Kaibel divided-wall column (KDWC) could separate four-component mixture into high-purity products in a single column. It is an intensified arrangement of three-component divided-wall column (DWC). Developing effective control structure is one of the main challenges of the application of KDWC. This work investigated a KDWC for the separation of a mixture of benzene

toluene

o-xylene and 1

3

5-trimethylbenzene. A temperature control (TC) structure and a new pressure-compensated temperature control (PTC) structure were developed in this work. Dynamic responses of the two control structures are compared. Disturbances in feed rate or feed composition were used to evaluate the effectiveness of the two control structures. The results showed that TC could regain stable control in facing of ±15% disturbances of feed rate or feed composition with the maximal residual error as about -0.007. One product purity failed to meet the specification. PTC shows a better control result in facing of ±20% disturbances. All the purity of the four products could meet the specification with the maximal residual error as about -0.003 and the setting time as 5-8 h. The new control method for the KDWC could give a dynamic set-point for the lower side-stream control loop

and thus presenting a better control performance.