Available online at www.sciencedirect.

com

Applied Thermal Engineering 28 (2008) 923932

www.elsevier.com/locate/apthermeng

Adding rectifying/stripping section type heat integration

to a pressure-swing distillation (PSD) process
a,*
Kejin Huang , Lan Shan a, Qunxiong Zhu a, Jixin Qian b

a
School of Information Science and Technology, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Chaoyang-qu, Beijing-shi, Beijing 100029, PR China
b
School of Information Science and Technology, Zhejiang University, Xihu-qu, Hangzhou-shi, Zhejiang 300027, PR China

Received 31 October 2006; accepted 3 July 2007

Available online 14 August 2007

Abstract

This paper studies the economical eect of considering rectifying/stripping section type heat integration in a pressure-swing distilla-
tion (PSD) process separating a binary homogeneous pressure-sensitive azeotrope. The schemes for arranging heat integration between
the rectifying section and the stripping section of the high- and low-pressure distillation columns, respectively, are derived and an eective
procedure is devised for the conceptual process design of the heat-integrated PSD processes. In terms of the separation of a binary aze-
otropic mixture of acetonitrile and water, intensive comparisons are made between the conventional and heat-integrated PSD processes.
It is demonstrated that breaking a pressure-sensitive azeotropic mixture can be made more economical than the current practice with the
conventional PSD process. For boosting further the thermodynamic eciency of a PSD process, it is strongly suggested to consider
simultaneously the condenser/reboiler type heat integration with the rectifying/stripping section type heat integration in process synthesis
and design.
 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Distillation; Azeotrope; Energy conservation; Heat integration; Process design

1. Introduction give rise to serious environmental concerns. Studies on

Broadly speaking, there are two alternatives for separat-
ing a binary homogeneous azeotropic mixture by distilla-
tion columns [1]. One is to use azeotropic or extractive
distillation columns. A suitable solvent must be added to
enhance the relative volatility of the components to be
separated and a second distillation column is thus required
for the regeneration of the solvent [2]. The other is to use a
pressure-swing distillation (PSD) process. A prerequisite is
that the azeotrope separated must be suciently pressure
sensitive. A low-pressure (LP) and high-pressure (HP)
distillation columns have to be combined to circumvent
the azeotropic point. Although these two alternatives are
quite similar in process ow-sheet, the latter is generally
preferred to the former because the use of a solvent may
*
Corresponding author. Tel.: +86 10 64436719; fax: +86 10 64437805.
E-mail address: huangkj@mail.buct.edu.cn (K. Huang).
the PSD processes have not received much attention so
far, although it has been known since the 1920s. Abu-
Eishah and Luyben [3] reported the design and control of
a PSD process separating a binary azeotropic mixture of
tetrahydrofuran and water. They demonstrated that the
PSD process could be manipulated very smoothly with a
decentralized multi-loop control system. Chang and Shih
[4] compared a PSD process with an azeotropic distillation
system in terms of the separation of a tetrahydrofuran and
water azeotropic mixture and found that the PSD process
was more economically attractive than the azeotropic
distillation scheme. Knapp and Doherty [5] extended the
concept of the PSD processes to the separation of multi-
component azeotropic mixtures. Process design and appli-
cation of the PSD processes were discussed thoroughly by
Horwitz [6] and Frank [7], respectively. Phimister and Sei-
der [8] invented a semi-continuous PSD process character-
izing by a drastic reduction of capital investment.

