The steady-state and dynamic analysis of packed distillation column based on partial differential approach

The steady-state and dynamic behavior of a binary packed distillation column has been simulated using the two film back-mixing model. The model solution has been obtained employing orthogonal collocation on finite elements. The approach using the Legendre or Jacobi polynomial has been tested on the solution of related models. A pilot plant scaled packed distillation column distilling methanol-water mixture was used for experimental work. The variation of overhead and bottom temperatures have been monitored by an on-line computer control system. A number of comparisons have been made between the results predicted in this work from back mixing model based on the two film theory and those obtained experimentally. In most cases the prediction of this work gave results which were closer to experiment than other numerical solutions, showing that Legendre polynomials for orthogonal collocation on finite element can be applied effectively to simulate the packed distillation column by using a partial differential approach. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.