Applied Thermal Engineering 27 (2007) 1205–1211

www.elsevier.com/locate/apthermeng

Design of heat integrated distillation systems for a light ends

separation plant
Michele Mascia *, Francesca Ferrara, Annalisa Vacca, Giuseppe Tola, Massimiliano Errico
Dipartimento di Ingegneria Chimica e Materiali, Università degli Studi di Cagliari, Piazza d’Armi, 09123 Cagliari, Italy

Received 20 December 2005; accepted 2 February 2006

Available online 27 June 2006

Abstract

This paper presents an industrial case-study: the synthesis of partially thermally coupled and heat-integrated distillation systems
applied to the light ends separation section of a crude distillation plant. The distillation systems presented in this work employ the
thermal coupling and the heat-integration principles to significantly reduce the heat requirements with respect to the traditional simple
column train.
The work started from the simulation of the existing plant, by which the parameters of the system were identified. Then the possible
sequences of simple columns with sharp splits were identified for the considered application, and all the columns of the configurations
were designed. The corresponding thermally coupled sequences were obtained by using a simple procedure derived from the literature
and the heat-integrated partially coupled configuration (HIPC) was also considered.
In order to verify the examined distillation systems, all the simple and complex configurations were simulated by rigorous numerical
models. On the basis of the numerical simulations, the energy requirements for each configuration were evaluated. A rating of the dif-
ferent plants was then performed, based on the total annual cost, allowing to identify the best plant configuration. A thermally coupled
configuration showed the best performances for the considered separation.
Ó 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Thermal coupling; Heat integration; Light ends separation; Distillation; Energy savings

1. Introduction The classical design of a multicomponent distillation

Distillation is the most widely used separation technique
in the process industry. Its main disadvantage is the high
consumption of thermal energy: the heat requirements of
the distillation columns often represent most part of the
total energy cost of the plant. The energy saving in distilla-
tion is then an essential field of the chemical engineering
research since the early 1970; appropriate integration of
the distillation columns with the overall process often
results in a significant reduction of the energy consumption
in many cases. Scopes for reductions of high quality heat
requirements were found for a four components separation
in a recent work [1].
*
Corresponding author. Tel.: +39 070 6755074; fax: +39 070 6755067.
E-mail address: mmascia@dicm.unica.it (M. Mascia).
plant only involves simple columns: each simple column
in a multicomponent distillation configuration receives a
feed and performs a sharp separation between two compo-
nents of the feed mixture. In this case, sequences of n  1
simple columns with n  1 condensers and n  1 reboilers
are requested for the separation of n-component mixtures.
The number of separation sequences is a function of the
number (n) of components to be separated; it can be calcu-
lated from the classical formula of King [2]:
ð2ðn  1ÞÞ!
Nn ¼ ð1Þ
n!ðn  1Þ!
where Nn is the number of possible sequences.
As can be obtained from the above equation, the sepa-
ration of a four-component mixture can be achieved with
five different sequences of simple columns.

1359-4311/$ - see front matter Ó 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2006.02.045
1206 M. Mascia et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 27 (2007) 1205–1211