1359-4311/$ - see front matter  2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2007.07.003
924 K. Huang et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 28 (2008) 923932
Nomenclature
A heat transfer area [m2 stage1]
B bottom withdrawal [kmol s1]
c cost coecient []
CI capital investment [$]
d diameter [m]
D distillate [kmol s1]
F feed ow rate [kmol s1]
H height [m]
M&S Marshall and Swift ination index []
Mg molecular weight [kg mol1]
n number of stages []
NI number of stages heat-integrated []
OC operating cost [$]
P0 saturation pressure [Pa]
P pressure [Pa]
Q heat duty [kJ]
S heat transfer area [m]
However, additional cost might be incurred in process
operation.
Since a PSD process involves a HP and a LP distillation
columns operating at dierent pressures, possibilities of
heat integration are generated, which may further
strengthen its advantages over azeotropic or extractive
distillation columns. There exist actually two kinds of heat
integration for a PSD process. One is between the
condenser in the HP distillation column and the reboiler
in the LP distillation column (termed as the condenser/
reboiler type heat integration hereinafter), and the other
is between the rectifying section in the HP distillation col-
umn and the stripping section in the LP distillation column
(termed as the rectifying/stripping section type heat inte-
gration hereinafter). For the separation of close-boiling
mixtures (i.e., the relative volatility is close to one), the
latter is economically superior to the former. For the sepa-
ration of other mixtures, the reverse is true. A number of
researchers, for instance, Abu-Eishah and Luyben [3],
Knapp and Doherty [9], and Repke et al. [10], examined
the economical potentials of the condenser/reboiler type
heat integration. With regard to the rectifying/stripping
section type heat integration, only a little research work
has been reported so far. Nakaiwa et al. [11] discussed this
kind of heat integration between two distillation columns
working together to separate a close-boiling ternary mix-
ture and demonstrated its great economical potential.
Schmal et al. [12] compared the condenser/reboiler type
heat integration with the rectifying/stripping section type
heat integration in terms of a C2 splitter. Although the lat-
ter was found economically superior to the former, it might
give rise to additional diculties in process operation. As
the rectifying/stripping section type heat integration repre-
sents one of principal methods for improving the thermo-
dynamic eciency of distillation operation [1315], it is
T temperature [K]
TAC total annual cost [$]
U overall coecient of heat transfer [W m2 K1]
x mole fraction of liquid []
y mole fraction of vapour []
yr operating hours per year [h]
z mole fraction of feed stream []
ZRO zero reux operation []
r vapour fugacity coecient []
c liquid activity coecient []
Subscripts
B bottom
D distillate
F feed
H high-pressure distillation column
L low-pressure distillation column
interesting to examine its impact on the synthesis and
design of a PSD process.
This work explores the economical eect of considering
the rectifying/stripping section type heat integration in a
PSD processes separating a binary homogeneous pres-
sure-sensitive azeotrope. After a brief review on the opera-
tion principle of the PSD processes in Section 2, general
congurations for the rectifying/stripping section type heat
integration between the HP and LP distillation columns are
derived in Section 3. In Section 4, an eective procedure for
the conceptual process design is introduced for the
heat-integrated PSD processes, followed by a detailed
simulation analysis of a rectifying/stripping section type
heat-integrated PSD process in the separation of a binary
azeotropic mixture of acetonitrile and water in Section 5.
Some concluding remarks are nally made in the last sec-
tion of this article.
2. Conventional PSD processes
Conventional PSD process is one of the simplest and yet
most economical technique for separating a binary homo-
geneous azeotrope, provided that the azeotrope is sensitive
enough to the changes in operating pressure (In other
words, PSD process has a strict requirement on the ther-
modynamic property of the azeotropes). Fig. 1a shows a
conventional PSD process used for the separation of a min-
imum-boiling azeotrope and Fig. 2a illustrates its operation
principle on an xy diagram. As can be seen, two distilla-
tion columns are connected with one operated at a rela-
tively low pressure and the other at a relatively high
pressure. By this pressure elevation, the azeotropic point
can be circumvented and pure components can be pro-
duced from the bottom of the two distillation columns. It
should be indicated here that internal circulation may
 K. Huang et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 28 (2008) 923932 925

DH, xD, H 1

Throttling DL, xD, L Operating line of the

valve HP distillation column

Equilibrium curve of the

LP distillation LP distillation column
F, zF column

HP distillation

y [-]
Equilibrium curve of the
column HP distillation column

BL, xB, L Operating line of the

BH, xB, H
LP distillation column

xB,L zF xD,H xD,L xB,H

DL, xD, L
0 1
LP distillation

DH, xD, H x [-]

HP distillation

1
column

Throttling Operating line of the

F, zF LP distillation column
column

valve

Equilibrium curve of the

LP distillation column
BH, xB, H
BL, xB, L
y [-]

Operating line of the

Fig. 1. Schematic of a conventional PSD process: (a) separation of a HP distillation column
minimum-boiling azeotrope; (b) separation of a maximum-boiling
azeotrope.

