Static characteristics of internally heat-integrated distillation column (HIDiC) separating binary mixtures of benzene-toluene and of propylene-propane under different compression ratios

feed thermal conditions and distribution modes of heat duty were investigated through simulation studies

and comparative studies against conventional distillation columns (CDIC) and heat pump assisted distillation column (VRC) were also performed to evaluate the energy-saving effect of HIDiC.The simulation results demonstrated that the ideal HIDiC held its superiority in energy efficiency only for the separation of binary close-boiling mixtures.The results obtained showed that the energy-saving effect of VRC was the best for benzene-toluene

with the value of 40% compared with the CDIC

and in the case of propylene-propane system，the HIDiC provided the best energy-saving effect of 60%—80%.The paper proposes a more reasonable heat duty distribution mode called temperature and heat duty matching (THM) for HIDiC.Compared with the mode of averaged heat duty (AH)

the heat transfer area in HIDiC can be reduced significantly at a relative small compression ratio using THM.