Technical Presentations

Divided Wall Columns

©2007 AspenTech. All Rights Reserved.

 Contents:

• What are “Divided Wall Columns”?

• Why to use them ?
• Why not to use them ?
• How to model them generally ?
• How to model them in Hysys ?
• Usability/Controllability issues

©2007 AspenTech. All Rights Reserved.

 What are “Divided Wall Columns”?

• They are like normal columns

• with a vertical partition in the middle

©2007 AspenTech. All Rights Reserved.

 What are “Divided Wall Columns”?

Prod A

Feed Prod B

Prod C
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 Why to use them?

Prod A

Conventional ??!!
Prod B

Feed

Prod C

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 Why to use them (continued) ?

Prod A
Divided Wall ??!!

Feed Prod B

Prod C

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 Why to use them (continued) ?

• Lower Initial Cost

– One Column (bigger though)
– One Condenser
– One Reboiler

• Lower Operating Cost

– Less Duty

©2007 AspenTech. All Rights Reserved.

 Why not to use them ?

• Duties at Extreme Temperatures

• Size can get too big
• Metallurgy
• Operating pressure
• Hydraulic imbalance

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 How to model them generally ?

Setup-1a Setup-1b

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 How to model them generally ?

Setup-2a Setup-2b

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 How to model them generally ?

Setup-3a Setup-3b

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 How to model them in Hysys ?

• In any of the previous ways.

• Or using MFW.

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 How to model them in Hysys ?

• What is MFW ?.
– My Favorite Way

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 Degrees of freedom

• 2 For Energy Streams

• 1 For Side Draw
• 2 for Splitters (1 Per Splitter)

• Total = 5

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 Specs to use

• Start with simple stuff:

– 2 Split Ratios
– Reflux Ratio
– Side Draw Rate
– Boil-up Ratio

• Then Switch to Product Quality

Specs:
– Impurity Fractions
– Comp Recoveries
– etc..

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 What is special with Hysys

• The whole column will reside within

the same column environment.
• Most configurations can be
modeled accurately.
• Switching to Dynamics is easy.
• No body else can model a single
column that looks like this.

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 Usability/Controllability issues

• Usual column control challenge.

• Vapour split between sections.
• Liquid split between sections.
• Feed and draw trays variations.
• All possible in HYSYS.Plant+

©2007 AspenTech. All Rights Reserved.

 Summary

• Divided wall columns are not the right answer for all A-B-C
distillation problems.
• They are cheaper to build and operate generally...
• …that is if you can operate them properly in the first place (a
control challenge).
• Hysys is the best tool to model them with the column sub-
flowsheet tools.
• Operability can be checked by Hysys.Plant.
• Lots of potential savings.

©2007 AspenTech. All Rights Reserved.