Equilibrium curve of the

HP distillation column
become very large if the distillates of the LP and HP distil- zF
xD,H
lation columns are very close to each other in composition
xB,H xB,L xD,H
(note that xD,H and xD,L are conned actually within the
range of the composition change in the azeotropic point), 0 1
x [-]
leading consequently to an excessive energy requirement.
This potential drawback can also be well understood from Fig. 2. Operation principle of PSD processes on an xy diagram: (a)
the material balance equations (Eqs. (1.1)(1.3)). Although separation of a minimum-boiling azeotrope; (b) separation of a maximum-
boiling azeotrope.
the dierence between the two distillate ow rates is
constant (in case the feed and products have been xed),
they can change signicantly, depending on the pressure BL xD;H  zF xD;L  xB;H
elevation from the LP to HP distillation columns. 2:1
F xB;H  xB;L xD;H  xD;L
DL xB;L  zF xD;H  xB;H BH xD;H  zF xD;L  xB;L
1:1 2:2
F xB;L  xB;H xD;H  xD;L F xB;H  xB;L xD;H  xD;L
DH xB;L  zF xD;L  xB;H BH  BL xD;H  zF
1:2 const 2:3
F xB;L  xB;H xD;H  xD;L F xD;H  xD;L
DH  DL xB;L  zF
const 1:3
F xB;L  xB;H
3. Rectifying/stripping section type heat-integrated PSD
Likewise, the PSD process shown in Fig. 1b can be used processes
to separate a maximum-boiling azeotrope. Its operation
principle is shown in Fig. 2b and the corresponding mate- The pressure elevation from the LP to HP distilla-
rial balance equations are expressed as follows. tion columns provides possibilities for considering heat
926
integration within a conventional PSD process, because
thermodynamic eciency could be boosted and the strict
requirement on the azeotrope, i.e., the high sensitivity to
pressure variations, might be, by a certain extent, allevi-
ated. Prior to process design, it is of great importance to
gure out the process conguration for heat integration
between the HP and LP distillation columns. Although
the thermodynamic analysis of process operation is usually
needed [1618], a close examination of the process topol-
ogy may frequently yield a correct interpretation for a con-
ventional PSD process. As shown in Fig. 1a, one may nd
that the LP distillation column has two feeds. One is the
fresh feed and the other is the recycle from the HP distilla-
tion column. It is now necessary to determine which feed is
the dominant one, based on which the equivalent rectifying
section and stripping section should be identied. For the
LP distillation column, the fresh feed is apparently the
dominant one and the stages below it (i.e., the equivalent
stripping section) should be heat-integrated with the recti-
fying section of the HP distillation column. This denes
actually the rectifying/stripping section type heat-inte-
grated PSD process for the separation of a minimum-boil-
ing azeotrope as shown in Fig. 3a. Analogously, the
rectifying/stripping section type heat-integrated PSD pro-
DH, xD, H
Throttling DL, xD, L
valve
Low pressure
F, zF
column
High pressure
column
BL, xB, L
LP distillation
DH, xD, H
column
HP distillation
F, zF
column
BH, xB, H
BL, xB, L
Fig. 3. Schematic of a rectifying/stripping section type heat-integrated
PSD process: (a) separation of a minimum-boiling azeotrope; (b)
separation of a maximum-boiling azeotrope.
K. Huang et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 28 (2008) 923932
cess for the separation of a maximum-boiling azeotrope
can be derived as shown in Fig. 3b.
4. A procedure for the conceptual design of a rectifying/
stripping section type heat-integrated PSD process
Although vacuum operation appears to be reasonable in
the LP distillation column, it is generally not justied from
the standpoint of process economics because it poses strict
requirements on the cold utility and the construction of the
LP distillation column. Therefore, the operating pressure in
the LP distillation column is usually chosen at the atmo-
sphere pressure. In Fig. 4, an eective procedure is illus-
trated for the conceptual design of a rectifying/stripping
section type heat-integrated PSD process. As can be seen,
the pressure elevation from the LP to HP distillation col-
umns has been treated as a dominant design variable
because it is closely related to the circumvention of the
azeotropic point. A recursive procedure has to be employed
to nd out the trade-o between the energy requirement
and capital investment of a PSD process.
It should be pointed out here that although the congu-
ration of heat integration between the LP and HP distilla-
tion columns has already been claried, the arrangement of
heat integration is actually not a trivial matter. Small heat
Start
Given design specifications
Determine the pressure in the
HP distillation column
BH, xB, H Conduct mass and energy
balance calculations
Adjust the pressure in the
HP distillation column
DL, xD, L
Design the HP and LP
distillation columns respectively
Design heat integration between
Throttling the HP and LP distillation columns
valve
If TAC is minimized ?
No
Yes
Stop
Fig. 4. A recursive procedure for the conceptual design of a rectifying/
stripping section type heat-integrated PSD process.
 K. Huang et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 28 (2008) 923932 927

