A vertical double wall divided-wall column separating four-component mixture was proposed. The structure design of the tower was introduced and explained in detail. According to the structure and separation principle of the new divided-wall column

the five-tower model was designed and a shortcut design calculation was conducted. For the complete thermal coupling process of the four components separation of the hydrocarbon system

the simulation optimization and energy analysis were carried out by using the chemical engineering process simulation software Aspen. Compared with the general sequence tower separation process

the energy saving of the new divided-wall column was up to 18.6% and energy saving effect was obvious. By using the process simulation

a small pilot study was conducted on the new trays by using pentane

hexane

heptane and octane as separators. The results show that the main factor affecting the temperature distribution of the new divided-wall column is the spilt liquid ratio. The temperature distribution in the main tower section two could be controlled by controlling the reflux of the overhead condenser in the main tower section two of the new divided-wall column. Through the research of this paper

the theoretical basis and design reference for the industrialization of the separation of the four-component mixture in the new divided-wall column are provided.