Opportunities for Energy Savings in Azeotropic Separation Processes

摘要

There are various methods in industry which can be used for separating azeotrope. Wise choice of the most effective separation method is very important in saving energy and reducing total annual cost of such processes. In this paper, methods for separating azeotrope via distillation will be overviewed. Industrial applications will be used to demonstrate that large savings of operating energy can be realized by selecting the most effective separation method. Several analytical tools can be used to aid the decision of the selection. To further save energy of the azeotropic separation processes, several feasible heat integration schemes are explored. These include: feed-effluent heat exchanger, double-effect distillation, and divided-wall column. Industrial examples will be used to illustrate the heat integration applications.