Energy-saving heat integrated distillation system of 12 hydrocarbon separator

Energy savings processes are the biggest energy consumers in the chemical industries. An internally heat-integrated distillation columns (HIDiC) is one of the promising alternatives of the conventional distillation processes to reduce the energy consumptions in the chemical plants. In Japan, a national project on the R&D of the HIDiC was conducted, and now is on the final stage before its commercialization. Simulation studies showed that an energy saving of 50% is expected for the HIDiC when it is applied to the separation of multicomponent hydrocarbons mixtures. Dynamic simulations were conducted to find a suitable control structure. On the other hand, a pilot-plant of the HIDiC was in operation and its energy saving nature was reconfirmed by a practical separation example. Applications of the HIDiC were not limited to substitute the conventional distillation processes, but also provided a new scheme for the reactive distillation processes. The significant outcomes and the state of the art for the HIDiC technoloqy in Japan are presented. This is an abstract of a paper presented at the 8th World Congress of Chemical Engineering (Montréal, Quebec, Canada 8/23-27/2009).