Techno-Economic Analysis of the Carbon Dioxide (CO2)-Ethane Azeotrope Separation for Natural Gas Processes

摘要

In this study, the effect of feed-splitting on energy demand as well as environmental and economic indicators of the extractive distillation of carbon dioxide (CO2)-ethane process are studied. An alternative process is proposed based on partial pre-cooling of the feed stream to minimize the expensive energy requirements of the refrigeration cycle that produces the tower reflux. The results clearly demonstrate that the proposed process leads to a 55% reduction of the refrigerant requirement in comparison to the conventional process and a significant reduction in the column energy demand.