Design of sustainable energy efficient distillation columns (Sustain-EEDCS) sequence

Abstract

A new energy efficient distillation columns methodology that will able to improve the energy efficiency of the existing separation systems without having major modifications has been developed. However, this developed methodology was only considered the energy savings without taking into consideration the sustainability criteria. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to present new improvement of the existing methodology by including the sustainability analysis to design an optimal sequence of energy efficient distillation columns. Accordingly, the methodology is divided into four hierarchical sequential stages: i) existing sequence sustainability analysis, ii) optimal sequence determination, iii) optimal sequence sustainability analysis, and iv) sustainability comparison. The capability of this methodology is tested in designing an optimal sustainable energy efficient distillation columns sequence of hydrocarbon mixtures (HM) and Natural Gas Liquids (NGLs) separation processes. It can be concluded that, the sequence determined by the driving force method is not only capable in reducing energy consumption, but also has better sustainability index reduction for both separation units.