4 DWC Separation of Mixtures ASPEN PLUS

International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering
Website: www.ijetae.com (ISSN 2250-2459, ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal, Volume 4, Issue 8, August 2014)
Separation of Mixture by Divided Wall Column using ASPEN

PLUS
Kishore Khushalani1, Akanksha Maheshwari2, Nikita Jain3
1,2,3
Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology, Bhopal
Abstract— DWC is by far the most effective technology for Distillation of binary mixtures can be achieved by using
the separation of multi component mixtures. This paper a simple distillation column. A ternary mixture can be
presents the simulation studies of the variation of purity of separated by deploying a combination of these simple
different components of mixture benzene–toluene–xylene distillation columns but this increases the initial as well as
(BTX) with the position of the integrated wall of Divided Wall
running cost of the system since for this arrangement at
Column. For the same rigorous simulations were carried out
in ASPEN PLUS. The wall position can be decided by the least three distillation columns have to be used. Several
number of plates in the absorber columns and its variation in other designs have also been introduced namely Petlyuk
height was demonstrated by changing the number of plates in column and Divided Wall Column. The Petlyuk column or
rectifier and stripper keeping the total number of plates a DWC can save between 20 to 40% of the reboiler duty.
constant. A Petlyuk column consists of a prefractionator with
reflux and boil up from the downstream three- product
Keywords— Distillation, Divided Wall Column, column, a setup with only one reboiler and one condenser.
Prefractionator, Separation, Simulation As proposed by Wright (1949), practical implementation of
such a column can be accomplished in a single shell by
I. INTRODUCTION inserting a vertical wall through the middle section of the
Distillation is a very old separation technology for column. Petlyuk's main reason for this design was to avoid
separating liquid mixtures that can be traced back to the thermodynamic losses from mixing different streams at the
chemists in Alexandria in the first century AD. Today feed tray location and reduce costs. (Petlyuk, Platonov, &
distillation is the most important industrial separation Slavinskii, 1965)
technology. It is particularly well suited for high purity The DWC is built in only one shell, whereas a Petlyuk
separations since any degree of separation can be obtained column consists of two or more columns. The name of
with a fixed energy consumption by increasing the number DWC (dividing-wall column or divided wall column)is
of equilibrium stages (I.J. Halvorsen and S. Skogestad , given because the middle part of the column is split into
Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), two sections by a wall, as illustrated in Fig. The feed is
Trondheim, Norway 2000) introduced into one side of the column facing the wall.
Most of the distillations in the industry involve more Deflected by the wall, the lightest component A flows
than two components. A single distillation column cannot upward and exits the column as top distillate while the
separate more than one component in a reasonably pure heaviest component C drops down and is withdrawn as
form from a multicomponent solution. For a good degree of bottom product. The mid-boiling component B is initially
separation of multicomponent mixture at least a sequence entrained up and down with both streams, but the fluid that
of C-1 distillation columns is needed where C is the goes upward subsequently separates in the upper part and
number of components. The complexity of multicomponent falls down on the opposite side of the wall. Similarly, the
distillation calculations can be solved by considering a amount of B that goes toward the bottom separates in the
typical problem. But the calculated compositions will lower part then flows up to the back side of the wall, where
depend on the compositions assumed for the top and the entire B product is recovered by a side draw stream.
bottom products at the commencement of the calculations. (Energy efficient control of a BTX dividing-wall column,
Anton A. Kiss, Rohit R. Rewagad)
563
For of a single distillation column, the overall column
pressure (or constant pressure profile) predicts product
yield and composition satisfactorily. In case of columns
with connecting streams, such as Petlyuk column,
connecting stream flow rate can be maintained between
two columns at different pressures. Therefore, the
prediction of pressure drop across each tray of a DWC is
necessary.
A complete mathematical model of a distillation column is
required to describe material, energy and momentum balance
equations for each individual tray of the entire distillation
column subject to thermodynamic constraints of VLE. Most
of the existing models (Friday et al., 1964)ignore momentum
balance equations and rely only upon material and energy
balance equations with VLE. These model equations are
commonly known as MESH equations (material balance,
vapour-liquid equilibrium, summation, and enthalpy (H)
balance equations). For a simple distillation column having N
stages including condenser and reboiler with one feed and
two products.
IV. SHORTCUT SIMULATION OF DWC

