(120b) Dividing-Wall Column Screening Guidelines and Applications
AIChE Spring Meeting and Global Congress on Process Safety
2016
2016 AIChE Spring Meeting and 12th Global Congress on Process Safety
19th Topical Conference on Refinery Processing
Process Intensification of Divided Wall Column I
Tuesday, April 12, 2016 - 2:00pm to 2:30pm
A dividing-wall column (DWC) is a distillation column with a vertical partition that can be implemented as a potentially attractive alternative to conventional multi-column or sidecut column arrangements; use of a DWC may enable capital cost and energy savings of around 30% or even higher to be achieved. Rules-of-thumb involving process conditions like feed composition and relative volatility are often cited for consideration when trying to determine if a DWC might make sense (or not) in a given flowscheme. The intent of this work is to present and review these guidelines in the context of refining and petrochemical processes and obtain an updated perspective that will allow for more detailed guidance to be provided for future screening evaluations.