However, the trend in process design is to utilize separa- a thermally coupled scheme all the columns operate at
tion schemes different from the sequences of simple columns, the same pressure, the opportunity of heat integration
in particular, that can provide significant reductions of heat can be considered if there simultaneously exists a middle
requirements [3–5]. The thermal coupling between two col- component captured in a rectifying section with a con-
umns in a sequence can be adopted to reduce the energy con- denser heavier than a middle component captured in a
sumption of the process [6,7]: the use of complex distillation stripping section with a reboiler [29]. The number of possi-
sequences, such as the thermally coupled ones, for the sepa- ble heat integration in a thermally coupled sequence
ration of multicomponent mixtures can offer energy savings increases as the number of components increases and only
around 30% with respect to the conventional distillation a single heat integration is allowed in a four-component
trains [8]. separation [29].
A thermally coupled sequence is obtained by removing In this work, the possible utilization of partially ther-
condensers and/or reboilers from a simple column configu- mally coupled configurations for the separation of a light
ration [9]. So the distinct feature of thermal coupled ends mixture was investigated and the possible heat inte-
schemes with respect to simple column ones is that in a gration was also considered.
thermally coupled configuration some units are intercon- In refining plants the light ends section is the process to
nected by thermal coupling streams [7]. separate the top products of the crude distillation unit.
Thermally coupled schemes have been proposed for Typically, the section is constituted by columns designed
some time [10], but their application was limited, mainly to separate LPG from intermediate and heavier products.
because of complexity in design and control of these struc-
tures [11], since the flexibility and the controllability of a 2. Design and simulation
system strongly depend on the number of units and on
their interconnections [12]. In the literature, several papers The flowsheet of the light ends process considered in this
have been presented on the application of the thermally work is showed in Fig. 1; as can be seen the plant is consti-
coupled configurations to multicomponent distillation sys- tuted by three simple columns in series. The main feed of
tems, most of which refer to the analysis of the perfor- the plant derives from a topping unit and contains different
mances and of the possible industrial applications in the amount of butane (A), pentane (B) hexane (C) and heptane
case of ternary mixtures to be separated [13–15]. Fully ther- (D). The feed is a saturated liquid with the characteristics
mally coupled schemes were also considered [16], along reported in Table 1.
with the use of side columns [17]. The high number of pos- A stream of LPG (manly constituted by butane) is sep-
sible configurations for multicomponent separations in the arated as top product in the first column of the sequence:
thermally coupled systems often has limited the research to the column has 28 sieve trays and a diameter of 2.5 m.
parametric studies referred to specific mixtures [18,19]. The bottom product of this unit is sent to the second col-
Recently, it has been extensively shown that the control
of thermally coupled schemes may be not a more difficult
task than that in conventional distillation trains [20]: the
control properties of such integrated schemes of separation
were investigated [21,22] and the control analysis of a ther-
mally coupled distillation plant has been presented for a C1
four component separation [23].
As a result, current research efforts are focused on the C3
design of new configurations for the separation of mixtures
with more than three components [24,25]. Studies on the C2
synthesis of thermally coupled distillation trains applied
to complex mixtures have been recently presented in the lit-
erature [26,27].
Although it is a promising strategy, the application of
thermally coupled schemes to a particular separation Fig. 1. Schematic representation of the light ends separation plant
always has to be tested: as reported in the literature, the considered in this work.
introduction of thermal couplings does not necessarily lead
to higher efficiencies than those of conventional distillation
sequences but the efficiency depends on the mixture and on Table 1
the composition [13]. Characteristics of the feed mixture
Further reductions in the heat requirements of a distilla- Composition (mole frac.)
tion plant can be achieved if heat integrations between two C4 (n-buthane) 0.33 Temperature [°C] 130
column sections in the thermally coupled sequence are C5 (n-pentane) 0.35 Pressure [bar] 5
allowed: in this case the heat removed from a condenser C6 (n-hexane) 0.16 Vapour fraction 0
C7 (n-heptane) 0.16 Flow rate [kmol/h] 1250
is utilized in a reboiler of the same sequence [28]. Since in
 M. Mascia et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 27 (2007) 1205–1211
umn, (32 sieve trays, D = 3 m) from which a middle gaso-
line, mainly heptane, is obtained as bottom product. The
third column of the sequence (34 sieve trays, D = 2 m) sep-
arates the pentane, as top product, from a stream of light
gasoline (hexane). The condensers of the plant are shell
and tube exchangers, whereas the reboilers are kettle-type:
in each column, the cold utility is cooling water, whereas
saturated steam is the hot one.
Based on field data, a rigorous simulation of the separa-
tion train was performed by the commercial software
Aspen Plus: the RADFRAC model was utilized to simulate
all the units. The model allows the stage by stage calcula-
tion of flow rates, compositions and temperatures in each
column section; the Wilson equation was adopted for the
calculation of the activity coefficients in liquid phase,
whereas ideal behaviour was assumed for the vapour
phase. The difference between the values of temperatures,
flow rates and composition obtained by the model and
those measured in the plant never exceeded 5%.
From the results of the simulation the values of relative
volatility were obtained, which were utilized to design and
simulate the different configurations investigated in this
work.
In classical simple column sequences usually adopted in
the industry, the pressure of the different units is optimized
separately, depending on the particular separation carried
out in the column. However, the thermally coupled config-
urations tested in this work must operate at the same nom-
inal pressure; thus, in order to compare the different
solutions, the design of the units in all the configurations
studied was performed at a pressure of 5 bar.
Five flowsheet configurations of simple columns were
compared in this work: the sequence in Fig. 1 and the four
2
C2
C1
C3
C1
C2
4 C3
Fig. 2. Sequences of simple columns examined in this work.
1207
alternative configurations in Fig. 2. The corresponding
thermally coupled schemes were also considered: Fig. 3
shows the flowsheets of these configurations. The only
heat-integrated configuration allowed for a four compo-
nent separation was also studied (see Fig. 3).
The design of each column in the different sequences was
performed and in particular the number of plates, the min-
imum reflux ratio and the boil-up ratio of each column
were estimated by the Fenske–Underwood–Gilliland
(FUG) short-cut method. All the units were initially
designed with a reflux ratio equal to 1.2 the minimum value
and considering the purity of each component in the rele-
vant stream equal to 98%.
The design of the thermally coupled columns was per-
formed according to Carlberg and Westerberg suggestions
[30], and it can be obtained from the conventional distilla-
tion sequences shown in Figs. 1 and 2 by removing con-
densers and (or) reboilers. For example, the sequence 6 in
Fig. 3 was obtained by using a thermal link in the vapor
phase in the conventional direct distillation sequence
(Fig. 2, number 4), which eliminates the reboilers in the col-
umns C1 and C2. In the same way, the design of the
sequence number 8 in Fig. 3 was obtained from the conven-
tional indirect distillation sequence (Fig. 2, number 3) by
removing the condensers of the columns C1 and C2, and
by introducing a thermal coupling in the liquid phase.
Then, a rigorous simulation of the different configurations
was performed by using the commercial software Aspen
Plus: the RADFRAC model, already utilized in the simula-
tion of the existing plant, was utilized to simulate all the
units. The Wilson equation, which was successfully used
in the plant simulation, was adopted for the calculation
of the activity coefficients in liquid phase, whereas ideal
3
C3
C2
C1
C2
5
C1
C3
1208 M. Mascia et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 27 (2007) 1205–1211