Fig.1 DWC column In this model, three shortcut RadFrac columns are used
to represent the Prefractionator ―SCPre‖, the top section of
II. SIMULATION OF DWC main column Main1, and the bottom section of main
The simulation of a non-standard column like DWC is column Main2. The column pressure profile and an
more complex than that of a conventional distillation as external reflux ratio must be specified in each shortcut
there are more degrees of freedom involved and more column to obtain the number of trays, feed stage, and vapor
parameters to be manipulated. All simulation studies are and liquid traffic in rectifying and stripping sections. The
done in ASPEN but it does not include a DWC in its library reflux ratio is specified as 1.2 times the minimum reflux
operations. Hence, DWC is simulated based on the ratio. The middle product is represented by the addition of
configuration of fully thermally coupled column, called two material streams, namely ―side1‖ and ―side2‖.
Petlyuk column. Petlyuk column arrangement consists of ―SCPre‖ represents the pre-fractionator; the effective
main column and a post-fractionator. Such representation is binary pair in this column is the low-boiling point
justifiable as these two column configurations are component and the high boiling point component. In
thermodynamically equivalent assuming that heat transfer addition, the overhead product in SCPre has to be in vapor
across the dividing-wall is negligible (Schultz et al., 2002). phase to better represent the material stream that is
thermally linked to the main column. For the other two
III. SIMULATION MODEL shortcut columns, the overhead product should be in liquid
phase to represent the respective product streams.
Design, simulation and operation of a DWC require the In B2, separation between low-boiling point component
simultaneous solution of the material, momentum and and middle-boiling point component will take place.
energy balance equations. For a simple distillation column, Likewise, separation between the middle-boiling point
the momentum balance equations are important only at the component and the high-boiling point component
design stage. The effect of pressure drop is usually ignored dominates in B3
during simulation stage because of its insignificant impact To allow the addition of Side1 and Side2 to represent the
on vapor-liquid equilibrium (Friday et al.,1964; Tomich, middle product, compositions of these two streams have to
1970; Napthali and Sandholm, 1971; Hess, 1977; Seader, be equal, especially for the middle key.
1989).
564
Hence, the degree of separation between LK (light key) Shortcut simulation was done using Radfrac model. In
and HK (heavy key) in SCPre has to be altered to obtain shortcut simulation three Radfrac blocks were used to
equal compositions in Side1 and Side2. This can be done represent the DWC structure.
by adjusting mole fraction of the light key in the bottoms Fig2 shows three RadFrac models used for shortcut
and heavy key in the distillate of SCPre, by trial and error. simulation.
Upon equalization of compositions of Side1 and Side2, the
shortcut simulation for the application is completed, and
the estimated structural and operational parameters can be
retrieved from ASPEN for initialization of the rigorous
simulation.
Fig2. Arrangement showing Three RadFrac models for shortcut simulation
V. RIGOROUS SIMULATION OF DWC  Ordinary distillation.

 Absorption.
The results obtained from shortcut simulation are used for  Stripping.
the initialization of rigorous simulation.Using the column
―Multifrac‖ available in the equipment model library,  Extractive and azeotropic distillation.
developed the following process flow diagram in the flow The steady-state Radfrac model in Aspen Plus consisted
sheet window by connecting the input and output streams of four column sections: one stripper, two parallel
as shown in figure 3.2.Here stream no.6, 5,7 and 4 was feed absorbers, and a rectifier. In reality, there is only one
(F), distillate (D), side stream (S) and bottom product (B) column, but these four ―fictitious‖ vessels are used in the
respectively. simulation to model the real physical equipment. Before
RadFrac is a rigorous model for simulating all types of exporting the file into Aspen Dynamics, a number of
multistage vapor-liquid fractionation operations. These important changes had to be made in order to obtain a
operations include: pressure-driven dynamic simulation.
565
Variables to be initialized for rigorous simulation For rigorous simulation, the MultiFrac model of
ASPENPLUS™ was used. The MultiFrac model library is
suitable for solving complex cascade of several columns
Structural variables-
taken as a single block of columns. Different columns can
be inter-connected by using ‗connecting streams‘.
Number of trays in the Pre-fractionator or post fractionator MultiFrac model uses these connecting streams as internal
variable streams and no extra specification (or extra degree
Feed stage of freedom) is required for model solution. Vapour split in
the DWC is handled by assigning molar flow rate values to
Number of trays in the Main Column a connect stream (see the supplementary material). (Sangal
Feb 2012)
Side Draw stage
Fig3. Arrangement showing two absorbers, one rectifier and one stripper used for carrying out rigorous simulation
566
The feed conditions for the steady state for rigorous
simulation:-
The data for the number of stages are entered in the

specification sheet for the block absorber1 as shown in
figure. The type of condenser and reboiler are entered as
none. As the there are no condenser or reboiler on the
absorber model. The data for pressure conditions and pressure drop for
absorber-1 is shown in the figure:-
The data for the stages at which feed enters, vapor phase
product and liquid product enters for absorber-1 is shown
in the given figure:-
567
The data for the number of stages are entered in the The data representing the pressure conditions and
specification sheet for the block absorber2 as shown in pressure drop for absorber-2 is shown in the given figure:-
figure. The type of condenser and reboiler are entered as
none. As the there are no condenser or reboiler on the
absorber model.
The specification for LIQSPL:

