Reactive Dividing-Wall Columns-How to Get More with Less Resources?

摘要

This work presents a novel integrated reactive-separation design based on a dividing-wall column (DWC) applied to an industrial case study within AkzoNobel Chemicals. To the best of our knowledge this is one of the first reported industrial applications of a reactive D WC. Due to changing market conditions, one of the by-products in a plant became more economically attractive than the main product. However, the design of the existing plant does not allow an increase of the by-product production rate at the cost of the main product. To solve this problem we developed a novel integrated design that combines reaction and separation into a feasible reactive D WC that allows 35% savings in capital and 15% savings in energy costs. This article describes the novel reactive D WC design, presents the rigorous simulation results, and makes a comparison with the base case alternative.