Chemical Engineering and Processing 86 (2014) 125–144

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Chemical Engineering and Processing:

Process Intensification
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/cep

A review on process intensification in internally heat-integrated

distillation columns
Anton A. Kiss a,b, *, Žarko Oluji

cc
a
AkzoNobel – Research, Development & Innovation, Zutphenseweg 10, 7418 AJ Deventer, The Netherlands
b
Sustainable Process Technology Group, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Twente, 7500 AE, Enschede, PO Box 217, The Netherlands
c
Process & Energy Laboratory, Delft University of Technology, Leeghwaterstraat 39, 2628 CB Delft, The Netherlands

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Article history: Internally heat-integrated distillation column (HIDiC) is the most radical approach of a heat pump design,
Received 4 September 2014 making efficient use of internal heat-integration: the rectifying section of a distillation column operating
Received in revised form 28 October 2014 at a higher pressure becomes the heat source, while the stripping part of the column acts as a heat sink.
Accepted 30 October 2014
Remarkably, a HIDIC can bring up to 70% energy savings compared to conventional distillation columns.
Available online 6 November 2014
This is highly appealing regarding the fact that distillation is one of the most energy intensive operations
in the chemical process industry accounting for over 40% of the energy usage. This review paper describes
Keywords:
the latest developments concerning this promising but difficult to implement process intensification
Heat pump
Integrated distillation
technology, covering all the major aspects related to the working principle, thermodynamic analysis,
HIDiC potential energy savings, various design configurations and construction options (ranging from inter-
VRC coupled or concentric columns, shell and tube and plate–fin heat exchanger columns to SuperHIDiC),
SRV design optimization, process control and operation issues, as well as pilot-scale and potential industrial
SuperHIDiC applications. Further advancement, i.e., development of HIDiC technology for multi-component mixture
Process intensification separations is an extremely challenging research topic, especially when HIDiC becomes associated with
other technologies such as dividing-wall column (DWC) or reactive distillation (RD).
ã 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Contents

1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
2. Basic concepts and working principle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
3. Thermodynamic analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
4. Potential energy savings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
4.1. Partial heat integrated distillation column (p-HIDiC) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
4.2. Ideal heat integrated distillation column (i-HIDiC) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
5. Modeling and simulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
6. Design and construction options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
6.1. Inter-coupled distillation columns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
6.2. Distillation column with partition wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
6.3. Concentric distillation column . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
6.3.1. Concentric column with heat panels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
6.4. Shell and tube heat-exchanger column . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
6.5. Plate–fin heat-exchanger column . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
6.6. Heat transfer means . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
6.7. SuperHIDiC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
7. HIDiC as retrofit technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
8. Process dynamics, control and operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
9. Applications and configurations under consideration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +31 26 366 9420.

E-mail address: Tony.Kiss@akzonobel.com (A.A. Kiss).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cep.2014.10.017
0255-2701/ ã 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
126 A.A. Kiss, Z. Oluji
c / Chemical Engineering and Processing 86 (2014) 125–144
10. Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
1. Introduction
Although distillation is by far the most widely applied
separation technology, its major drawback is the inevitable
degradation of energy associated to the temperature difference
between the reboiler and condenser – which leads to a low
overall thermodynamic efficiency of a distillation column, e.g.,
below 10% [36,46,47,72]. This has been realized and addressed by
theoreticians since long [10,11,64], but it was ignored by
practitioners until the first and second energy crisis in mid
1970s and early 1980s, respectively, when the process
industries were confronted with the explosion of oil and energy
prices.
The first practical efforts to improve the thermal efficiency of
distillation columns were by implementing on largest industrial
scale the heat pump assisted distillation [64], which effectively
reduces the exergy losses by minimizing the temperature
difference between heat input and output. For example, most
common of heat pump arrangements is direct vapor recompres-
sion (VRC), where the temperature of the overhead vapor is raised
to the desired level upon passage through a compressor. It is a
proven, but capital intensive energy saving technology applied
mainly on industrial sites with no sources of cheap energy (waste
heat or excess of low pressure steam) for reboilers of large capacity,
energy intensive columns, like those employed for separation of
close boiling mixtures: ethylene/ethane, propylene/propane,
isobutane/n-butane and the like.
Heat integrated distillation column (HIDiC) is an advancement
in this respect, which could help to expand the applications
window for heat pump assisted distillation. HIDiC maximizes the
energy efficiency of a heat pump design by making use of internal
heat-integration [4,15,60,62,65]. Instead of using a single point
heat source (reboiler) and sink (condenser), the whole rectifying
section of a distillation column becomes the heat source, while
the stripping part of the distillation column acts as a heat sink
[56,57]. The work input is provided by a compressor that receives
vapor leaving the stripping section, while the heat pump cycle is
closed by a throttling valve placed in the line transporting the
liquid leaving the bottom of the rectification section to the top of
the stripping section. Due to reduction in the pressure the liquid
tends to flash creating a significant fraction of vapor that enters
the top of the stripping section, increasing directly the compres-
sor load.
Fig. 1. Vapor recompresion (VRC) system (left) and HIDiC configuration (right).
The stripping section is typically separated from the rectifying
section and the heat is transferred from the “hot” rectifying
section, operating at a higher pressure than the “cold” stripping
section, through the partition wall or using adequate means
connecting equivalent stages [72]. For illustration, Fig. 1 [48]
compares the basic flowsheets of the VRC and HIDiC. The latter
combines vapor recompression at a reduced pressure ratio and
gradual heat transfer (diabatic operation), which effectively leads
to minimization of the energy requirement of a single column.
Namely, in a HIDiC configuration the compressor operates only
over the stripping section, and not over the whole column as it is
typically the case with a VRC. For this reason, a HIDiC implies
operation at a lower compression ratio and thus a lower
compressor duty as compared to a VRC [72].
HIDiC technology offers several very attractive features that
keep stimulating the researchers to pursue its implementation into
the chemical process industry [62].

High energy efficiency. The highest degree of internal heat
integration within HIDiC offers typically higher energy efficiency
as compared with conventional distillation or other types of
heat-integrated distillation columns, such as common arrange-
ments of heat pumps assisted distillation column. The arrange-
ment of the internal heat transfer area for every paired stage
provides a large number of extra degrees of freedom for the
process design, thus making it possible to utilize the maximum
potential energy savings within a distillation column. This was
confirmed by numerous simulations and pilot-scale experiments
reported previously [62,72].

Zero external reflux and boil-up operation. The common practice in
distillation is to use a condenser and a reboiler to generate
external reflux and boil-up for operation. In case of HIDiC, the
internal heat integration plays this role and generates these two
flows internally, such that in ideal case neither a condenser nor a
reboiler is necessary.

Enhanced potential of internal heat integration techniques. Using
internal heat integration is very effective to improve process
energy efficiency and it can find many applications within
distillation processes, such as: multi-components separation,
batch distillation, pressure-swing distillation, and even reactive
distillation. Moreover, internal heat integration can be consid-
ered between two distillation columns that may have no direct
connections at all.
 A.A. Kiss, Z. Oluji
c / Chemical Engineering and Processing 86 (2014) 125–144 127

numerous papers of various research groups – the focus ranging

Nomenclature
from mass and heat transfer mechanism, thermodynamic analysis,
to process design, optimization, operation and applications
A heat transfer area (m2)
[4,5,12,13–17,29,31–34,38,41,44,55,56,58,60–62,65–
CP specific heat at constant pressure (kJ/kg K)
67,71,72,78,81,84,88,80]. This review paper aims to cover the state
CV specific heat at constant volume (kJ/kg K)
of the art related to all these research aspects.
E thermodynamic efficiency ()
DH change in enthalpy (kJ/mol)
2. Basic concepts and working principle
DHvap heat of vaporization (kJ/kmol)
DS change in entropy (kJ/mol K)
When energy saving potential of single distillation columns is
F feed flowrate (kmol/s)
concerned, a common approach is to consider means of reducing the
K heat capacity ratio (CP/CV)
heat requirement and/or minimizing the temperature difference
L liquid flow rate (kmol/s)
between heat input and output. The former, which tends to increase
Nhex number of the heat exchange stages ()
with decreasing relative volatility, is a common challenge for
n number of components ()
designers of conventional columns, while the latter (much more
P pressure (kPa or bar)
effective regarding energy saving potential) implies implementation
Q heat duty (W)
of methods for reduction of exergy losses. However, this is
q feed condition ()
demanding and requires complex external column arrangements,
R universal gas constant (kJ/mol K)
including integrated heat pump and/or intermediate reboilers and
T temperature (K)
condensers. The strength of HIDiC is that it combines the advantages
U heat transfer coefficient (W/m2K)
of these two effective operation modes and enables minimization of
V vapor flow rate (kmol/s)
exergy losses and consequently the energy requirement of a
W work (J/s or W)
separation by distillation.
x mole fraction, liquid phase ()
The working principle of HIDiC can be explained by making a
y mole fraction, vapor phase ()
comparison with the conventional adiabatic distillation and the
z mole fraction ()
vapor recompression heat pump [48]. Vapor recompression (Fig. 1,
left) is especially effective because it tackles the thermal inefficiency
Greek letters
problem (i.e., introduction and removal of heat to/from the
a relative volatility () distillation column) directly at the source: the pressure and
d Kronecker function () temperature of the overhead vapor is upgraded – by means of a
C unit step function () compressor – to a higher level, such that it can be used as a heat
l latent heat (kJ/kmol) source for the reboiler [46]. Although VRC is a very useful technique
for saving energy, it is rather capital intensive; hence, it is practically
Subscripts
economical only for close boiling mixtures – where small compres-
B bottoms
sion ratios are required due to a small temperature difference
D distillate
between the top and bottom of the column. This should not be
F feed
surprising, as the potential for energy saving is largest in case of
i component number
separating close-boiling mixture, where high reflux ratios and large
j stage number
reboiler duties are required [62,64,72]. For instance, the reboiler duty
in inlet
of a state of the art propylene–propane splitter with a feed rate of
max maximum
110 t/h, is nearly 90 MW [66].
min minimum
Diabatic distillation is a remarkable concept for energy savings
out outlet
in a single distillation column [50,72,74,77]. Compared to the
classical adiabatic distillation, a diabatic column replaces the
reboiler and the condenser – usually connected to the bottom and
Following academic research trends and a growing interest of at the top of the column – with a condenser and reboiler integrated
process industries to increase sustainability of their operations, in the rectification and stripping sections, respectively (Fig. 2, left).
HIDiC technology developed into a very popular topic that received Due to the gradual supply and removal of the heat along the
very much scientific attention in the recent years, as reported by stripping and rectification sections respectively, diabatic

