The Study of Structure Design for Dividing Wall Distillation Column

This paper proposed a shortcut method for the structure design of dividing wall column based on the Fenske-Underwood equation by applying it on three conventional simple column configuration. It is shown that the proposed shortcut method can design the column structure including the feed tray, dividing wall section, and side-stream tray in a simple and efficient way in the initial design stage. Simulation study using HYSYS to compare the energy saving performance between the conventional sequential two column system and the dividing wall column designed by the proposed method shows that the proposed dividing wall column system saves from 16% to 65% more over the conventional one. It is also illustrated that the degree of energy saving improvement by the divided wall column mainly depends on the composition of intermediate component while the optimal energy consumption pattern to internal flow distribution on the dividing wall section is characterized by the ESI factor of the feed mixture.