8
C3
C1 C2
7
6

C3 C2
C2 C1

C1
C3
C2

C1 C1 10 C2
C3 C1

C2 C3 11
C3
9

Fig. 3. Sequences of partially coupled and heat-integrated (11) distillation columns examined in this work.

behaviour was assumed for the vapour phase. In all the
examined sequences, the number of stages obtained by
the FUG short cut method was utilized.
The values of reflux ratio in the sequences of simple col-
umns were optimized through a sensitivity analysis in each
column, in order to fit the field data of flow rates and
compositions.
A similar procedure was adopted for the thermally cou-
pled sequences: for example, starting from the values of the
sequence 1, the vapour flow rates of the column C2 and the
liquid flow rate of the column C3 in the thermally coupled
scheme 9 were adjusted until the minimum duty was
obtained, flow rates and compositions of the product
streams being the same.
The duty of reboilers and condensers and the column
diameters were obtained from the simulations and utilized
to calculate both energy and capital costs of each plant
configuration.
In order to calculate the height of the columns, the tray
efficiency (g) of each column section was calculated from
the values of the average viscosity (l) of feed, the average
relative volatility (a), the weir height (hw = 50 mm) and
the ratio between liquid and vapour flow rates (L/V) in
the section by the following equation [31]:
logðgÞ ¼ 1:67  0:25 logðalÞ þ 0:3 logðL=V Þ þ 0:3hw
The capital cost of the columns was obtained by the
Peter’s cost diagrams [31], considering sieve tray columns.
The capital cost of condensers and reboilers was evalu-
ated by considering the heat exchange area A:
Q
A¼ ð4Þ
U d DT LM
where Q is the duty of the exchanger and Ud is the average
exchange coefficient. The values of Ud were calculated from
field data of heat exchange area, temperatures and heat du-
ties; they were assumed equal to a mean value of 1800 kJ/
m2 h °C for the condensers and 2100 kJ/m2 h °C for the
reboilers.
All the capital costs were actualized to year 2004 by the
Marshall and Swift index.
The cost [$/year] of the utilities was estimated as
cost ¼ W  C  H y ð5Þ
where W is the water or steam flow rate [ton/h], C is the
water or steam price [$/ton] and Hy is the annual running
time, assumed equal to 8000 h/year].
The total annual cost TAC [$/year], by considering a lin-
ear depletion of the investment and a lifetime of 10 years,
ð2Þ can be obtained as

The height H [m] of the columns was then calculated as TAC ¼ capital cost=10 þ utilities cost ð6Þ
a function of the number (N) of plates:
The prices of utilities adopted in this work are summa-
H ¼ ðN  1Þ  0:6 þ 6 ð3Þ rized in Table 2 and are based on European prices [32].
 M. Mascia et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 27 (2007) 1205–1211 1209