y
Mole fraction of lighter component in vapor phase

Equilibrium curve

Distillate Distillate Operating curve

Reflux change by
internal heat-interation

Operating lines

Feed Feed

Feed composition
Bottoms composition Distillate composition

Bottoms Bottoms xB z x xD
Mole fraction of lighter component in liquid phase

Fig. 2. Adiabatic (conventional) and diabatic distillation columns: schematic representation (left) and McCabe–Thiele diagram (right).
128 A.A. Kiss, Z. Oluji
c / Chemical Engineering and Processing 86 (2014) 125–144
distillation uses in a more efficient way the heat of condensation
and evaporation. Heat transfer takes place at a lower temperature
difference that implies smaller exergy losses associated with the
heat transfer.
The effect of internal heat transfer on the distillation process
can be conveniently evaluated using the McCabe–Thiele diagram,
as plotted in Fig. 2 right [46]. In classic distillation, the operating
lines have specific slopes – their ratio being equal to the ratio of the
molar flow rates of liquid and vapor flowing counter-currently in
the rectification and stripping sections of an adiabatic column.
However, the two straight lines are replaced in a diabatic column
by a continuous operating curve that is parallel to the equilibrium
curve. The distance between the operating and the equilibrium
curve gives a measure for the irreversibility of the process. In the
limit case when these curves overlap, the exergy losses are zero
and the distillation process is perfectly reversible. However, a finite
difference must be maintained in practice, as bringing these two
curves together – while reducing the exergy losses to a minimum
– would result in an inoperable column. Consequently, the full
theoretical potential for energy savings cannot be exploited, and a
trade-off is required between the operating reflux and the number
of stages – just as in adiabatic distillation. A key drawback of this
concept is that it requires the use of a special heating media in the
reboiler, and the utilities leaving the condenser/reboiler are at such
temperatures that they can hardly be re-utilized [72].
Heat Integrated Distillation Column (HIDiC) is an attractive
possibility for internal heat integration, because it effectively
combines the advantages of vapor recompression and diabatic
distillation in a column. As mentioned previously, in a HIDiC, heat
is transferred from the hotter rectification section (operated at
Top
Feed
Stripper
Heat
Rectifier
Bottom
Feed
Top
Stripper
Rectifier
Heat
Bottom
Fig. 3. Alternative configurations of heat integrated distillation column (HIDiC).
higher pressure) to the colder stripping section (Fig. 1, right), thus
leading to a gradual evaporation and condensation along the
length of the stripping and rectifying section, respectively
[48,62,72]. Note that the problem of different sizes for rectifying
and stripping sections can be relatively easy tackled by using one of
the alternative HIDiC configurations, as illustrated in Fig. 3
[48,67,72]. Thus, a short stripper can be connected only to the
top or bottom part of a long rectifier, and similarly a short rectifier
can be connected to the top or bottom part of a long stripper.
Sometimes, it is actually beneficial to modify the general process
configuration and intentionally break the symmetry between the
rectifying and stripping sections in order to improve significantly
the performance of process operations – but this comes at the
expense of a certain loss in energy efficiency [56,62,72].
In order to establish the required temperature driving force, the
vapor leaving the top of the stripping section is directly recom-
pressed such that the rectifying section is operated at a higher
pressure than the stripping section. While VRC requires the heat
pump to operate over the complete temperature difference that
exists in the system, the main advantage of HIDiC (i.e., gain in
energy saving with respect to a VRC) is based on the fact that the
compression effort in a HIDiC is limited to bridging the
temperature difference over the height of the stripping section
only. Moreover, the height of a HIDiC could be much lower – in the
best case just half the VRC height [72].
3. Thermodynamic analysis
An extensive thermodynamic analysis to the distillation
processes was firstly applied by Freshwater [10,11] who also
Top
Rectifier
Feed
Stripper
Heat
Bottom
Top
Feed
Rectifier
Heat
Stripper
Bottom
 A.A. Kiss, Z. Oluji
c / Chemical Engineering and Processing 86 (2014) 125–144
suggested transferring heat from the rectifying to the stripping
section of a single distillation column, in order to reduce the
temperature lift to be overcome by a heat pump. The idea was
worked out systematically by Flower and Jackson [9] who showed
the advantages of this technique by simulation studies based on
the second law of thermodynamics. The HIDiC concept was
thoroughly evaluated later under the name Secondary Reflux and
Vaporization (SRV) by Mah et al. [54] and Fitzmorris and Mah [8].
Around this time and in the following years, several patents related
to the equipment were filed [20,21,27,75]. The name of HIDiC used
nowadays was introduced by Nakaiwa [59] who performed
simulation studies and pilot plant experiments that proved
substantial energy savings of HIDiC as compared with its
conventional counterpart. The possibility of operating even
without either a reboiler or a condenser, in a so-called ideal
HIDiC, was later indicated by Takamatsu et al. [85], while Aso et al.
[2] proposed and patented a new type known as shell and tube
HIDiC. Nakaiwa et al. [62] provide more details in a review of their
work in the area of HIDiC technology.
In a regular distillation column, heat is supplied in the reboiler
and removed in the condenser. Due to the temperature difference
between the heating/cooling media used in the reboiler/condenser
respectively, the separation of components is always accompanied
by a degradation of energy, even when heat losses are neglected. In
order to realize a closer approach to a reversible distillation
column, one could use inter-coolers and inter-heaters, instead of a
separate reboiler and condenser. The basic idea here is to distribute
the addition and removal of heat from the distillation process more
uniformly along the length of the column. The thermodynamic
advantages of a more equal partition of energy introduction and
removal from a distillation column were reported by several
authors [9,26,49,50,74,72]. Actually, the equipartition of entropy
production was introduced as a general concept by Tondeur and
Kvaalen [86] who suggested that the optimal design (in view of the
second law) is the one where the entropy production is uniformly
distributed among the process variables. The equipartition of
entropy production was also proposed as a new design principle
that is applied in a quasi-reversible or diabatic distillation column,
as well as a HIDiC. In a HIDiC setup, this design principle is
combined with a heat pump operating over a temperature range
that is narrower than that of a conventional heat pump system.
This combination of benefits leads to a very powerful, possibly
ultimate design of a distillation column with respect to energy
savings [72]. Note that the thermodynamic efficiency of an ideally
heat integrated distillation column was discussed at a greater
length by Liu et al. [53] and Nakaiwa et al. [62].
For a separation process the minimum amount of work required
to make a complete separation is given by the following equation:
W min ¼ FðDH  T DHÞ
where Wmin (J/s or W) is the minimum work, F (kmol/s) is the feed
flowrate, DH (kJ/mol) is the change in enthalpy, T (K) is the
temperature and DS (kJ/mol K) is the change in entropy. For an
ideal mixture of n components the minimum work for separation
can be expressed as follows [72]:
Xn
W min ¼ FRT xi lnxi
i¼1
where R (kJ/mol K) is the universal gas constant, T (K) is the
mixture temperature and xi () is the mole fraction of component i
in the feed. Note that Wmin is the thermodynamic minimum,
independent of any particular process. Actual processes operate
with finite driving forces that are irreversible and consequently use
more energy than the thermodynamic minimum.
129
For a conventional distillation column, the minimum energy
required to completely separate an ideal binary mixture when the
feed is saturated liquid, can be reduced to [43]:
 