transfer area is not sucient for heat integration between
the LP and HP distillation columns, thus being unable to
achieve the full potential of the improvement in the ther-
modynamic eciency. On the other hand, very large heat
transfer area can lead to an exceeding degree of heat inte-
gration and cause the saving of LP steam at the expense of
HP steam in process operation, thereby worsening the
thermodynamic eciency. It should be stressed here that
this characteristic diers sharply from that of an internally
heat-integrated distillation column, where arranging heat
transfer area between rectifying section and stripping
section always helps to reduce the energy requirement
[1921]. Therefore, a trial and error search is necessary to
nd out the optimum prole of the heat transfer area in
order to minimize the chosen objective function during
process design.
integration. Conceptual process design is conducted by
minimizing total annual cost (TAC), which is the sum of
energy cost and annual capital investment for the PSD pro-
cesses. Annual capital investment is assumed to be capital
investment divided by a payback period of 3 years and
the cost of equipment is estimated with the formulas shown
in the Appendix A. The calculation of vapourliquid equi-
librium is introduced in the Appendix B.
5.1. Conceptual design of conventional PSD processes
First, the conceptual design of conventional PSD pro-
cesses is considered, and the resultant process designs and
their operating conditions are detailed in Tables 3 and 4,
respectively. The inuences of the pressure elevation from

Table 3
5. An illustrative example: separation of a binary azeotropic Conceptual process design of conventional PSD processes
mixture of acetonitrile and water
Parameters Process designs

The binary mixture of acetonitrile and water exhibits a Scenario I Scenario II Scenario III
minimum-boiling azeotrope (0.69 mol% at 0.101 MPa), Height of the HP 10.24 11.70 11.70
whose composition appears to be very sensitive to pressure distillation column (m)
Height of the LP 11.70 10.24 10.24
variations. The separation of this azeotropic mixture is distillation column (m)
selected as an example system for the study of the rectify- Diameter of the HP 1.51 2.95 4.19
ing/stripping section type heat integration within a PSD distillation column (m)
process. The specications of process design are given in Diameter of the LP 2.40 4.93 7.06
Table 1 and the utility costs are tabulated in Table 2. Since distillation column (m)
Number of stages in the 14 16 16
feed composition is one of the primary variables that aect HP distillation column
the internal circulation (c.f., Eqs. (1) and (2)), three scenar- Number of stages in the 16 14 14
ios, diering merely in the feed composition, are investi- LP distillation column
gated here in order to examine its inuences on heat Feed location in the HP 8 9 9
distillation column
Table 1 Feed locations in the 3/10 3/9 3/9
Design specications for a PSD process separating a binary azeotropic LP distillation column
mixture of acetonitrile and water Capital investment 106 ($) 0.42 1.07 1.66
Operating cost 106 ($/yr) 0.68 3.47 7.42
Parameters Process designs TAC 106 ($) 0.82 3.83 7.97
Scenario I Scenario II Scenario III
Feed ow rate (kmol/h) 1000 1000 1000
Feed composition Table 4
(mole fraction) Nominal operating conditions of conventional PSD processes
Acetonitrile 0.05 0.2 0.5 Parameters Process designs
Water 0.95 0.8 0.5
Scenario I Scenario II Scenario III
Feed thermal condition 1.0 1.0 1.0
Product specication Pressure in the HP distillation 0.91 1.01 1.01
(mole fraction) column (MPa)
Acetonitrile 0.995 0.995 0.995 Pressure in the LP distillation 0.10 0.10 0.10
Water 0.995 0.995 0.995 column (MPa)
Overall heat transfer 500 500 500 Reux ow rate in the HP 0.28 0.28 0.28
coecient (W/m2 K) distillation column (kmol/h)
Reux ow rate in the LP 1.03 1.39 1.39
distillation column (kmol/h)
Table 2 Condenser duty in the HP 0.43 1.83 3.71
Utility cost distillation column (MW)
Condenser duty in the LP 0.27 1.13 2.28
Parameters Values distillation column (MW)
LP steam ($/te) 17 Reboiler duty in the HP 0.93 4.06 8.21
HP steam ($/te) 17 (0.95 + 0.05PH) distillation column (MW)
Cooling water ($/te) 0.06 Reboiler duty in the LP 0.26 1.72 3.63
Electricity ($/kW h) 0.084 distillation column (MW)
928 K. Huang et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 28 (2008) 923932

