Analysis of azeotropic distillation columns combined with pervaporation membranes

摘要

The main objective of this work is the analysis of azeotropic distillation columns, when a liquid side stream with the distributing non-key component is treated in a pervaporation membrane and the retentate is recycled to the column. The objective is to separate the pure distributing non-key component from the pervaporation membrane, thus helping to improve the purity in the top and/or bottom products. The operating conditions of the column such as reflux ratio, product and side draw flowrate are selected optimally. A systematic methodology for the selection of the optimum operating conditions of the azeotropic distillation column in the hybrid distillation/pervaporation system for Methyl tert-Butyl Ether production is presented. The significant reduction in the operating cost due to the optimisation of the debutanizer column is reported.