1
Q min;conv ¼ F DHvap;B þ xF (3)
a1
where Qmin,conv (J/s or W) is the minimum energy, DHvap,B (kJ/
kmol) is the heat of vaporization of the bottom product, a () is the
relative volatility of the components and xF () is the molar
fraction of the more volatile component in the feed.
The maximum thermodynamic efficiency (Emax) is defined as
the minimum work for separation (Wmin) divided by the minimum
energy required for a separation process (Qmin). Therefore, in case
of conventional distillation of an ideal system, the following
relationship holds true:
W min RT ½xlnx þ ð1  xÞlnð1  xÞ
Emax;conv ¼ ¼ (4)
Q min;conv DHvap;B ½1=ða  1Þ þ xF 
Accordingly, the maximum thermodynamic efficiency for conven-
tional distillation is very low – less than 10% [43,65] – and tends to
decrease with decreasing relative volatility. The relative volatility
is in fact the most important parameter, as a value of a close to
unity leads to a very high reflux rate and consequently to high
energy requirements in a conventional distillation column.
Therefore, the systems with low relative volatility are the best
candidates for energy savings in distillation. As a rule, these close
boiling systems are mainly binary or nearly binary mixtures [72].
In case of a binary mixture separated in an ideal HIDiC –
operating without reboiler and condenser and with the feed as
saturated liquid – the separation can be completely driven by the
shaft work of a compressor. The compressor duty (expressed in J/s
or W) is equal to the energy required by the HIDiC:
" K1 #
K Pout K
Q HIDiC ¼ W comp ¼ VRT in 1 (5)
K1 Pin
where V (kmol/s) is the molar vapor flowrate leaving the top of the
column, K = CP/CV () is the ratio of the specific heat at constant
pressure (CP) to the specific heat at constant volume (CV), Pin (kPa)
is the absolute inlet pressure (i.e., top pressure of the stripping
section) and Pout (kPa) is the absolute outlet pressure (i.e., bottom
pressure of the rectifying section). Consequently, the thermody-
namic efficiency of the HIDiC (EHIDiC) for the separation of an ideal
system may be expressed as follows [72]:
FRT½xlnx þ ð1  xÞlnð1  xÞ
EHIDiC ¼ h i (6)
VRT in K=ðK  1Þ ðPout =Pin ÞK=K1  1
The compressor duty – determining the energy efficiency of HIDiC
– depends on two key variables: the pressure ratio (Pout/Pin) and
(1) the vapor flow rate entering the compressor (V) – this vapor flow
rate being also influenced by the partial vaporization of the high
pressure liquid that is fed back from the rectifying section. This is
the reason why, for the same task, a HIDiC would operate with an
appreciably higher vapor load than a VRC. If we consider a PP-
splitter case [66] the ratio of compressor loads of HIDiC and VRC is
around 1.3, but this increase is largely compensated by a stronger
(2) effect of a reduced compression ratio (1.3 vs 1.7 in this case),
resulting – for the same heat capacity ratio (K  1.1) – in
approximately 35% lower compressor duty of a HIDiC.
Consequently, in order to maximize the thermodynamic
efficiency of HIDiC, the compression ratio should be minimized
[72]. Unfortunately, minimizing the compression ratio implies
minimization of the temperature difference (i.e., the heat transfer
driving force) which can only be compensated by a corresponding
increase in the heat transfer area. However, this depends on the
chosen design, and it may appear more or less impractical.
130 A.A. Kiss, Z. Oluji
c / Chemical Engineering and Processing 86 (2014) 125–144
4. Potential energy savings
In order to approach the potential energy savings of a HIDiC, one
must consider both concepts – that of the partial and an ideal heat
integrated distillation column, respectively.
4.1. Partial heat integrated distillation column (p-HIDiC)
In contrast to an ideal HIDiC – which, upon start-up, is able to
operate driven by the shaft work of a compressor only [85] – in a
partial HIDiC only a part of the required heat is transferred
internally from the rectifying to stripping section, so both an
external reboiler and condenser are still required [54,75,76]. Mah
et al. [54] suggested a Secondary Reflux and Vaporization (SRV)
column that uses vapor recompression between the top vapor and
the bottom reboiler to enhance the thermal economy of the partial
HIDiC. A primary reflux is obtained in the conventional way by
feeding part of the condensed top product back in the column,
while the secondary reflux is achieved by internal condensation in
the rectifying section due to the heat transfer between the
rectifying and stripping sections. As a consequence, the concept of
Mah et al. [54] requires two compressors. The first one is the SRV
compressor that compresses the vapor leaving the stripping
section into the bottom of the rectifying section, and the second
one is the VRC compressor that compresses the vapor leaving the
top of the column into the bottom reboiler. The binary mixtures
investigated by Mah et al. [54] were ethylene–ethane, propylene–
propane, and trans-2-butene and cis-2-butene – with the first one
emerging as the most promising application, as listed in Table 1
[72]. Furthermore, Seader [75] also reported large energy savings
of 56% for the system ethylene–ethane in a partial HIDiC operated
without an extra VR compressor.
4.2. Ideal heat integrated distillation column (i-HIDiC)
As mentioned earlier, an ideal HIDiC can operate without a
reboiler and a condenser. The separation of benzene–toluene in an
ideal HIDiC was reported in several simulation studies [53,60–62]
and experimental validation was carried out in a pilot plant [58].
Energy savings of up to 60% were reported for this model system –
as shown in Table 1 [72] – though the number of stages was
increased by a factor 2–3 as compared to a conventional column.
According to Jansens et al. [39] and Oluji
c et al. [65], HIDiC is
indeed able to operate at a compression ratio lower than that of a
heat pump and HIDiC is also especially attractive for close boiling
mixtures. Benzene–toluene was taken again as reference system,
but in this case with the same number of stages as the conventional
column. From that simulation study it was concluded that a HIDiC
PP-splitter can save up to 90% energy. However, one should note
that this very high percentage value in saving is based on the direct
comparison of reboiler duty (MWs of heat) of conventional column
and compressor duty (MWs of power) of the HIDiC compressor. If
one takes into account inefficiencies in power generation, by
considering that the ratio of heat to electrical MWs is
Table 1
Reported energy savings of a partial or ideal HIDiC for various binary systems.
Model system a12 Pressure ratio (Pout/Pin)
Ethylene/ethane 1.80 3.0
Ethylene/ethane 1.80 3.0
Trans/cis 2-butene 1.08 2.4
Benzene/toluene 2.40 2.0
Benzene/toluene 2.40 2.1
Benzene/toluene 2.40 3.0
Ethyl-benzene/styrene 1.40 2.3
Propylene/propane 1.15 1.4
approximately 3, then the real savings in energy in this case
would be about 70%. Potential misunderstandings in this respect
would be avoided if exergy (i.e., consumption of utilities) is used as
basis for energy efficiency comparisons of VRC or HIDiC with
conventional distillation columns.
In spite of the conclusion of Mah et al. [54] that SRV was not
favorable for the separation of propylene–propane, it is worth
noting that the compression ratio was lower (1.4) in the study of
Jansens et al. [39] and higher (2.2) in the work of Mah et al. [54].
From these studies, it can be concluded that a HIDiC operating at
lowest feasible compression ratio is a suitable candidate for
separations with low relative volatility and tight product
specifications. In the case of a sub ambient condenser temperature,
a heat pump can also eliminate the use of refrigerants [72].
5. Modeling and simulation
The first model for HIDiC was described in the paper of Mah
et al. [54], and summarized by Nakaiwa [59] with examples of
binary separation problems. As the model is actually based on the
tri-diagonal matrix method proposed by Wang and Henke [89], the
difference between the original one and the model for the HIDiC
are briefly explained hereafter. In order to represent the amount of
the heat exchanged between the rectifying and the stripping
sections, the overall heat transfer coefficient and area must be
introduced. Assuming a tray column for the HIDiC setup, the
amount of the heat exchanged between the coupled stages (Qex) is
expressed as follows:
Q ex;j ¼ U j AJ ðT j þ Nhex Þ (7)
where Nhex () is the number of the heat exchange stages, U (W/
m2K) is the overall heat transfer coefficient, A (m2) is the heat
transfer area, and the subscript j denotes the jth stage in the
rectifying section. Treating Qex,j (W) as heat duty for a side cooler or
reboiler, the tri-diagonal matrix for the mass and the energy
balances is solved. If one takes A = 0 then Qex,j becomes also zero
and the terms for the heat exchange in the tri-diagonal matrix
disappear. Thus, the Nakaiwa’s model for the HIDiC can also handle
conventional columns without any corrections [37]. It is worth
mentioning that various kinds of process models with different
complexities have been developed so far for the HIDiC config-
urations. Although they are used for different purposes, they can
reflect the general behavior of HIDiC. A very simple model is given
here, where the principle of internal heat integration can be well
illustrated [62].
V jþ1 þ yjþ1  V j yj þ Lj1 xj1  Lj xj þ dði ¼ f ÞF xF
¼ 0; forj¼ 1 . . . n (8)
yi ¼ yi ðPj T j xj Þ; forj ¼ 1 . . . n (9)
Energy req. HIDiC vs conventional Reference
–54% (p-HIDiC) [54]
–56% (p-HIDiC) [75]
–15% (p-HIDiC) [54]
–60% (i-HIDiC) [60,61]
–60% (i-HIDiC) [39]
–52% (i-HIDiC) [53]
–80% (i-HIDiC) [39]
–90% (i-HIDiC) [39]
 A.A. Kiss, Z. Oluji
c / Chemical Engineering and Processing 86 (2014) 125–144
n HIDiC presents higher energy efficiency in process operation, as it
Q j ¼ Q jþn=2 ¼ UAðT jþn=2 Þ; forj ¼ 1 . . .
2
Q1 Qj
L1 ¼ andLj ¼ Lj1 þ þ Cðj  f ÞFq; forj ¼ 2 . . . n
l1 lj
Qj
V n ¼ Q n =ln andV njþ1  þ Cðf  jÞFð1  qÞ; forj
lj
¼ 1...n  1
where j is the stage number (from 1 to n), L (kmol/s) and V (kmol/s)
are the liquid and vapor flowrates, xj () and yj () are the liquid
and vapor compositions, zF () the mole fraction in feed, q () is the
feed condition, Tj (K) the temperature, Pj (bar) the pressure, Q (W)
the heat load, U (W/m2K) the heat transfer coefficient, A (m2) the
heat exchange area, d () is the Kronecker function, C () the unit
step function, and l (kJ/kmol) is the latent heat.
The T–H diagram of a distillation column – developed based on
the thermodynamic equilibrium operation – can indicate clearly
the heating and cooling sections for a distillation column and thus
guide the design of internal heat integration. For a binary
distillation column, the rectifying part is a cooling section that
must release a certain amount of heat to the environment, while its
stripping part is a heating section that has to take in a certain
amount of heat from the environment. These two coherent
properties provide fundamentals for the consideration of internal
heat integration within a conventional distillation column [62].
Therefore, it is reasonable in process development to reuse the
heat available from the rectifying section to heat up the stripping
section, while approaching more closely a reversible distillation
operation. In order to achieve the internal heat integration
between the rectifying section and the stripping section, one
has to maintain sufficient temperature driving forces and this can
be realized through heat pumps. With the assumption of
numerous reversible heat pumps between corresponding stages
of the rectifying and the stripping sections, the following equations
can be obtained [19].
TR
dQ R ¼
T S dQ S
ðT S  T R Þ
dW ¼
T S dQ S
The integration of these two equations leads to [62,56]:
Z TF Z TB
dQ R dQ S
¼ (15)
TC T R TF T S
Z TB
TS  TR
W¼ dQ S ¼ Q S  Q R
TF TS
It is thus clear that at appropriate operating conditions, the
distillation processes can become self-contained in heat utilization
and the separation can be driven only by shaft work – as neither
the condenser nor the reboiler appears necessary. Furthermore,
the pressure elevation from the stripping section to the rectifying
section and feed thermal condition must be determined carefully
so as to satisfy the equation: W = QS  QR. This provides the
fundamentals and guidelines for the development of a new model
of internally heat-integrated distillation columns (HIDiC). More-
over, the internal heat integration causes the operation curve of the
131
HIDiC to be exactly the same as the equilibrium one. Remarkable,
(10) needs less driving force than conventional distillation columns at
the minimum reflux ratio operating condition, and considering the
same mass transfer duty [62].
In addition to being used in process design and operation
(11) studies, one potential application of the process models is to assist
the process configuration development for the HIDiC. Model-based
development of process configurations is thus highly desired,
considering that the experimental-based development of process
configurations is very expensive and time-consuming. This
(12) requires process models to be of great reliability and accuracy,
and in general model validation through experimentation must be
carried out to comply with these requirements [62]. As stated by
the authors, the actual success of HIDiC relies on good hardware
performance for both heat and mass transfer tasks at the same
time.
6. Design and construction options
Although HIDiC is an attractive energy efficient distillation
technology, it poses great difficulties in realizing an effective
configuration in practice – hence a good equipment design is the
key to its industrial implementation [68]. This section provides
some design guidelines along with the design alternatives
proposed so far in literature [62,72].
A systematic design procedure for HIDiC was proposed by
Gadalla [13], who developed a design hierarchy that includes two
phases of design: thermodynamic and hydraulics. The design
procedure is applied using simulation-based design methods. In
thermodynamic design, temperature profiles for column sections
are used as a design tool to guide the designers, while the hydraulic
capacities of stages are analyzed to determine the maximum
physical space area available for heat exchange. Hence, feasibility
regions for heat integration and hydraulic design are identified
[13].
Prior to any design of HIDiC, conventional distillation calculations
are performed – while in some cases heat pump data is also available.
Based on the available conventional calculations, a design hierarchy
is used to guide the designer to perform a systematic design and to
provide valuable insights for optimum results. The design process
(13) starts by simulating a conventional column or heat pump
configuration for the given design problem. The required (input)
data for the simulation design is typically: feed flow rate and
conditions, feed composition, product specifications, column
(14)
pressure and the pressure drop. The simulated design (output)
parameters are: number of stages in each column section, reboiler
duty, condenser duty. In addition to these parameters, in case of heat
pump assisted distillation, the column configuration is simulated to
calculate also the compressor power requirements and the working
pressure ratio. According to the design hierarchy of Gadalla [13], this
leads first to a design of basic HIDiC that has no heat exchange or
integration, and then a complete HIDiC is designed based on the basic
(16) design. The complete HIDiC setup is simulated by increasing (step-
by-step) the level of heat transfer between the individual columns
until the reboiler duty is reduced to minimum (partial HIDiC) or zero
(ideal HIDiC). The design step of a complete HIDiC is carried out
through a two-step approach: first according to the thermodynamic
capabilities of the design, and then based on the hydraulic capacity of
stages. The final design is completed by an optimization procedure
and improvements, such as: addition of stages, flash drum, and a gas
turbine for higher energy efficiency [13].
Wakabayashi and Hasebe [88] proposed an interactive design
methodology of HIDiC with finite internal heat exchange stages,
using modified Ponchon–Savarit diagram. When the number of
heat integrated stages is limited, the number of possible
132 A.A. Kiss, Z. Oluji
c / Chemical Engineering and Processing 86 (2014) 125–144
combinations of heat integration increases and the optimal design
problem usually becomes a complex mixed integer nonlinear
programming (MINLP) problem. In the new method, the first
modification of the diagram is the introduction of the reversible
distillation curve, which shows the enthalpy profile at reversible
condition. By using this curve, the target enthalpy profile in the
column can be determined and the plausible stages for heat
exchange can be determined by taking the predetermined
theoretical stages into account. The second modification is the
integration of the T-xy diagram with H-xy diagram. By doing so, the
temperature difference of side exchangers can easily be identified,
and it becomes possible to determine the pairing of heat
integration stages between the rectifying section and the stripping
section in consideration of the heat transfer area of side
exchangers. The conditions obtained by the diagram methodology
can be directly used in rigorous process simulation. Case studies
demonstrated that the results obtained using the new methodol-
ogy, are in agreement with the conditions obtained through
numerical optimization. As the designer can modify the design
condition interactively by checking the obtained diagram, the new
methodology is especially beneficial at the preliminary design
stage of HIDiC [88].
Most recently, stochastic methodology was applied for optimi-
zation of internal and external HIDiCs using genetic algorithms
(GA) to find the optimal HIDiC configuration by minimizing the
total annual cost [80]. Introducing a novel integer variable (the
layout number) can generate systematically more energy efficient
candidates for both internal and external HIDiCs. For the benzene–
toluene separation, up to 6.6% and 9.75% TAC reduction have been
accomplished in external and internal HIDiCs optimization using
the proposed method compared to the earlier reported solutions
[80].
In a similar optimization study, Gutierrez-Guerra et al. [24]
implemented a novel stochastic optimization algorithm
(Boltzmann univariate marginal distribution algorithm: BUMDA)
with constraints handling for the optimization of HIDiC sequen-
ces. Three binary mixtures were examined: butanol/isobutanol,
cyclohexane/n-heptane, and benzene/toluene. Results showed the
great robustness presented by the BUMDA algorithm for solving
successfully this kind of complex optimization problem. The HIDiC
design to separate the alcohol mixture showed energy savings of
84% and annual cost that was 2% lower than that of a conventional
column. In addition, the hydrocarbon mixtures reached
energy savings of 62.5% (cyclohexane/n-heptane) and 52.5%
(benzene/toluene). Nevertheless, the total annual cost (TAC) of
the HIDiC was larger than the TAC of the conventional column (by
32% and 35%, respectively).
Typically, in case of internal heat integration, the vapor flow
increases along the stripping section due to progressive evapora-
tion of the descending liquid, while in the corresponding
integrated part of rectifying section, the vapor flow decreases
due to progressive condensation of the ascending vapor. In the
non-integrated part on both sides of the columns, the vapor and
liquid flow rates are almost unchanged. For energy savings reason,
a low temperature difference between the rectifying and the
stripping section is preferred for HIDiC but this leads to a rather
large heat transfer area requirements per stage [65]. Accordingly,
the HIDiC design should allow for large heat transfer area inside
the column. Because of the changing vapor flows in the column a
very important prerequisite for a heat-integrated column design is
that it allows changing area for vapor flow. This could be done by
changing the diameter of the stripping section and rectifying
section stepwise along the height of the column and/or by a
variation of the tray layout [72,13].
Note that close boiling separations require large reflux ratios in
order to generate enough liquid–vapor contact for the required
product purity. In high pressure applications, the column diameter
is relatively small due to the increased density of the vapor. The
combination of a large reflux ratio and a small column diameter
leads to a large specific liquid load. As a result, sieve or valve trays
are applied where structured packing cannot handle properly such
large liquid loads. Until several years ago, it was considered that a
HIDiC design should allow mainly trays as distillation internals
[72], but Bruinsma et al. [4] showed also the possibility of
efficiently using structured packing as heat and mass transfer
contactor, this however in conjunction with a different (compact
plate fin heat exchanger configuration) approach to equipment
design. This opens the way to novel applications, such as reactive
HIDiC – with a study on r-HIDiC already reported for the hydrolysis
of methyl acetate [51] and the synthesis of tert-amyl methyl ether
[71]. The most important constructive solutions proposed so far for
HIDiC are described hereafter.
6.1. Inter-coupled distillation columns
In early designs, two column shells were connected via heat
exchangers, as shown in Fig. 4 [27]. This design accounts for the
different heat requirement in each stage, but it also implies
significant heat loses and additional equipment costs. The
performance of this design is heavily linked to the heat transfer
means used. The basic configuration consists of two separate
parallel columns interconnected on every distillation tray by
piping. The tubular heat transfer bodies are submerged in the
liquid/vapor mixture on the trays. This concept is applicable for
tray columns and allows flexible, but relative small heat exchange
area per stage. A key drawback of this design is the large amount of
piping between the adjacent columns, which increases construc-
tional complexity and investment costs and may lead to extra heat
losses to the environment [72]. Beggs [3] introduced a separate
stripping and rectifying section that is not connected at every tray
but uses a single heat transfer loop – meaning much less tubing
than in the concept of Haselden [27]. An external pump is required
for transport of the heat transfer fluid that is heated along the
length of the rectifying section and subsequently cooled along the
length of the stripping section. Special heat transfer trays with
serpentine ducts inside the tray are used, which implies that the
total heat transfer area is restricted to the tray surface. Based on
experimental measurements, overall heat transfer coefficients in
the range of 2200–4000 W/m2K were reported for the system
water–methanol [40].
Stripping column
Variable
reflux
rectifier
Vapor
Fig. 4. Two column HIDiC design [27].
 A.A. Kiss, Z. Oluji
c / Chemical Engineering and Processing 86 (2014) 125–144
Several researchers proposed also the use side heat exchangers
connecting two separate columns [62]. These systems imply a
trade-off between efficiency and complexity, as the heat transfer
between stages is reduced according to specific requirements. This
solution can be implemented with standard distillation hardware
in a revamping operation. However, a detailed techno-economic
analysis is actually needed to account for the additional equipment
costs and heat loses.
6.2. Distillation column with partition wall
A patent was filed by Seader [75] on a column with two
semi-cylindrical sections, where the heat transfer is realized by
the heat-pipes mounted through the wall, connecting
corresponding trays of the rectification and stripping sections
(see Fig. 5, left). This design allows heat transfer through the wall
by the liquid on both sides of the downcomers, and it reduces the
heat loses and the requirement for heat transfer means. Effective
heat transfer over small temperature differences is possible due
to the high internal heat transfer coefficients and negligible
pressure drop along the heat-pipes [3]. A special heat-pipe fluid is
needed, which means the introduction of extra components in
the process. The concept is applicable for tray columns and allows
flexible heat transfer area per stage. Seader and Baer [76] carried
out heat transfer measurements at bench-scale in a column
equipped with heat-pipes – using finned copper tubes with water
as working fluid. Pure water was distilled in both the low and high
pressure distillation columns. Heat transfer coefficients of
4700 W/m2K were reported, based on the bare tube area at
temperature driving forces of 12.4–22.7 K. On a practical side,
note that heat transfer coefficients for hydrocarbon mixtures are
considerably lower than the values reported for pure water.
Moreover, an interesting aspect of intra-column heat transfer is
the effect of heat transfer on the mass transfer efficiency of
the distillation tray, which was not taken into account in their
study [76].
Honeywell proposed a similar column without heat transfer
means, as shown in Fig. 5, right [79]. This design accounts for the
different vapor loads in each stage by an off-center wall. Moreover,
heat is transferred between opposite stages in side-heat exchang-
ers. This solution lowers the pressure step required, but it adds
additional equipment costs. The heat transfer devices may increase
the pressure drop, and liquid by-passing can be an issue for the heat
transfer across the wall. Note that the use of packing is discouraged
in these proposed designs [79].
Fig. 5. Left: single shell HIDiC (left) – detail of opposite downcomers design [75], Right: Honeywell single shell design with heat transfer between opposite stages [79].
133
6.3. Concentric distillation column
A concentric HIDiC, in which the annular stripping section is
configured around the rectifying section, was proposed by
Glenchur and Govind [18,20]. Basically, the use of concentric
columns avoids the heat loses and thus enhances the heat transfer
performance, as illustrated in Fig. 6 [20]. In principle, this
concentric configuration has ideal properties with respect to the
heat transfer because the heat in the rectifying section cannot leak
to the environment – in other words, the heat has no other way to
go but to the stripping section. This concept was proposed for tray
columns, with the heat transfer area restricted to the area of the
column wall. Consequently, the heat transfer area is relatively
small – insufficient in most cases – and the design does not allow
any flexibility for changing the heat transfer area per stage [72].
Notably, this solution incorporates the downcomer scheme with
two-pass trays in the inner column and single pass in the outer tower.
Moreover, it accounts for the differences in size between the
rectifying and stripping sections and it can even be used in multi-
stage distillation, as shown in Fig. 6 [20]. The overall heat transfer
coefficient for the concentric tubes varies with the vapor load, in the
range of 600–800 W/m2K, and the height equivalent to a theoretical
plate (HETP) is excessively large when using packing [63].
Nonetheless, the concentric tubes design still lacks the required
flexibility for efficient heat transfer performance. Therefore, the use
of modular heat transfer means is recommended to increase the heat
transfer area, and also variable tube diameter can be used to
accommodate better the changing vapor loads [72].
Interestingly, the internal geometry of a concentric bench-scale
column (height 1 m, outer diameter 0.15 m) utilized in a HIDiC
research project at Tianjin University [90] has been arranged to
accommodate properly continuously changing vapor flow from
bottom to the top of the column (increasing on stripping and
decreasing on rectification column side). Because 5 mm Dixon
rings have been used as packing for both sides, strong wall effects
have influenced the performance of inner and outer columns, both
including inclined walls. Pronounced efficiency deteriorating
effects have been experienced on stripping side, with an inclined
inner wall with evaporating film and vertical outer wall with
condensing liquid. It appeared that the measured HETP (ethanol/
water system, on stripping side at atmospheric and on rectification
side on near atmospheric pressures) tended to increase pro-
nouncedly with increasing pressure ratio, while the efficiency on
rectification side exhibited an opposite, efficiency improving trend.
With both columns run at atmospheric pressure, the HETP values
134 A.A. Kiss, Z. Oluji
c / Chemical Engineering and Processing 86 (2014) 125–144

