Azeotropic distillation: Effect of the thermodynamic model

This paper presents a discussion or. the use of different liquid phase models, interaction parameters and objective functions in the vapor-liquid equilibrium description of azeotropic systems. "Experimental" data are obtained using UNIFAC. Distillation regions and columns are examined. Several ternary mixtures are included in the study. These systems encompass one, two, or three binary azeotropes and in some cases ternary azeotropes. Results show that ternary prediction of LVE and distillation regions description from binary information are good for all the models, parameters and objective functions considered. The simulation of distillation columns requires of a sensitivity analysis to find the most sensitive binary in a ternary system.