Modeling and Analysis of Internal Heat Integrated Distillation Columns

A generalized steady-state model is being developed for an internal heat integrateddistillation column(IHIDiC).A procedure incorporating the Newton-Raphson method is devisedfor solving the model equations.Separation of an ethanol-water binary mixture is simulated andanalyzed with the model.Two pinch points are found within the process,making the separation ex-tremely difficult and expensive.Two sharp fronts in the temperature and the composition profiles arebeing observed.With the introduction of heat integration,satisfactory separation may be obtainedin a limited number of stages with lower reflux ratios.Increasing the pressure difference betweenthe rectifying and the stripping sections,however,would bring about a reduced relative volatilitybetween the two components involved,creating adverse separation performances.It is obvious thatoptimization of the IHIDiC is of prime importance.