Fig. 6. Concentric HIDiC design (left) and multi-stage distillation arrangement (right) in concentric columns [20].

measured on stripping side have been on average factor two larger
than those measured on rectification side, and on the largest
pressure ratio utilized in this study (1.6) the difference in
efficiencies was nearly factor 5. Larger differences have been
observed at larger F-factors. As expected, the overall heat transfer
coefficient decreased with the increase in pressure ratio, i.e.,
corresponding increase in temperature difference between of the
inner column and the outer column, but it was little affected by the
F-factor. The results obtained reflect the nature of heat and mass
transfer behavior imposed by bench-scale HIDiC geometry in
conjunction with chosen packing type and size, which however are
of no industrial relevance.
6.3.1. Concentric column with heat panels
A concentric column equipped with heat transfer means
suitable for installation in rectification and stripping sections was
patented by de Graauw et al. [22]. In this case, the preferred
distillation internals are trays, but could also be random or
structured packing. Heat transfer bodies can be placed in either
the stripping or rectifying section. In the bottom and upper part of
the HIDiC, heat transfer bodies are preferentially placed in the
rectifying and stripping section, respectively [72]. In contrast to
the heat-pipes in the design of Seader [75], the panels in this
concept are in open connection with the other section of the
distillation column. Hence panels placed in the stripping section

Fig. 7. Proposed configurations for a HIDiC (left). Placement of the heat transfer panels in the rectifying or stripping section for a concentric column (right).
 A.A. Kiss, Z. Oluji
c / Chemical Engineering and Processing 86 (2014) 125–144
are in open connection with the rectifying section such that
vapor from the rectifying section can enter the panels, condense
inside and liquid can flow back to the rectifying section. On the
outer surface of the panels present in the stripping section,
simultaneous evaporation of liquid takes place. Obviously, this
implies that the panels should be well wetted. When the heat
transfer bodies are positioned in the rectifying section, the liquid
from the stripping section enters the heat transfer element via the
open connection, then it evaporates partially inside and the vapor
flows back to the stripping section. On the outer surface vapor
present in the rectifying section will condense simultaneously.
Note that the heat transfer panels installed above the active
(bubbling) area of the trays in stripping section should be wetted
by froth and entrainment from a tray [72]. In this concept, heat
transfer internals can also be placed in the downcomer. A strong
advantage of this concept is that it allows the designer to exclude
certain trays with low or negative temperature driving forces, from
the heat transfer process – in other words, no heat panels are
installed on these trays.
The proposed HIDiC configurations are illustrated schematically
in Fig. 7 (left), while Fig. 7 (right) also shows the placement of the heat
transfer panels in the rectifying or stripping section for a concentric
column [46,72]. Experiments carried out with a dense package of
heat panels placed above bubbling area of an annular sieve tray in
stripping section have shown that this ensures a smooth hydraulic
operation and can even enhance efficiency at the cost of slightly
increased pressure drop [72,73]. This was encouraging, but these
experiments were performed under ideal conditions, with one test
tray only, and heat panels fed from an external source of hot vapor. To
simulate properly operation of a concentric HIDiC the same
equipment has been redesigned and the height of the column
enlarged to accommodate 5 fully thermally integrated rectification
and stripping section trays.
Fig. 8 shows the flowsheet of the extended TU Delft pilot plant,
with inner rectification (ID of 0.3 m) and outer stripping column
(ID of 0.8 m) operated as two independent units in parallel [69].
Fig. 8. Flowsheet of the TU Delft concentric tray HIDiC, including photographs of a heat transfer panel and a half-open segment of a stripping section sieve tray [69].
135
The stripping section was operated at atmospheric pressure and
the inner, rectification section at a number of above atmospheric
pressures, to simulate operation under different pressure ratios.
Inserted photographs in Fig. 8 show the heat panel and an open
segment with a half of a sieve tray installed. With this
configuration it was possible to simulate experimentally operation
of a constant diameter section of a tray HIDiC. However, to ensure
that heat panels of all five trays in stripping section receive enough
vapor ascending through the trays in the (much smaller)
rectification section the heat transfer area of heat panels was
reduced significantly, to less than half of that used in previous
experiments. From total reflux distillation experiments carried out
with this unit, separation performance was as expected, but the
overall heat transfer efficiency was well below that expected based
on previous tests. The wrongdoer in this case appeared to be an
ineffective use of installed heat transfer area at lower trays in
stripping section. Namely, in such a case, the vapor load increases
gradually from bottom tray to the top one, which means that the
intensity of interaction of two phases, which is responsible for the
effectiveness of active wetting of the surface of heat transfer panels
installed above bubbling area of the annular trays in stripping
section, changes accordingly. Indeed, as observed during dedicated
experiments, at lower vapor loads the surface wetting was
incomplete (large fraction of dry surface, above froth height) as
perceived visually during operation. To compensate for this, the
heat transfer area should be increased and distributed accordingly,
largest at the bottom and lowest at the top of the section tray.
However, the space for installing heat transfer area is limited,
because the cross sectional area of a tray is dictated by tray
hydrodynamics considerations, with the height of a constant
diameter section depending on the feasible turndown of the
chosen tray type. A possibility to practically solve the problem is to
consider installing shorter constant tray diameter sections, which
however, in case of high stage requirement (typical close boiling
separations) may appear too demanding on mechanical design and
construction side.
136 A.A. Kiss, Z. Oluji
c / Chemical Engineering and Processing 86 (2014) 125–144

Fig. 9. Top view of internal layout and a photo made during the installation of the shell of a HIDiC containing 7 unit size packed columns in parallel. As illustrated on right hand
side, each column contains 3 sections with different diameters (in mm) and the concentric columns are equipped with structured packing cut to fit tightly into given space
[56].