The data showing specifications for feed streams and
product streams mentioning the number of stages for
absorber-2 is shown in the following figure:-
568
Data specification for VAPSPL:-
The data showing setup for Rectifier is as shown in the The data for pressure conditions and pressure drop for
figure:- rectifier is shown in the figure:-
The data for stripper setup is shown in the figure:-
The data showing the number of stages for feed stream

and product streams for rectifier are shown in the figure:-
569
Data showing specifications for feed stream and product TABLE I
stream for stripper is shown in the figure:- PRODUCT PURITY
PRODUCT STAGE AT WHICH IT IS PURITY
OBTAINED
Benzene 1(rectifier) 94.99%
Toluene 6(absorber 2) 95.42%
Xylene 50(stripper) 92.15%
TABLE II
NUMBER OF TRAYS
SECTION NUMBER OF TRAYS
Rectifier 24
Absorber 1 35
Absorber 2 35
Stripper 50
The data showing pressure conditions for stripper:-
Total no trays used= 35+24+50=109

Hence in the given simulation for the feed, the change in
the position of wall showed the variation in the product
streams as follows:
Fig.4 y-axis- % purity, x-axis- position of the wall
VI. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION The change in number of trays in the prefractionator
showed the following variation in the results obtained:-
A number of steady state simulation were carried out
using rigorous simulation.
The table for product purity is shown as follows:-
570
VII. CONCLUSION
In this work, studies relating to aspects of the operation
and control of the dividing wall column were carried out.
The divided wall column is a complex column, this result
from two additional manipulated variables, the liquid and
vapour splits. In a DWC, it is impractical to manipulate the
vapour split, because it is fixed by the position of the wall.
But the liquid split can be easily varied, but it was found to
have little benefit in comparison to the complication that
will be added to the operation and control of the column.
Three point control scheme were selected for the control of
Fig.5 y-axis- % purity, x-axis- Number of trays in prefractionator
the DWC structure using simulation. The column was
subjected to changes in product specification and feed
The change in feed location showed the following disturbances.
variation in the obtained results:- Some important considerations regarding the design of
the DWC:-
 The reboiler duty varies with the liquid split, vapor
split and reflux ratio.
 To control the distillate and bottom compositions the
reflux and boil up streams were used.
 To control the side stream composition. the side
stream flow rate was used.
 To control the amount of heavy component leaving in
the top of the pre fractionators the liquid split was
used this preserves the optimality characteristics of a
given design.
Fig.6 y-axis- % purity, x-axis- feed location REFERENCES
The change in side location for absorber-2 showed the [1 ] Schultz, M.A., Stewart, D.G., Harris, J.M., Rosenblum, S.P., Shakur,
M.S. and O‘Brien, D.E., 2002, Reduce Costs with Dividing Wall
following variation in the results:- Columns, Chemical Engineering Progress, May, pp.64-71.
[2 ] Friday, J. R., Smith, B. D., 1964, An Analysis of the Equilibrium
Stage Separation general systems of interlinked, multi staged
separators, AIChE J. 24, pp.1131–1134.
[3 ] Hess, F. E., Holland, C. D., 1977 Solve more distillation problems,
Hydrocarbon Process, pp. 241–249.
[4 ] Tomich, J. F., 1970, A New Simulation Method for Equilibrium
Stage Processes, AIChE J. 16 , pp.229–232.
[5 ] Naphtali, L. M., Sandholm, D. P., 1971 Multicomponent Separation
Calculations by Linearization, AIChE J. 17, pp.148–153.
[6 ] Seader, J. D., 1989 The Rate-Based Approach for Modelling Staged
Separations, Chem Eng. Prog., 85(10), pp. 41.
[7 ] Vikas Kumar Sangal, L. Bichalu,Vineet Kumar and Indra Mani
Mishra; ASIA-PACIFIC JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL
ENGINEERING,Feb 2012; Importance of pressure drop in divided
Fig.7 y-axis- % purity, x-axis- side location
wall distillation column
571

4 DWC Separation of Mixtures ASPEN PLUS

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International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering

Separation of Mixture by Divided Wall Column using ASPEN

IV. SHORTCUT SIMULATION OF DWC

Fig2. Arrangement showing Three RadFrac models for shortcut simulation

V. RIGOROUS SIMULATION OF DWC  Ordinary distillation.

The data for the number of stages are entered in the

The specification for LIQSPL:

The data for stripper setup is shown in the figure:-

The data showing the number of stages for feed stream

Benzene 1(rectifier) 94.99%

Toluene 6(absorber 2) 95.42%

Xylene 50(stripper) 92.15%

Total no trays used= 35+24+50=109

Fig.4 y-axis- % purity, x-axis- position of the wall

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