Table 2 cases in a significant decrease in utility consumption: a

Utilities cost data
Temperature [°C] Price [$/ton]
LP steam 144 13
MP steam 184 16
HP steam 245 20
Cooling water 20 0.082
3. Discussion of the results
The number of theoretical plates and the diameter for
each column in the sequences in Fig. 1, calculated with
the procedure previously described, are summarized in
Table 3.
As can be seen from the Table, the diameter of the col-
umns in the simple column sequences may be increased or
decreased by the introduction of thermal couplings,
depending on the configuration examined. To justify this
result, the effect of the thermal coupling on the vapour traf-
fic in the different sections should be considered: as already
stated it is well established in the literature that a reduction
of the heat requirements may be achieved by the introduc-
tion of thermal couplings, although this reduction is
strongly dependent on the separation considered [13].
Reduction of utilities results in a reduction of the vapour
traffic, and then in a column (or column section) diameter
lower than the diameter of the corresponding simple col-
umn. On the other hand, the introduction of a thermal cou-
pling may increase the traffic of a particular column: for
example, the diameter of the column C3 in the thermally
coupled sequence 6 (Fig. 3) is greater than the correspond-
ing diameter of the column C3 of the simple column
sequence 4 (Fig. 2), since the reboiler of this unit in the
thermally coupled scheme supplies the vapour for all the
columns in the sequence.
Considering the overall condenser duties and the heat
requirement of reboilers, a comparison of the different
sequences examined is reported in Fig. 4. As can be seen
from the figure, the introduction of thermal coupling in
the particular separation plant considered results in some
19% of saving in condenser duty can be obtained by utiliz-
ing the sequences 7 and 10, with respect to the correspond-
ing original simple column configurations 2 and 5.
Moreover thermal coupling allows to reduce the heat
requirements up to 27% in the same sequences. In other
sequences the energy saving due to thermal coupling is
lower or negligible. The introduction of thermal coupling
(configuration 6) in the sequence 4 leads to a small increase
in both condenser and reboiler duties. Similar contrasting
results, in the comparison between simple and thermally
coupled distillation sequences, were obtained by other
authors in different case studies [12,30].
Furthermore, the quality of the heat required for the
separation in the different sequences must be considered:
introduction of thermal coupling may lead to a decrease
of the total heat requirements, but also to an increase of
the high quality heat demand [17]. In the separation consid-
ered, high quality heat is required for the reboiler of the
stripping sections in which the heavy products (C and D)
are obtained. In the sequence 6, although the thermal cou-
pling allows to achieve heat savings with respect to the cor-
responding simple sequence 4, only high quality heat can
be supplied to the reboiler: in the sequence 7, an amount
of heat equal to 5.2 Mkcal/h must be supplied to the reboi-
ler of the column C1, in which the boiling mixture is at
164 °C, and 3.8 Mkcal/h must be supplied to the mixture
at 105 °C in the column C3; it may be observed that both
reboilers require high quality heat. Different results were
obtained for the sequence 10, in which 6.9 Mkcal/h are
required as high quality heat, whereas the heat requirement
(2.1 Mkcal/h) of the reboiler of the column C2 can be sup-
plied by LP steam.
In order to have an effective rating of the different
sequences examined, the total annual cost was considered:
in Fig. 5 the values of the total annual cost (TAC), normal-
ized with respect to the maximum value obtained in the
sequences, are reported for all the cases considered. As
can be seen, thermal coupled configurations may present
lower values of TAC with respect to the corresponding sim-
ple sequences, with the only exception of the sequences 4

Table 3
Design parameters obtained for the sequences examined
Sequence Number of theoretical plates Diameter (m)
Column 1 Column 2 Column 3 Column 1 Column 2 Column 3
1 18 23 26 2.44 3.22 2.01
2 28 19 23 2.86 1.96 1.96
3 28 26 19 2.86 2.44 1.82
4 18 29 23 2.44 2.70 2.80
5 23 19 25 2.51 1.82 2.91
6 18 23 26 2.44 2.79 4.10
7 28 19 23 2.86 3.07 2.22
8 28 26 19 2.86 3.39 3.33
9 18 29 23 2.43 3.39 3.33
10 23 19 25 2.50 3.07 3.13
11 30 12 25 2.50 2.83 2.43
1210 M. Mascia et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 27 (2007) 1205–1211

20

18

16

14
Duties (Mkcal/h)

12

10

0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
Number of Sequences

Fig. 4. Condenser (empty bars) and reboiler (full bars) duties for all the sequences considered.

0.9

0.8

0.7
Normalised TAC

0.6

0.5

0.4

0.3

0.2

0.1

0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
Number of Sequences

Fig. 5. Normalized TAC values for all the sequences considered.

and 6, in which the increase in energy consumption due to 4. Conclusions

the thermal coupling introduction, previously observed,
results in an increase of the TAC. It can be also observed
that the heat integration may slightly decrease the TAC,
as can be seen in Fig. 5 by the comparison of sequences
10 and 11, mainly because of the reduction in utilities cost.
Based on a rigorous simulation of an existing light ends
separation plant, design and simulation of all simple and
partially thermally coupled sequences that can be adopted
to obtain the required separation were carried out. The
 M. Mascia et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 27 (2007) 1205–1211
simulations allow to identify the best sequence for the pro-
posed separation. A thermally coupled scheme seems to be
an attractive alternative to the traditional simple column
sequence adopted for the separation of light ends mixtures;
the thermally coupled schemes showed energy require-
ments and total annual costs generally lower than those
of the corresponding simple columns configurations.
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