6.4. Shell and tube heat-exchanger column
The problem of limited heat transfer area – as encountered in
the concentric tray column design – can be conveniently solved by
adopting the concept of multiple, unit size concentric columns in a
shell, as proposed by Aso et al. [2] – see Fig. 9 for details [46]. This
configuration, which resembles that of common shell and tube
heat exchangers, with seven concentric columns placed within a
shell, was chosen for the demonstration phase of a three stages
technology development and implementation effort completed
recently in Japan.
Fig. 9 shows the internals configuration, i.e., a top view of a cross
section and a photograph taken during the installation of a semi-
industrial column (shell diameter = 1.4 m, total column height =
22.8 m) with a feed flow rate of 1.9 t/h, which was installed in a
petrochemicals manufacturing plant in parallel to a conventional
unit for separation of a pentanes rich multi-component mixture
into specified fractions [56]. Attached drawings and an inserted

Fig. 10. Plate–fin HIDiC and variations in the fin length and spacing [35]. Fin design with similar packing shape [83].
 A.A. Kiss, Z. Oluji
c / Chemical Engineering and Processing 86 (2014) 125–144
photograph indicate that each concentric column was equipped
with structured packing and consisted of three sections with
different inner and outer diameters, to accommodate properly the
changing vapor and liquid loads along the column. Note that the
outer wall of each inner column was equipped with a spiral
providing longer residence time and more frequent refreshing of
the descending liquid film, both effects enhancing heat and mass
transfer significantly. This effort described elsewhere [28,56] has
proven that a HIDiC can save more than 50% energy compared to
conventional column. The problem is that the chosen unit size,
packed-columns in parallel concept implies linear scale up and
consequently a linear increase of related capital costs. This
however is against the nature of distillation, which is a typical
representative of the economy of scale technology (the larger the
cheaper). For instance, using the same concept, a 20 t/h column
HIDiC would require placing 70 concentric packed columns in
parallel in one or more shells, introducing additional construction
and operation related complexities.
6.5. Plate–fin heat-exchanger column
The construction of a HIDiC utilizing internal configuration of a
plate–fin heat exchanger was suggested by Tung et al. [87], while
the first patent on a plate–fin HIDiC was filled in 2003 [35]. In a
plate–fin device (see Fig. 10), alternate and adjacent vertical
channels serve as strippers and rectifiers. Stripping and rectifying
sections can be housed in alternating fins, but liquid and vapor
needs to be redistributed at the edges. Nevertheless, alternating
plates can be used instead of fins to solve this problem. The
variation in hydraulic loads can be accounted with non-parallel
plates, or variable fin lengths and spacing – as shown in Fig. 10
[46]. The former one has less flexibility towards flooding criteria,
but it is more robust than the latter one [35]. Moreover, the plate
fin design might incorporate the mass transfer means. Fig. 10
shows fin material shaped similarly to regular packing [1,83]. Also,
regular fins might have a rough surface to enhance mass transfer,
so every plate fin design can be adapted specifically for each
Fig. 11. Top line (left-to-right): dividing wall design with internal heat transfer means [75]; early combined heat and mass transfer tray [52]; tray design with heat transfer
pipes [82]. Bottom line (left-to-right): various heat panels arrangement inside a HIDiC [22,23].
137
application, making it comparatively expensive. Note that in this
design the heat transfer area is large and flexible. By changing the
channel and fin dimension, heat transfer area can be changed along
the length of the column. Difficulties arise in the (re-) distribution
of liquid and vapor over the set of parallel columns.
A model was developed [87] to predict the heat transfer rates and
influence of internal heat transfer on the separation efficiency of a
plate–fin device, and the model is in agreement with the
experimental data. Aitken [1] filed a patent on a plate-heat exchanger
for combined heat and mass transfer in which the space between the
vertical plates is equipped with corrugated sheets similar to that of a
structured packing. An alternative idea that deviates more from
current plate fin heat exchanger designs, is to use non-parallel plates
with a constant fin spacing [35]. Recently, this concept was evaluated
experimentally on bench scale, using a common test system at
atmospheric conditions, aiming at proving the principle only, which
however could be widely applicable. Within this experimental effort
arranged by ECN (Energy Centre of the Netherlands) and carried out
in cooperation with the Delft University of Technology (TU Delft),
interesting and encouraging results were obtained indicating that
use of corrugated sheet structured packing sheets instead of fins
could significantly enhance both heat and mass transfer as compared
to plate–fin configuration [4].
One should note that a compact heat exchanger configuration
was considered and chosen in Japan for development of a HIDiC
suitable for application in cryogenic air distillation. This R&D effort
has been also brought to demonstration stage and in 2008 a pilot-
scale unit has been taken in operation at an industrial site [56].
Expected energy savings were around 40%, but so far there was no
information released to public, regarding this topic or any other
aspect of operational functionality of air-distilling HIDiC released
to public.
6.6. Heat transfer means
The simplest heat transfer means only connect physically the
column sections. Thus, sealed metal tubes with fins can be used –
138 A.A. Kiss, Z. Oluji
c / Chemical Engineering and Processing 86 (2014) 125–144
as illustrated in Fig. 11 [75] – hence this system might be arranged
for minimal pressure drop. The means were initially proposed for
two-column designs, but they are used also for concentric
configurations. These designs feature the lowest heat transfer
performance, but they are simpler and less expensive than other
alternatives. Moreover, a fluid media can be used to enhance the
heat transfer efficiency – usually the same distilled substances are
driven through the column for heat transfer purposes. There are
proposals for a closed heat transfer cycle in HIDiC [27], but this can
only increase the complexity and investment costs. The heat and
mass transfer means might be also integrated in a single device to
ensure the enhancement of heat exchange without significant
effects on the mass transfer performance. However, there is still a
lack of studies for these structures, with notable exceptions [4].
Fig. 11 illustrates the proposal of a combined heat and mass
transfer tray [52] that features horizontal pipes with fins,
resembling a sieve tray – this design including a small column
jacket as well. Fig. 11 (top) also shows other proposal that has tubes
on top of a typical sieve tray [82], the tray being designed to
immerse the heat transfer pipes in liquid. Overall heat transfer
coefficients in the range of 2200–4400 W/m2K have been reported
for these tray-shaped systems. Note that the trials were conducted
for methanol/water separation, instead of hydrocarbon separa-
tions as in earlier reports.
A number of more complex structures were proposed in order
to enhance the heat transfer inside a HIDiC – these designs being
mostly intended for heat transfer. Fig. 11 (bottom) presents the
column design configurations for these heat transfer means, while
Fig. 12 compiles a variety of the heat transfer panels [22,23,46].
Most designs have a minimized footprint in the flow direction to
reduce the pressure drop, and feature extended bodies on the other
section of the column – since enlarged bodies ensure reasonable
heat transfer performance. The heat transfer area might be
Fig. 12. Different heat panel designs used in a HIDiC [23].
increased, but lower pressure drop is also preferred for economic
reasons. Fig. 12 shows several types of arrangement for these
panels inside the integrated columns [22,23]. The location of the
panels follows the requirements for hydraulic and heat transfer
area, and the installation of panels is avoided in stages with zero or
negative temperature differences. Moreover, the number of panels
can be increased in stages with higher driving force. A single panel
can transfer up to 1000 W/m2K [23], and tailor-made designs can
be done combining the required amount of panels. However, the
final panel design should be carefully considered – although a low
performance panel might be less expensive, the HIDiC requires a
high number of panels hence greatly affecting the column
construction and operation.
6.7. SuperHIDiC
The only HIDiC design that has reached commercialization
stage to date is basically a two-pressure single shell column
introduced recently by a Japanese engineering contractor, de-
scribed in detail in a most recent patent application (US 2012/
0125761). According to CHEMENTATOR [7], Toyo Engineering
Corporation (www.toyo-eng.co.jp) was successful in overcoming
potential difficulties, and managed to develop in collaboration
with the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and
Technology (www.aist.go.jp) – main driver behind all similar
projects in Japan – a practical and scalable heat-integrated
distillation column configuration named SuperHIDiC, shown
schematically in Fig. 13 [7]. As basis, they adopted well proven
two pressure air-distilling column concept, arranging however the
heat exchange in the middle of each section, with a thermo-siphon
system employed to recycle liquid. Compressed stripping section
overheads vapor is delivered to the condenser/reboiler in the
bottom part of stripping section and condensate is delivered to the
 A.A. Kiss, Z. Oluji
c / Chemical Engineering and Processing 86 (2014) 125–144 139

Fig. 13. SuperHIDiC configuration developed by Toyo Engineering Corp. in collaboration with the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (Tokyo, JP).

bottom of high pressure rectification section where it flashes
generating required boil-up. One should note that high pressure
liquid is not delivered to the top of the stripping section, but to the
top tray of a fraction of the rectification section placed above the
feed in the low pressure stripping section. Such a configuration,
with a fraction of rectification section placed in a low pressure
stripping section shell, was considered and evaluated by simu-
lations in a TU Delft study on potential HIDiC configurations for a
propene–propylene splitter [67].
Certainly, this two-pressure, adiabatically operated column
including an external condenser and reboiler to provide necessary
initial reflux and boil-up during start-up as well as a supplement
during operation, may be considered as a fully developed practical
version of a partial HIDiC, which depending on the nature of the
system, i.e., related temperature profiles, may allow reaching
significant levels of energy saving at affordable capital costs. Toyo
Engineering Corp. plans to use the novel SuperHIDiC technology in
petroleum refining, as well as petrochemicals and fine-chemicals
production plants.
7. HIDiC as retrofit technology
The main disadvantage, impeding industrial application of
HIDiC in general, is related to the fact that it appears that the layout
and constructional complexity make it amenable for new designs
only. Realizing this, Harms and Oluji
c [25] have explored the
potential for implementation of a HIDiC as a retrofit, capacity
increasing option, taking a heat pump assisted PP-splitter column