Table 5
a 3 Conceptual process design of the rectifying/stripping section type heat-
Scenario I Scenario II Scenario III integrated PSD processes
Parameters Process design
CI 10 [$]

2
Scenario I Scenario II Scenario III
6

Height of the HP distillation 8.0 9.51 10.24

1 column (m)
Height of the LP distillation 9.51 8.78 9.51
column (m)
0
Diameter of the HP distillation 1.42 2.96 4.20
1 3 5 7 9 11 13
column (m)
P H/P L [-]
Diameter of the LP distillation 2.02 4.46 6.99
column (m)
b 16
Scenario I Scenario II Scenario III
Number of stages in the HP 11 13 14
distillation column
OC10 [$/yr]

12 Number of stages in the LP 13 12 13

distillation column
6

8 Feed location in the HP 6 6 7

distillation column
4 Feed location in the LP 3/10 2/8 3/9
distillation column
0 Number of stages heat-integrated 4 4 5
1 3 5 7 9 11 13 Heat transfer area (m2/stage) 1.4 5.2 7.5
P H/P L [-] Capital investment 106 ($) 0.36 0.96 1.46
Operating cost 106 ($/yr) 0.68 3.09 6.33
c 18 TAC 06 ($) 0.80 3.41 6.81
Scenario I Scenario II Scenario III
TAC 10 [$/yr]

12 Here, the heat transfer from the HP to LP distillation col-

6

umns is calculated with the following equation.

6
Qj UAT H;j  T L;j j 1; . . . ; N I 3

0 The detailed outcomes of the conceptual process

1 3 5 7 9 11 13 design are summarized in Tables 5 and 6. Comparing
P H /P L [-] with the conventional PSD processes shown in Tables 3
Fig. 5. Eect on process design by the pressure elevation from the LP to and 4, one may nd that the number of stages has been
HP distillation columns: (a) CI; (b) OP; (c) TAC. lowered after considering the rectifying/stripping section
type heat integration between the HP and LP distillation
columns. It implies that improvement in the thermody-
the LP to HP distillation columns, PH/PL, on capital
namic eciency has not been achieved at the expense of
investment (CI), operating cost (OC), and TAC are shown
in Fig. 5. It is noted that PH/PL appears to be a dominant
variable in process synthesis and design for all the three Table 6
Nominal operating conditions of the rectifying/stripping section type heat-
scenarios. With the enhancement of the pressure elevation
integrated PSD processes
from the LP to HP distillation columns, the internal circu-
Parameters Process designs
lation rate is reduced, thereby leading to a simultaneous
abatement of the OC, CI, and TAC. When PH/PL is Scenario I Scenario II Scenario III
around 0.91.0 MPa, almost no further improvement can Pressure in the HP distillation 0.91 1.01 1.01
be obtained on these indexes. Therefore, PH/PL is chosen column (MPa)
Pressure in the LP distillation 0.10 0.10 0.10
at 0.91 MPa for scenario I and 1.01 for scenarios II and
column (MPa)
III. Although the feed composition can signicantly aect Reux ow rate in the HP 0 0 0
the energy requirement of a PSD process, quite a limited distillation column
eect has been observed on the process synthesis and Reux ow rate in the LP 1.40 1.39 1.39
design. distillation column
Condenser duty in the HP 0.42 1.83 3.71
distillation column (MW)
Condenser duty in the LP 0.26 1.13 2.28
5.2. Conceptual design of rectifying/stripping section type distillation column (MW)
heat-integrated PSD processes Reboiler duty in the HP 0.99 4.26 8.53
distillation column (MW)
Second, the conceptual design of the rectifying/stripping Reboiler duty in the LP 0.16 0.99 2.26
distillation column (MW)
section type heat-integrated PSD processes is conducted.
 K. Huang et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 28 (2008) 923932 929

a 2 b
Scenario I Scenario II Scenario III 10
Scenario I Scenario II Scenario III
1.5 8
CI 106 [$]

OC 10 [$]
6

6
1
4
0.5 2
0
0 2 4 6 8
2 4 6 8
Number of stages heat-integrated [-] Number of stages heat-integrated [-]

10 20

Heat transfer area [m /stage]

Scenario I Scenario II Scenario III Scenario I Scenario II Scenario III
8
15
TA C 10 6 [$]

