of distillation columns at minimum reflux
Author(s) -
Fidkowski Zbigniew T.,
Agrawal Rakesh
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
aiche journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.958
H-Index - 167
eISSN - 1547-5905
pISSN - 0001-1541
DOI - 10.1002/aic.690471211
Subject(s) - reboiler , thermodynamics , distillation , ternary operation , chemistry , fractionating column , fractional distillation , flow (mathematics) , constant (computer programming) , mechanics , process engineering , chromatography , computer science , engineering , physics , programming language
A method for calculating the minimum vapor flow in a ternary fully thermally coupled system of distillation columns was developed earlier by Fidkowski and Krolikowski. This method was developed further for fully thermally coupled systems separating four or more components. For multicomponent mixtures having constant relative volatilities and equal latent heats, the method leads to the identification of all of the minimum vapor flow rates in each distillation column that provide the same overall minimum heat duty in the reboiler. The quaternary fully coupled system of columns requires less heat energy than conventional configurations. These savings are often on the order of 20–50%.