F
+ F

B
vs.
F
s R
R

B
D
B
D

Fig. 14. Flowsheets of compared capacity increase options for retrofit of a VRC PP-splitter.
140 A.A. Kiss, Z. Oluji
c / Chemical Engineering and Processing 86 (2014) 125–144
(VRC) as the base case. Authors have compared retrofit option with
a new VRC designed to achieve the same capacity increase by
placing new unit in parallel to existing VRC. In the retrofit case,
shown in Fig. 14 (right side), the original column shell and
compressor are reused as new design (in combination with the
heat integrated part), and a new compressor added to handle the
increased vapor throughput [25]. In the new concentric HIDiC all
stripping section trays are heat integrated with the same number
of trays from the upper part of the rectification section, which in
this given case contains three times more stages than the stripping
section. The existing shell that accommodates about two times
more stages than required in the normally operating part of
rectification column of a HIDiC PP-splitter [66], could be cut into
two halves, i.e., transformed into two columns placed above each
other and rearranged to operate as two columns in parallel. This
means that a horizontal partition of the shell is required, which
actually could be arranged in a rather simple way, because the
lower and upper column should operate at the same pressure. This
enables doubling the cross sectional area available for vapor flow
with respect to the original case.
The feasibility study indicated that in the case of PP-splitter a
70% capacity increase would be possible accompanied at lowest
compression ratio by energy savings up to 25%. However, this
option is not feasible because accommodation of the necessary
heat transfer area requires more space than available. In a feasible
design with a higher compression ratio, the potential energy saving
gain is halved. Nevertheless, regarding the scale of application, the
estimated capacity increase and energy saving percentages
translate into impressive financial gains – and this could hopefully
help to increase the chances for HIDiC to be considered by chemical
process industries as a prospective debottlenecking and energy-
saving technology. However, the know-how required to designing,
building, and installing an industrially viable tray HIDiC is still
missing, and related uncertainties and associated risks are such
that in the given case practitioners would have no other practical
choice than to install another VRC in parallel to the existing one.
8. Process dynamics, control and operation
One concern for applications of internal heat integration is the
complicated process dynamics that may be introduced. When
applying internal heat integration to chemical processes, it is
better not to vary the original process dynamics drastically. In
particular, it is important that the resultant process should be
Fig. 15. Working control strategy for HIDiC (left). Schematics of internally heat-integrated batch distillation column (right).
maintained as open-loop stable as possible – otherwise great
efforts must be spent on process control of the resultant non-
minimum phase system. But even so, process performances can
degrade considerably [62]. For the HIDiC, several authors already
demonstrated by numerical evaluations and mathematical proof
that the process is still open-loop stable despite the introduction of
internal heat integration between the rectifying and stripping
sections [56,57]. However, further adding the heat integration
between the overhead product and the feed flows will turn the
HIDiC into an open-loop integrated process that is no longer open-
loop stable [62]. This can certainly cause extra difficulties in the
process design and operation, while leading inevitably to
deterioration of the control system performances. A judgment
must be made in the process development on whether to achieve
the economics of internal heat integration at the expense of control
system performances or vice versa.
Due to the structure with no-reboiler and no-condenser, it is
actually impossible to start up a HIDiC by itself. For this reason, the
operation must be carried out by means of an external trim-
condenser and an external trim-reboiler. However, these should be
accounted for and integrated into normal operation, where
appropriate.
A very important step towards a smooth process startup is to
avoid the inverse heat transfer from the stripping section to the
rectifying section – otherwise there is a risk of operation problems,
in addition to the extra consumption of valuable energy [62].
Moreover, due to the high degree of integration, it is necessary to
synthesize special control systems for HIDiC. In the equation
(W = QS  QR), the left side is the energy of the compressor that is
closely related to the pressure difference between the rectifying
and stripping sections (PR  PS), while the right side is the
imbalance of heat loads between the rectifying and the stripping
sections. The thermal condition of the feed (q) is the dominating
variable to change this heat imbalance. This means that the
pressure difference (PR  PS) and the feed thermal condition (q) can
be used as manipulated variables for the process operation. A
schematic diagram for a control configuration of a HIDiC is shown
in Fig. 15, left [46,62]. Both the overhead and bottom products can
be maintained accurately at their desired steady-state values, using
this control structure. Moreover, the feasibility of this control
structure and other alternatives was confirmed by extensive
simulation studies [31–33,62,56].
In a study focusing on dynamics and control of HIDiC,
Fukushima et al. [12] showed that although HIDiC has a more
 A.A. Kiss, Z. Oluji
c / Chemical Engineering and Processing 86 (2014) 125–144 141

complex structure and slower dynamics than a conventional
column, the control performance of HIDiC is comparable to that of
a conventional column as long as a suitable control system is
designed. The distillate flow rate (D) is superior to the reflux flow
rate (L) as a manipulated variable, because the dynamics of HIDiC
becomes considerably faster by using D rather than L. To achieve
high energy efficiency and controllability at the same time, it was
recommended to adopt the structure in which the feed is
preheated by the distillate vapor product, while using only a
condenser and no reboiler at all. The control performance of HIDiC
becomes better as the heat transfer area decreases, and it becomes
marginally better as the pressure difference between the stripping
section and the rectifying section decreases [12].
The predictions of the dynamic models developed by Process
Systems Enterprise [70] are in excellent agreement with the
published measurements of Naito et al. [58] who reported a
detailed experimental study of bench-scale HIDiC operation. More
remarkable, this match of results was achieved using purely
predictive models without any parameter fitting. The start-up
dynamic simulation quantified the pressure and heat exchange
during the transition from cold and empty to full operation–this
verified that the equipment could be started up as planned. Further
runs could then be performed to minimize the start-up time to full
production. It was also observed that the reboiler and condenser
duties are substantially less than for the conventional column,
while the additional compression energy requirement is relatively
small [70].
9. Applications and configurations under consideration
Despite the obvious potential, the very promising concept of
HIDiC has not yet developed into full industrial-scale applications.
The experimental evaluations reported so far indicate that a
properly designed HIDiC system can save up to 60% of the energy
required for separation and in addition, the condenser duty and its
size can be also reduced by up to 60% [62]. As already described, the
most suitable applications are the ones in which the difference in
boiling of the two components to be separated is lower than 25  C.
Nonetheless, HIDiC was proposed also for the separation of binary
mixture with larger differences in the boiling points. Table 2
provides a list of more recent case studies (pilot plant and
simulation studies) of HIDiC technology reported in the open
literature [48]. Remarkable, energy savings of up to 70% were
possible for various binary systems such as: propane–propylene,
methanol–water or cyclohexane–(n) heptane.
An important subject of the HIDiC project carried out in Japan is
the cryogenic air separation in a HIDiC equipped with a plate–fin
type contractor, with a low HETP (0.2–0.4 m) that is almost
equivalent to that of regular packing. The experimental validation
confirmed that the cryogenic air separation process can be
operated at lower pressure than conventional, hence a reduction
of the compressor duty is expected [56,62].
Another HIDiC project was conducted in Europe, at Delft
University of Technology and ECN (NL) in collaboration with other
industrial partners (e.g., AkzoNobel, DSM, Shell, Sulzer Chemtech).
An experimental setup was used for testing the hydraulics and
other characteristics of the HIDiC. They showed that significant
energy savings of up to 70% can be achieved in a PP-splitter, and a
conceptual design procedure of the HIDiC utilizing the pinch
analysis was proposed [17]. Moreover, the reduction of CO2
emission by using a HIDiC with no reboiler was estimated to be 83%
as compared to a conventional distillation, and 36% as compared to
a heat pump [15]. Recently, Bruinsma et al. [4] provided the
experimental evidence needed to properly asses the techno-
economic feasibility of HIDiC using structured internals to enhance
both the heat and mass transfer. The plate-packing configuration
using structured packing exhibited a superior performance in
comparison with a HIDIC based on the plate–fin heat exchanger.
The mass and heat transfer efficiency increase pronouncedly with
increasing throughput, but at the penalty of a higher pressure drop
per stage. Simulation of an industrial scale plate-packing unit
revealed that an even better performance can be obtained by
increasing the volumetric thermal load via further optimization of
internals [4]. These results pave the way to novel applications of
HIDiC (e.g., reactive distillation systems) and an easier industrial
acceptance of this technology [51,71].
Most recently, Kataoka et al. [42] built a bench scale concentric
HIDiC to improve the yield of bioethanol, which is an energy
intensive and fouling prone distillation process. In this double-tube
HIDiC, the stripping section is placed in the inner tube (ID 150 mm,
length 6.8 m) and the rectifying section in the outer annular space
(outer column ID 250 mm, length 5.2 m). A dry vacuum pump
placed between the sections makes the boiling temperature in the
stripping section lower than that in the rectifying section, and the

Table 2
Reported case studies (pilot plant and industrial implementations) of HIDiC technology.