2
6
10
4

2 5
0
2 4 6 8 0
2 4 6 8
Number of stages heat-integrated [-]
Number of stages heat-integrated [-]
Fig. 6. Eect of the number of stages heat-integrated on process design: (a) CI; (b) OP; (c) TAC; (d) heat transfer area allowed for a zero-reux operation
in the HP distillation column.

capital investment for a PSD process, diering sharply
from the case of an internally heat-integrated distillation
column [22]. In Fig. 6, the eect of the number of stages
heat-integrated is depicted on the condition that a zero-
reux operation (ZRO) has been maintained in the HP
distillation column. It is readily seen that the assignment
of a small number of stages heat-integrated can reduce
the CI (Fig. 6a) and give almost no inuences to the
OC and TAC (Fig. 6b and c). This is because a relatively
large heat transfer area is allowed between the HP and
LP distillation columns when a small number of stages
are employed. This tendency can be more clearly identi-
ed in Fig. 6d, where the relationship is shown between
the number of stages heat-integrated and the heat transfer
area per stage allowed. These facts indicate that intensi-
6 tion type heat integration secures a 10.29% and 12.05%
TAC
OC
Cost106 [$]
cation of a PSD process depends heavily upon the
arrangement of heat integration between the HP and
LP distillation columns. In Fig. 7, the eect of the heat
transfer area on process design is displayed for scenario
II. It is indicated that intensifying heat integration within
a PSD process can lead to a simultaneous reduction of
the CI and OC. Although the illustration is drawn up
to the zero-reux operation in the HP distillation column
here, it might not be taken as a limit in practical process
design.
5.3. Comparison between rectifying/stripping section type
heat-integrated and conventional PSD processes
Table 7 compares the rectifying/stripping section type
heat-integrated PSD processes with their conventional
counterparts. As can be seen, the rectifying/stripping sec-
CI
ZRO reduction in capital investment for scenarios II and III,

4
Table 7
Comparison between rectifying/stripping section type heat-integrated and
2 conventional PSD processes
Parameters Heat-integrated/conventional
0 Scenario I Scenario II Scenario III
0 2 4 6
Process designs
Heat transfer area [m2/stage] Capital investment (%) 85.71 89.71 87.95
Operating cost (%) 100 89.05 85.31
Fig. 7. Eect of the heat transfer area on process economics.
930 K. Huang et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 28 (2008) 923932
respectively. As far as operating cost is concerned, around
a 10.95% and 14.69% reduction has been achieved. With
regard to scenario I, a 14.29% reduction in capital invest-
ment is obtained, but with no further reduction in operat-
ing cost. Because the feed composition of acetonitrile is
small in this situation, the top product ow rates also
become small in both the HP and LP distillation columns,
thereby limiting the potential of energy saving in this
situation.
It is interesting to note that the rectifying/stripping sec-
tion type heat integration can reduce simultaneously the
capital investment and operating cost in scenarios II and
III. The rectifying/stripping section type heat integration
reduces the cooling and heating loads for the PSD pro-
cesses and hence the heat transfer area in the condenser
and reboiler. In contrast, the heat transfer area incorpo-
rated between the LP and HP distillation columns is rela-
tively small due to the high temperature driving forces
between the LP and HP distillation columns. As a result,
net capital investment decreases after adding the rectify-
ing/stripping section type heat integration to a PSD
process.
5.4. Condenser/reboiler type heat integration versus
rectifying/stripping section type heat integration
Here, it is interesting to compare the rectifying/stripping
section type heat integration with the condenser/reboiler
type heat integration in a PSD process. In Table 8, the
eect of the condenser/reboiler type heat integration is
summarized for the three scenarios. Through comparing
Tables 7 with 8, one may readily nd that the rectifying/
stripping section type heat integration fails to compete with
the condenser/reboiler type heat integration. The latter
leads to a larger reduction than the former in both capital
investment and operating cost. It should, however, be indi-
cated here that this outcome is quite case-specic and
depends heavily upon the thermodynamic properties of
the mixture processed (e.g., relative volatility). For the bin-
ary mixture of acetonitrile and water, the average relative
volatility between water and acetonitrile is around 2.5 in
the HP distillation column. To make the distillate with
the specied composition needs only a very small reux
ratio and this restricts the advantage of the rectifying/strip-
ping section type heat integration. Remember the fact that
even for this unfavourable azeotropic mixture the rectify-
ing/stripping section type heat integration still secures a
Table 8
Comparison between condenser/reboiler type heat-integrated and con-
ventional PSD processes
Parameters Heat-integrated/conventional
Scenario I Scenario II Scenario III
Process designs
Capital investment (%) 83.33 74.77 72.45
Operating cost (%) 67.65 57.93 56.60
DH, xD, H
Throttling DL, xD, L
valve
Low pressure
F, zF
column
High pressure
column
BL, xB, L
BH, xB, H
Fig. 8. A PSD process incorporated simultaneously with the condenser/
reboiler type and rectifying/stripping section type heat integration.
substantial reduction in capital investment and operating
cost, one may readily understand why discrimination
should not be made between these two design options.
Therefore, they are strongly suggested to be considered
simultaneously in the synthesis and design of a heat-inte-
grated PSD process and one of such processes is illustrated
in Fig. 8.
6. Conclusions
In this paper, the economical eect of considering the
rectifying/stripping section type heat integration has been
examined for a PSD process separating a binary homoge-
neous pressure-sensitive azeotrope. Congurations for the
heat integration between the stripping section and rectify-
ing section of the LP and HP distillation columns, respec-
tively, are derived and an eective procedure for the
conceptual process design is devised for the heat-integrated
PSD process. Through the separation of a binary azeotro-
pic mixture of acetonitrile and water, it has been demon-
strated that this kind of heat integration may help to
improve process design in not only thermodynamic e-
ciency but also capital investment. In pursuit of further
improvement in system performance, simultaneous consid-
eration of the condenser/reboiler type heat integration with
the rectifying/stripping section type heat integration
between the LP and HP distillation columns is strongly rec-
ommended for a PSD process. Current work is now under-
way to investigate the design and operation of this totally
heat-integrated PSD process.
Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to Dr. Hiroyuki Kodama and
Dr. Yoshihiko Nagata (Research Institute for Human
Science and Biomedical Engineering, National Institute
 K. Huang et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 28 (2008) 923932 931