Separation task Performance information References

Propane–propylene separation. VRC industrial implementation gives COP 7.4 and 37% TAC savings against conventional [65,66]
Conventional column: P = 18 bar column (DTlift 24.9 K).
VRC: P = 10 bar HIDiC case study yields COP 10 and 25% TAC savings against VRC with DTb 10.9 K.
HIDiC: P = 18/13 or 18/15 bar
1-Methanol–water separation (P = 2.6/1.3 bar for HIDiC) 1-Top HIDiC design yields 84% energy savings, but only 9% lower TAC. [16]
2-Bottom HIDiC design better. VRC pressure ratio: 2.8, while HIDiC 2.2.
2-Ethylbenzene–styrene separation (P = 0.24 bar for VRC) VRC gets 49% energy savings, while HIDiC gets 53%. However, VRC savings in TAC are 35%, [13]
while HIDiC are 28%.
All compared to conventional distillation.
Acetic acid dehydration. 82% energy savings with VRC and 23% with HIDiC as compared to multi-effect distillation. [6]
Vacuum operating pressure.
Fractionation of C4–C6 mixture: top: n-pentane; bottom: i- HIDiC achieves 26% energy savings as compared with conventional existing column, while [30]
pentane requiring 22% more energy than minimum reflux distillation.
P = 190/101 bar.
Cyclohexane/n-heptane equimolar feed, 95% product purity Primary energy savings range from 81% at 1.7 pressure ratio to 69.7% at 1.4, comparing to [4]
(P = 1.1 bar, DTb 17 C) pressure ratios from 1.4 to 1.7. conventional distillation process. Research also included performance from proof-of-
principle experimental study.
Bioethanol pre-concentration from 5% to 90%wt (near Bench scale double-tube HIDiC (inner tube ID 150 mm, length 6.8 m; outer column ID [42]
azeotropic) 250 mm, length 5.2 m). Reflux ratio = 0.378, Pstripping = 225 mm Hg, Prectifying = 1 atm, Live
steam preheating = 3.58 kg/h.
Specific energy use of 2.87 MJ/L ethanol. Savings of about 60% compared to ordinary
distillation.
142 A.A. Kiss, Z. Oluji
c / Chemical Engineering and Processing 86 (2014) 125–144
fermented mash (5%wt ethanol) is concentrated to over 90%wt
ethanol near the azeotropic point at a low reflux ratio of 0.378.
When the stripping section pressure operates at 225 mm Hg, while
the rectifying section pressure is held at 1 atm, no live steam is
required as heat duty for the stripping section. This means that no
external heat duty is required for the distillation column, except for
the energy to run the dry vacuum pump (measured as EVP = 0.516
kW = 1.86 MJ/h). Moreover, the rate of live steam (0.12 MPa)
required for preheating the feed was 3.58 kg/h, corresponding to
a heat duty of 7.37 MJ/h. Even if the pre-heater heat duty and the
power requirement of the vacuum pump are considered (9.23 MJ/h
for a production of 3.22 L/h ethanol), the HIDiC system achieves the
specific energy use of 2.87 MJ/L ethanol (savings of 60% compared
to ordinary distillation).
It is worth mentioning here that the strong fouling nature of
bioethanol concentration process has dictated equipment and
operating conditions choices, which makes this concentric HIDiC a
unique design. Since the evaporation occurs in the stripping
section, this section is placed in the inner column (opposite to a
typical concentric HIDiC) which is operated under vacuum in order
to minimize inevitable fouling that affects heat transfer adversely
(under clean wall conditions the back-calculated average value of
the overall heat transfer coefficient was on low side, i.e.,
approximately 320 W/m2K). In addition, in order to avoid reboiler
fouling, provisions have been made to use live steam instead of a
reboiler. However, as mentioned previously, it appeared that under
certain conditions no live vapor (i.e., external heat supply) is
required to run this HIDiC. The stripping section is equipped with
“lift trays”. A lift tray is basically an augmented dual flow (no
downcomers) tray with a moving perforated plate that similar to
valves is lifted by ascending vapor. This provides certain flexibility
with respect to the vapor load – i.e., a rather large operating range,
which is beneficial in case of a HIDiC – because of gradually
increasing vapor throughput along the stripping section. Further-
more, arranged as a cartridge, these trays can easily be removed
from the cylindrical inner column for periodic cleaning and
maintenance. The heat transfer area on evaporation side is the
inner wall area of the stripping column. It can be adjusted
accordingly during design, by choosing appropriate tray spacing,
taking care that the tray hydraulics is not violated. The rectification
section is placed in the outer annular space, and being fed with
clean liquid it is equipped with structured packings, which as
observed, operated smoothly over the whole range of gradually
changing vapor and liquid loads. Although the operation of this
bench-scale unit has proven that the chosen configuration and
operating conditions allow significant energy saving and related
benefits that would increase sustainability of bioethanol distilla-
tion, the prospects for its industrial scale implementation are
rather low. Namely, it is not suitable for direct scale-up as it implies
a linear scale-up by placing in parallel more basic units, similar to
shell and tube heat-exchanger column case described in an earlier
section.
Kiran and Jana [45] proposed recently a novel combination of
HIDiC and VRC with an intermediate reboiler. The process
configuration couples thermally the tray liquid of a low pressure
(LP) stripper with the overhead vapor leaving the high-pressure
(HP) rectifier in an intermediate reboiler, such that the
compressor work gets reduced compared to the HIDiC–VRC
scheme. The newly proposed configuration was investigated for a
hydrocarbon system having components with widely different
boiling points, such that the use of externally supplied steam
driven trim-reboiler secures better energy savings and lower
costs as compared to HIDiC–VRC and HIDiC configurations. It was
also concluded that there must be an optimal temperature
difference between the sink and source for any particular
mixture, above which the use of trim-reboiler is economically
beneficial and below that the employment of bottom reboiler
would be more cost effective.
The principle of HIDiC can also be applied quite analogously to
batch distillation columns, where internal heat integration
between the rectifying section and reboiler can be devised – as
shown by the schematics in Fig. 15, right [46,62]. It was also shown
that the energy efficiency could be improved sharply as compared
with its conventional counterparts.
Separation of binary pressure-sensitive azeotropic mixtures
through pressure-swing distillation (PSD) processes can be
facilitated as well with internal heat integration. A PSD process
is one of the simplest and yet most economical techniques for
separating binary azeotropes, provided that the azeotropic
composition is sensitive enough to changes in the operating
pressure. A PSD process consists of two columns, one operated at a
relatively low pressure and temperature and the other at a high
pressure and temperature. By this pressure elevation, the
constraint imposed by the azeotropic point can be avoided and
pure components can be produced from the high-pressure (HP)
and low-pressure (LP) distillation columns, respectively. The
existence of HP and LP distillation columns also provides chances
for considering internal heat integration within PSD processes. In
such a heat integrated system, the rectifying section of the HP
distillation column provides heat to the stripping section of the LP
distillation column – and an application of HIDiC to the water–
acetonitrile (ACN) system was already reported [61,62]. However,
note that the benefit of internal heat integration is closely related
to the mixture to be processed. Therefore, as internal heat
integration is generally more effective for close-boiling mixture
separations, it is expected that internal heat integration within PSD
processes will be applied most appropriately to such azeotropic
mixture separations [62].
The internal heat integration principle can also be applied to
different distillation columns that may have no connections at all
[62]. Provided that it is indeed feasible to consider internal heat
integration between the two different distillation columns
concerned, this can generally lead to more benefits in either
energy utilization or capital investment than that based on
condenser–reboiler-type heat integration configurations. Upon
examination of a distillation train system one can find many
opportunities to consider this type of internal heat integration that
is expected to hold higher potential for applications than the
original HIDiC.
Compared to other complex separation systems, HIDiC tech-
nology has the key advantage of larger energy savings (up to 70%)
although the main problem remains the use of a compressor that
adds significantly to the total equipment cost. Therefore, the main
challenge of HIDiC technology is to reduce further the investment
costs and thus payback times. Possible future applications of HIDiC
include separation of wide boiling mixtures, as well as integration
with other technologies (e.g., dividing-wall column, reactive
distillation, or cyclic distillation).
10. Conclusions
Heat integrated distillation column (HIDiC) claims among the
highest energy savings in distillation. However, just as is the case
with most heat pump assisted distillation processes, the capital
investment costs are much higher as compared with conventional
distillation – mainly due to the use of a compressor and a more
complex configuration required for the enhanced heat transfer. In
contrast to other heat pump assisted distillation columns, the
HIDiC process involves internal heat integration between the
whole or parts of rectifying and the stripping sections at a
relatively lower compression ratio and thus it has higher potential
for energy savings. Both thermodynamics and bench-scale
 A.A. Kiss, Z. Oluji
c / Chemical Engineering and Processing 86 (2014) 125–144
experimental evaluations proved that HIDiC holds much higher
energy efficiency than conventional distillation columns for close-
boiling binary mixture separations. Several recent simulation
studies and experimental evaluations have further confirmed that
the process can be operated very smoothly, with no special
difficulties [4,12,56,57,62,70,72]. HIDiC has not yet been attempted
in practice at the scale of an industrial application. However, as a
configuration that minimizes energy requirement of energy
intensive separations HIDiC needs to be considered seriously
and the potential technical barriers for its cost-effective applica-
tion overcome.
A number of important issues must be considered during the
HIDiC design, as for example: flexibility to changes in the operating
conditions, influence of an impurity or a third component, and
process dynamics and operation. These impose strict constraints
on the energy efficiency that can be potentially achieved by a HIDiC
system. Therefore, trade-off between process design economics
and process operation appears to be very important and it has to be
carried out with great caution [56,62,72]. It is worth noting that
among the design and the operating variables, the compression
ratio and the heat transfer coefficient and area are the ones that
most significantly affect the performance of a HIDiC. Consequently,
an important research task during the recent years was the
development of more appropriate configurations, including for
example: multi-tube and multi-shell, plate-type or even struc-
tured-packing HIDiC [4,62,72]. Moreover, the research and
development on the HIDiC configurations was so far mainly
limited to the separations of binary mixtures. Considering that
multi-component mixture separations represent a major applica-
tion of distillation columns, the development of a corresponding
HIDiC technology [37,44,56] is an important and extremely
challenging topic for future work – especially if HIDiC becomes
associated with other technologies – such as dividing-wall column
or reactive distillation.
An often ignored issue related to HIDiC is dependence on
compressor, a complex and expensive rotating device that at the
scale of distillation applications cannot be installed in parallel
(standby compressor) to ensure smooth switch and continuation
of column operation in case of breakdown of running device. Even
worse, the compressor related capitals costs in case of typical large
scale applications are that high (in the range of the column and
ancillary equipment) that even in case of reasonable pay-back time
represent major (psychological) burden for the consideration and
implementation of a heat-pump assisted distillation column.
Anyhow, it is to be expected that with increasing energy prices,
heat-pump assisted distillation in general and HIDiC in particular
will become more economically competitive in the foreseeable
future. The first commercialized configuration so far, i.e., Super-
HIDiC, is a serious candidate to make a breakthrough in this
respect.
References
[1] W. Aitken, Apparatus for combined heat and mass transfer, US Patent No.
5,722,258, 1998.
[2] K. Aso, H. Matsuo, H. Noda, T. Takada, N. Kobayashi, Heat integrated distillation
column, US Patent No. 5783,047 A1, 1998.
[3] S. Beggs, MEng Project Report, University of Edinburgh, UK, 2002.
[4] O.S.L. Bruinsma, T. Krikken, J. Cot, M. Sari
c, S.A. Tromp, Ž. Oluji

c, A.I.
Stankiewicz, The structured heat integrated distillation column, Chem. Eng.
Res. Des. 90 (2012) 458–470.
[5] J. Cabrera-Ruiz, A. Jimenez-Gutierrez, J.G. Segovia-Hernandez, Assessment of
the implementation of heat-integrated distillation columns for the separation
of ternary mixtures, Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 50 (2011) 2176–2181.
[6] J.C. Campbell, K.R. Wigala, V. van Brunt, R.S. Kline, Comparison of energy usage
for the vacuum separation of acetic acid/acetic anhydride using an internally
heat integrated distillation column (HIDiC), Sep. Sci. Technol. 43 (9) (2008)
2269–2297.
[7] CHEMENTATOR, This distillation column promises substantial energy
reductions, Chemical Engineering (www.che.com), January 2012, 10.
143
[8] R.E. Fitzmorris, R.S.H. Mah, Improving distillation column design using
thermodynamic availability analysis, AIChE J. 26 (1980) 265–273.
[9] J.R. Flower, R. Jackson, Energy requirements in the separation of mixtures by
distillation, Trans. Inst. Chem. Eng. 42 (1964) 249–258.
[10] D.C. Freshwater, Thermal economy in distillation, Trans. Inst. Chem. Eng. 29
(1951) 149–160.
[11] D.C. Freshwater, The heat pump in multicomponent distillation, Br. Chem. Eng.
6 (1961) 388–391.
[12] T. Fukushima, M. Kano, S. Hasebe, Dynamics and control of heat integrated
distillation column (HIDiC), J. Chem. Eng. Jpn. 39 (2006) 1096–1103.
[13] M.A. Gadalla, Internal heat integrated distillation columns (iHIDiCs)–new
systematic design methodology, Chem. Eng. Res. Des. 87 (2009) 1658–1666.
[14] M. Gadalla, L.J. Jimenez, Ž. Oluji
c, P.J. Jansens, A thermo-hydraulic approach to
conceptual design of an internally heat-integrated distillation column (i-
HIDiC), Comput. Chem. Eng. 31 (2007) 1346–1354.
[15] M. Gadalla, Ž. Oluji
c, A. de Rijke, P.J. Jansens, Reducing CO2 emissions of
internally heat-integrated distillation columns for separation of close boiling
mixtures, Energy 31 (2006) 2409–2417.
[16] M. Gadalla, Ž. Oluji
c, L.J. Esteller, G. Guillen-Gosalbez, A design method for
internal heat integrated distillation columns (iHIDiCs), Comput. Aided Process
Eng. 24 (2007) 1041–1046.
[17] M. Gadalla, Ž. Oluji
c, L. Sun, A. de Rijke, P.J. Jansens, Pinch analysis-based
approach to conceptual design of internally heat-integrated distillation
columns, Chem. Eng. Res. Des. 83 (2005) 987–993.
[18] T. Glenchur, R. Govind, Study on a continuous heat integrated distillation
column, Sep. Sci. Technol. 22 (1987) 2323–2338.
[19] N.A. Gokcen, R.G. Reddy, Thermodynamics, 2nd ed., Plenum Press, New York,
USA, 1996.
[20] R. Govind, Distillation column and processes, US Patent No. 4615,770, 1986.
[21] R. Govind, Dual distillation columns, US Patent No. 4681,661, 1987.
[22] J. de Graauw, M.J. Steenbakker, A. de Rijke, Z. Olujic, J. Jansens, Distillation
column with heat integration, Dutch Patent P56921NL00, 2003.
[23] J. de Graauw, M.J. Steenbakker, A. de Rijke, Z. Olujic, J. Jansens, Distillation
column with heat integration, US Patent No. 7678,237 B2, 2008.1.
[24] R. Gutierrez-Guerra, J. Cortez-Gonzalez, R. Murrieta-Duenas, J.G. Segovia-
Hernandez, S. Hernandez, A. Hernandez-Aguirre, Design and optimization of
heat-integrated distillation column schemes through a new robust
methodology coupled with a Boltzmann-based estimation of distribution
algorithm, Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 53 (2014) 11061–11073.
[25] S. Harms, Ž. Oluji
c, HIDiC as a retrofit option, CD-ROM Proceedings of the 8th
World Congress of Chemical Engineering (WCCE-8) (2009) .
[26] G.G. Haselden, An approach to minimum power consumption in low
temperature gas separation, Trans. Inst. Chem. Eng. 36 (1958) 122–132.
[27] G.G. Haselden, Distillation processes and apparatus, US Patent No. 4025,398,
1977.
[28] K. Horiuchi, K. Yanagimoto, K. Kataoka, M. Nakaiwa, Energy-saving
characteristics of heat integrated distillation column technology applied to
multi-component petroleum distillation, IChemE Symposium Series, No. 52
(2006) 172–180.
[29] K. Huang, K. Iwakabe, M. Nakaiwa, K. Matsuda, K. Horiuchi, T. Nakanishi,
Consider heat integration to improve separation performance, Hydrocarbon
Process. (2008) 101–108.
[30] K. Huang, L. Shan, Q. Zhu, J. Qian, A totally heat integrated distillation column
(THIDiC) - The effect of feed pre-preheating by distillate, Appl. Therm. Energy
28 (2008) 856–864.
[31] K.J. Huang, M. Nakaiwa, T. Akiya, M. Owa, K. Aso, T. Takamatsu, Dynamics of
ideal heat integrated distillation columns, J. Chem. Eng. Jpn. 29 (1996)
656–661.
[32] K.J. Huang, M. Nakaiwa, T. Akiya, K. Aso, T. Takamatsu, A numerical
consideration on dynamic modeling and control of ideal heat integrated
distillation columns, J. Chem. Eng. Jpn. 29 (1996) 344–351.
[33] K.J. Huang, S.J. Wang, K. Iwakabe, L. Shan, Q.X. Zhu, Temperature control of an
ideal heat-integrated distillation column (HIDiC), Chem. Eng. Sci. 62 (2007)
6486–6491.
[34] K. Huang, K. Iwakabe, M. Nakaiwa, K. Matsuda, K. Horiuchi, T. Nakanishi,
Consider heat integration to improve separation performance, Hydrocarbon
Process. (2008) 101–108.
[35] J.A. Hugill, System for stripping and rectifying a fluid mixture, International
Patent No. WO 03/011418 A1, 2003.
[36] J.L. Humphrey, A.F. Seibert, R.A. Koort, Separation technologies: advances and
priorities, Final report for US Department of Energy, Office of Industrial
Technologies, Washington DC, 1991.
[37] K. Iwakabe, M. Nakaiwa, K. Huang, T. Nakanishi, A. Rosjorde, T. Ohmori, A.
Endo, T. Yamamoto, Energy saving in multicomponent separation using an
internally heat-integrated distillation column (HIDiC), Appl. Therm. Eng. 26
(2006) 1362–1368.
[38] K. Iwakabe, M. Nakaiwa, K. Huang, T. Nakanishi, A. Rosjorde, T. Ohmori, A.
Endo, T. Yamamoto, Performance of an internally heat-integrated distillation
column (HIDiC) in separation of ternary mixtures, J. Chem. Eng. Jpn. 39 (2006)
417–425.
[39] P.J. Jansens, F. Fahkri, J. de Graauw, Z. Olujic, Energy saving potential of a heat
integrated distillation column, Proceedings of the Topical Distillation
Symposium, AIChE 2001 Spring Meeting, Houston (US), 22–26 April (2001)
19–25.
[40] M. Kaeser, C.L. Pritchard, Heat transfer at the surface of sieve trays, Proceedings
of the UK Heat Transfer Session (2003) .
144 A.A. Kiss, Z. Oluji
c / Chemical Engineering and Processing 86 (2014) 125–144
[41] Y. Kansha, A. Kishimoto, A. Tsutsumi, Process design methodology for high-
energy saving HIDiC based on self-heat recuperation, Asia-Pac. J. Chem. Eng. 6
(2011) 320–326.
[42] K. Kataoka, H. Noda, T. Mukaida, G. Nishimura, H. Yamaji, Boost to bioethanol
distillation by internal heat-integrated distillation column (HIDiC), Adv. Chem.
Eng. Res. 3 (2014) 48–57.
[43] G.E. Keller, J.L. Humphrey, Separation Process Technology, McGrawHill, New
York, 1997.
[44] B. Kiran, A.K. Jana, A.N. Samanta, A novel intensified heat integration in
multicomponent distillation, Energy 41 (2012) 443–453.
[45] B. Kiran, A.K. Jana, Introducing vapor recompression mechanism in heat-
integrated distillation column: impact of internal energy driven intermediate
and bottom reboiler, AIChE J. (2014), doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/aic.14620
(in press).
[46] A.A. Kiss, Advanced Distillation Technologies – Design, Control and
Applications, Wiley, Chichester, UK, 2013.
[47] A.A. Kiss, Distillation technology – still young and full of breakthrough
opportunities, J. Chem. Technol. Biotechnol. 89 (2014) 479–498.
[48] A.A. Kiss, S.J. Flores Landaeta, C.A. Infante Ferreira, Towards energy efficient
distillation technologies–making the right choice, Energy 47 (2012) 531–542.
[49] G.M. Koeijer, S. de Kjelstrup, H. de van der Kooij, B. Gross, K.F. Knoche, T.R.
Andersen, Positioning heat exchangers in binary tray distillation using isoforce
operation, Energy Convers. Manage. 43 (2002) 1571–1581.
[50] P. Le Goff, T. Cachot, R. Rivero, Exergy analysis of distillation processes, Chem.
Eng. Technol. 19 (1996) 478–485.
[51] H.Y. Lee, Y.C. Lee, I.L. Chien, H.P. Huang, Design and control of a heat-integrated
reactive distillation system for the hydrolysis of methyl acetate, Ind. Eng.
Chem. Res. 49 (2010) 7398–7411.
[52] H. Legatski, Fractionation distillation, US Patent No. 2690,060, 1954.
[53] X.G. Liu, J.X. Qian, Modeling, control, and optimization of ideal internal
thermally coupled distillation columns, Chem. Eng. Technol. 23 (2000)
235–241.
[54] R.S. Mah, J.J. Nicholas, R.B. Wodnik, Distillation with secondary reflux and
vaporization – a comparative evaluation, AIChE J. 23 (1977) 651–658.
[55] A. Mane, A.K. Jana, A new intensified heat integration in distillation column,
Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 49 (2010) 9534–9541.
[56] K. Matsuda, K. Iwakabe, M. Nakaiwa, Recent advances in internally heat-
integrated distillation columns (HIDiC) for sustainable development, J. Chem.
Eng. Jpn. 45 (2012) 363–372.
[57] K. Matsuda, K. Kawazuishi, Y. Kansha, C. Fushimi, M. Nagao, H. Kunikiyo, F.
Masuda, A. Tsutsumi, Advanced energy saving in distillation process with self-
heat recuperation technology, Energy 36 (2011) 4640–4645.
[58] K. Naito, M. Nakaiwa, K. Huang, A. Endo, K. Aso, T. Nakanishi, T. Nakamura, H.
Noda, T. Takamatsu, Operation of a bench-scale ideal heat integrated
distillation column (HIDiC): an experimental study, Comput. Chem. Eng. 24
(2000) 495–499.
[59] M. Nakaiwa, Fundamental research on energy savings of distillation processes
(Ph.D. thesis), Kyoto University, Japan, 1988.
[60] M. Nakaiwa, K. Huang, M. Owa, T. Akiya, T. Nakane, M. Sato, T. Takamatsu,
Energy savings in heat-integrated distillation columns, Energy 22 (1997)
621–625.
[61] M. Nakaiwa, K. Huang, K. Naito, A. Endo, T. Akiya, T. Nakane, T. Takamatsu,
Parameter analysis and optimization of ideal heat-integrated distillation
columns, Comput. Chem. Eng. 25 (2001) 737–744.
[62] M. Nakaiwa, K. Huang, A. Endo, T. Ohmori, T. Akiya, T. Takamatsu, Internally
heat integrated distillation column: a review, Trans. IChemE 81 (2003) 162–
177.
[63] H. Noda, T. Takamatsu, K. Aso, T. Nakanishi, K. Yoshida, M. Nakaiwa, T. Mukaida,
N. Kuratani, Development on a coaxial heat integrated distillation column
(HIDiC), Korean J. Chem. Eng. 17 (5) (2000) 593–596.
[64] H.R. Null, Heat pumps in distillation, Chem. Eng. Prog. 78 (1976) 58–64.
[65] Ž. Oluji
c, F. Fakhri, A. de Rijke, J. de Graauw, P. Jansens, J., Internal heat
integration – the key to an energy conserving distillation column, J. Chem.
Technol. Biotechnol. 78 (2003) 241–248.
[66] Ž Oluji
c, L. Sun, A. de Rijke, P.J. Jansens, Conceptual design of an internally heat
integrated propylene-propane splitter, Energy 31 (2006) 3083–3096.
[67] Ž. Oluji
c, L. Sun, M. Gadalla, A. de Rijke, P.J. Jansens, Enhancing thermodynamic
efficiency of energy intensive distillation columns via internal heat
integration, Chem. Biochem. Eng. Quart. 22 (2008) 383–392.
[68] Ž. Oluji
c, M. Jödecke, A. Shilkin, G. Schuch, B. Kaibel, Equipment improvement
trends in distillation, Chem. Eng. Process. 48 (2009) 1089–1104.
[69] Ž. Oluji
c, Energy saving distillation technologies – a view from Europe on
advances and challenges, Chem. Eng. Jpn. 78 (2014) 85–88.
[70] Process Systems Enterprise Ltd., gPROMS Process Model Library
documentation, 2011.
[71] J.L. Pulido, E.L. Martinez, M.R.W. Maciel, R. Maciel, Heat integrated reactive
distillation column (r-HIDiC): implementing a new technology distillation,
Chem. Eng. Trans. 24 (2011) 1303–1308.
[72] Rijke A. de, Development of a concentric internally Heat Integrated Distillation
Column (HIDiC) (Ph.D. thesis), Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands,
2007.
[73] A.W. de Rijke, W. Tesselaar, M.A. Gadalla, Z. Olujic, P.J. Jansen, Heat and mass
transfer characteristics of an annular sieve tray, IChemE Symposium Series,
No. 152 (2006), 181, 189.
[74] R. Rivero, Exergy simulation and optimization of adiabatic and diabatic binary
distillation, Energy 26 (2001) 561–593.
[75] J.D. Seader, Continuous distillation apparatus and method, US Patent No.
4234,391 A1, 1980.
[76] J.D. Seader, S.C. Baer, Continuous Distillation Apparatus and Method, Final
Report, University of Utah, Salt Lake City (US), 1984.
[77] M. Schaller, K.H. Hoffmann, R. Rivero, B. Andresen, P. Salamon, The influence of
heat transfer irreversibilities on the optimal performance of diabatic
distillation columns, J. Non-Equilib. Thermodyn. 27 (2005) 257–269.
[78] J.P. Schmal, H.J. van der Kooi, A. de Rijke, Z. Olujic, P.J. Jansens, Internal versus
external heat integration – operational and economic analysis, Chem. Eng. Res.
Des. 84 (2006) 374–380.
[79] P. Sechrist, Heat Pump Distillation, US. Patent Application No. 2009/0114524,
2009.
[80] H. Shahandeh, J. Ivakpour, N. Kasiri, Internal and external HIDiCs (heat-
integrated distillation columns) optimization by genetic algorithm, Energy 64
(2014) 875–886.
[81] A.A. Shenvi, D.M. Herron, R. Agrawal, Energy efficiency limitations of the
conventional heat integrated distillation column (HIDiC) configuration for
binary distillation, Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 50 (2011) 119–130.
[82] H. Stage, Perforated tray column, US Patent No. 3792,843, 1974.
[83] S. Sunder, P.A. Houghton, V.K. Kuznetsov, Plate–fin heat exchanger with
textured surface, US Patent No. 6,838515 B2, 2004.
[84] B. Suphanit, Optimal heat distribution in the internally heat-integrated
distillation column (HIDiC), Energy 36 (2011) 4171–4181.
[85] T. Takamatsu, M. Nakaiwa, T. Nakanishi, The concept of an ideal heat-
integrated distillation column (HIDiC) and its fundamental properties, Kagaku
Kogaku Ronbun. 22 (1996) 985–990.
[86] D. Tondeur, E. Kvaalen, Equipartition of entropy-production. An optimality
criterion for transfer and separation processes, Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 26 (1987)
50–56.
[87] H.H. Tung, J.F. Davis, R.S.H. Mah, Fractionating condensation and evaporation
in plate–fin device, AlChE J. 32 (7) (1986) 1116–1124.
[88] T. Wakabayashi, S. Hasebe, Design of heat integrated distillation column by
using H-xy and T-xy diagrams, Comput. Chem. Eng. 56 (2013) 174–183.
[89] J.C. Wang, G.E. Henke, Tridiagonal matrix for distillation, Hydrocarbon Process.
45 (1966) 155–163.
[90] L. Xu, D. Chen, B. Yan, X. Yuan, Experimental investigation on heat exchange
and separation performance of an annular structured internal heat-integrated
distillation column, Chin. J. Chem. Eng. (2014), doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.
cjche.2013.05.002 (in press).