of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) of tonitrile and water can be represented reasonably well with
Japan) for their helpful comments. this model.

Appendix A. Formulas for sizing and capital investment References

estimation of a distillation column
[1] E.J. Homan, Azeotropic and Extractive Distillation, rst ed., John
The size and capital investment of a distillation column Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, 1964.
is estimated based on the formulas by Douglas [23]. The [2] S. Widagdo, W.D. Seider, Azeotropic distillation, AIChE J. 42 (1)
primary formulas employed are listed below. (1996) 96130.
[3] S.I. Abu-Eishah, W.L. Luyben, Design and control of a two-column
The diameter of a distillation column is calculated by azeotropic distillation system, Ind. Eng. Chem. Proc. Des. Develop.
   1=4 24 (1) (1985) 132140.
0:5 Tb 14:7
d 0:0164V 378M g A1 [4] T. Chang, T.T. Shih, Development of an azeotropic distillation
520 q scheme for purication of tetrahydrofuran, Fluid Phase Equilib. 52
where Tb is the bubble point temperature. (12) (1989) 161168.
[5] J.P. Knapp, M.F. Doherty, A new pressure-swing distillation process
The height of a distillation column is for separating homogeneous azeotropic mixtures, Ind. Eng. Chem.
H 2:4n A2 Res. 31 (1) (1992) 346357.
[6] B.A. Horwitz, Optimize pressure-sensitive distillation, Chem. Eng.
The heat transfer area in the condenser and reboiler can Progr. 93 (4) (1997) 4751.
be calculated by [7] T.C. Frank, Break azeotropes with pressure-sensitive distillation,
Q Chem. Eng. Progr. 93 (4) (1997) 5263.
S A3 [8] J.M. Phimister, W.D. Seider, Semi-continuous, pressure-swing distil-
U DT lation, Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 39 (1) (2000) 122130.
where DT is the temperature driving force. [9] J.P. Knapp, M.F. Doherty, Thermal integration of homo-
The capital cost of a column shell is estimated with geneous azeotropic distillation sequences, AIChE J. 31 (7) (1990)
969984.
Installed column shell cost [10] J.U. Repke, A. Klein, F. Forner, Homogeneous azeotropic distilla-
  tion in an energy- and mass-integrated pressure swing column system,
M&S
 101:9d 1:066 H 0:802 cin cm cp A4 Computer-Aided Chem. Eng. 18 (2004) 757762.
280 [11] M. Nakaiwa, K. Huang, K. Iwakabe, A. Endo, T. Ohmori, T.
Yamamoto, A. Tsutsumi, External heat-integration for ternary
where cp, cm, and cin are the pressure range, construction mixture separation, in: Proceedings of the 18th International
material and installation cost coecients, respectively. Conference on Eciency, Cost, Optimization, Simulation and Envi-
The capital cost of trays is estimated with ronmental Impact of Energy Systems (ECOS 2005), vol. 3, 2005, pp.
  12791286.
M&S [12] J.P. Schmal, H.J. Van Der Kooi, A. De Rijke, Z. Olujic, P.J. Jansens,
Installed tray cost  4:7d 1:55 H cs ct cm
280 Internal versus external heat integration: operational and economical
analysis, Chem. Eng. Res. Des. 84 (5) (2006) 374380.
A5 [13] T. Takamatsu, M. Nakaiwa, K. Huang, H. Noda, T. Nakanishi, K.
where cs and ct are the tray spacing, and design type cost Aso, Simulation oriented development of a new heat integrated
distillation column and its characteristics for energy saving, Comput.
coecients, respectively. Chem. Eng. S21 (1997) S243S247.
The capital cost of a heat exchanger is [14] M. Nakaiwa, K. Huang, A. Endo, T. Ohmori, T. Akiya, T.
Takamatsu, Internally heat-integrated distillation columns: a review,
Installed heat exchanger cost Chem. Eng. Res. Des. 81 (1) (2003) 162178.
 
M&S [15] Z. Olujic, F. Fakhri, A. de Rijke, J. de Graauw, P.J. Jansens, Internal
 101:3S 0:65 cin cm ct cp A6 heat integration the key to an energy-conserving distillation column,
280
J. Chem. Technol. Biotechnol. 78 (2) (2003) 241248.
[16] R.E. Fitzmorris, R.S.H. Mah, Improving distillation column design
using thermodynamics availability analysis, AIChE J. 26 (2) (1980)
Appendix B. Vaporliquid equilibrium calculation
265273.
[17] Y. Naka, M. Terashita, S. Hayashiguchi, T. Takamatsu, An
In this work, the vaporliquid equilibrium for the binary intermediate heating and cooling method for a distillation column,
azeotropic mixture of acetonitrile and water is calculated J. Chem. Eng. Jpn. 13 (2) (1980) 123129.
with the following equations. [18] V.R. Dhole, B. Linnho, Distillation column targets, Comput. Chem.
Eng. 17 (5) (1993) 549560.
ri y i P ci xi P 0i i 1; 2 A7 [19] K. Huang, J. Qian, D. Zhan, M. Nakaiwa, T. Takamatsu, Steady
state operation analysis of ideal heat-integrated distillation columns
where c is the liquid activity coecient and calculated with (HIDiC), Chin. J. Chem. Eng. 5 (4) (1997) 325336.
the NRTL equation. P0 is the vapour saturation pressure [20] M. Nakaiwa, K. Huang, K. Naito, A. Endo, T. Akiya, T. Nakane, T.
calculated with the Antoine equation. r is the vapour Takamatsu, Parametric analysis and optimization of ideal heat-
integrated distillation columns, Comput. Chem. Eng. 25 (4) (2001)
fugacity coecient calculated with the Virial equation.
737744.
The relevant physical parameters are adopted from the [21] K. Huang, K. Matsuda, K. Iwakabe, T. Takamatsu, M. Nakaiwa,
books by Gmehling et al. [24] and Reid et al. [25], respec- Graphical synthesis of an internally heat-integrated distillation
tively. It is found that the binary azeotropic mixture of ace- column, J. Chem. Eng. Jpn. 39 (8) (2006) 703708.
932 K. Huang et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 28 (2008) 923932

[22] K. Huang, K. Matsuda, K. Iwakabe, T. Takamatsu, M. Nakaiwa,
Interpreting design of an ideal heat-integrated distillation column
through exergy analysis, J. Chem. Eng. Jpn. 39 (9) (2006) 963970.
[23] J.M. Douglas, Conceptual Design of Chemical Processes, rst ed.,
McGraw-Hill, New York, 1988.
[24] J. Gmehling, U. Onken, W. Arlt, Vapourliquid Equilibrium Data
Collection, Aqueous-Organic Systems, Schon & Wetzed GmbH,
Frankfurt/Main, Germany, 1981.
[25] R.C. Reid, J.M. Prausnitz, B.E. Poling, The Properties of Gases and
Liquids, fourth ed., McGraw-Hill, New York, 1988.