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q Institution of Chemical Engineers
Trans IChemE, Vol 76, Part A, March 1998
T
he dividing wall distillation column has been known now for some 50 years. Despite its
potential to make major savings in energy and capital costs in distillation, it has not been
widely used in practice. One of the major fears in applying the technology is uncertainty
regarding the control and operation of the arrangement. This paper investigates theoretically
the operation and control of the dividing wall column. A degrees of freedom analysis was
performed to determine the number of control loops required. Possible control con gurations
were then investigated using Relative Gain Array Analysis and dynamic simulation. The
results of these theoretical studies indicate that simple control schemes are capable of
providing stable control.
Keywords: dividing wall distillation; thermal coupling; dynamic simulation; control; pilot plant
Figure 1. Fully thermally coupled columns. (a) Petyluk column; (b) Dividing wall column.
In this paper, the complexity of the dividing wall column mixed pool with the liquid leaving having the same
will rstly be assessed by performing degrees of freedom properties as the liquid on the stage, the number of
analysis. The variables leading to the additional complexity relationships is equal to 3NC + 4. These relationships
of the column, when compared to the more established consist of a total material balance, an energy balance,
side draw column, will then be analysed to investigate the NC-1 component balances, NC distribution relation-
impact on the operation and control of the column. Dynamic ships between the vapour and liquid phase, i.e. vapour-
simulation will also be used to investigate the controll- liquid equilibrium, NC-1 concentration identities for liquid
ability of the column from a theoretical point of view. Part 2 leaving and liquid on the stage, two temperature identi-
of this paper will discuss pilot plant control studies on such ties and two pressure identities for the vapour and liquid
a column. leaving and liquid on the stage. Hence the degrees of
freedom for the unit are:
DEGREES OF FREEDOM ANALYSIS
22
No. of DOF = No. of variables - No. of
A method developed by Howard for analysing the relationships
degrees of freedom at unsteady state condition has been
used for the dividing wall column. The method is based = 5NC + 11 - 3NC - 4 = 2NC + 7
on the fact that the degrees of freedom for a system is equal The degrees of freedom for a cascade of N stages can then
to the sum of degrees of freedom of all the units in the be easily determined by treating the cascade as a system.
system minus the sum of degrees of freedom for all Since a cascade of N stages are interconnected by 2N-2
the interconnecting streams. This requires the system to be streams, the degrees of freedom are:
torn apart into smaller units with inter-stream connec-
IMPAC T OF THE LIQUID SPLIT ON THE MIDDLE according to the set ratio used. Manipulating the liquid split
PRODUCT COMPOSITION at the top of the dividing wall is a way of manipulating
the re ux ratio on each side of the wall. Triantafyllou
In the practical implementation of the dividing wall and Smith1 6 presented a procedure to optimize the re ux
column, the liquid split can easily be manipulated. One way ratio in different parts of the column in the initial design.
of achieving this is by means of simple ow controller Calculations were performed to nd the relation between
installed externally on both liquid streams returning to the liquid split and the composition of the light key
the top of each side of the dividing wall. A ratio controller (methanol) as well as the middle key (iso-propanol) in
can be used to x or to vary the two ows according to a the middle product. To achieve this, the liquid split was
speci ed ratio. However, if a xed ratio is desired, an changed at different values while keeping the vapour
internal mechanism located at the top of the dividing split constant at base case value, i.e. 1.29. Note that the
wall can serve to divide the ows to each side of the wall split is de ned as the ratio between the ow on the product
Figure 4. Variation in middle product composition subject to changes in liquid split. (a) Methanol; (b) Iso-propanol.
Figure 5. Variation in middle product composition subject to changes in vapour split. (a) Iso-propanol; (b) Butanol.
Table 4. Optimum liquid and vapour split for changes in feed composition. Table 5. Optimum liquid and vapour split for changes in product
speci cation.
Feed composition Optimum liquid split Optimum vapour split
Product speci cation Optimum liquid split Optimum vapour split
Feed 1 3.80 1.16
(0.333, 0.334, 0.333) 98 mol percent 3.5 1.02
Feed 2 3.80 1.16 98.5 mol percent 3.8 1.16
(0.363, 0.334, 0.303) 99 mol percent 3.7 1.29
Feed 3 3.90 1.16
(0.303, 0.364, 0.333)
Feed 4 3.75 1.15
(0.303, 0.334, 0.363)
In the dividing wall column operation, the vapour split
is largely xed by the position of the dividing wall but
the liquid split has the exibility to be changed. However, as
obtained. The optimum values for the liquid and vapour discussed earlier, manipulating the liquid split can lead to
splits were found to vary as the product speci cations serious problem in the operation and control of the dividing
changed. Figure 8 shows three sets of plots where the wall column. Therefore, it is better to x the liquid split.
difference in reboiler duty between the operation of the Fixing the liquid and vapour split for a different feed
column at a speci ed liquid or vapour split and operation at composition will not be a problem as the optimum value
the optimum splits are plotted against the speci ed liquid or for the liquid and the vapour split hardly change. However,
vapour split. The plots cover the location within the it is not so straightforward when the product speci cations
optimum splits for three different product speci cations. are allowed to vary. In this case, the above nding can be
There are two plots for each product speci cation. For the used to help decision making. The obvious choice is to set
rst plot, the vapour split is kept constant at its optimum the liquid and vapour splits at the optimum values for the
value while allowing liquid split to vary. For the second highest product speci cations designed for the column. The
plot, the liquid split is kept constant at its optimum value reason for this is because of the relative importance in
while allowing the vapour split to vary. operating the column with liquid and vapour splits close
A comparison between the plots obtained for the different to the optimum values for higher product speci cations
product speci cations shows that the optimum location compared with lower product speci cations. Even if the
tends to be more sensitive to the changes in liquid and column is operated to produce lower purity products,
vapour splits as the product speci cations were increased. the penalty in terms of the energy consumption when
This was shown by the extent of the at region within operating the column with the optimum splits for the higher
the optimum location which tended to reduce slowly as product speci cations proves to be reasonably small. On the
the product speci cations were increased. Hence, it is other hand, if the column is operated with the optimum
important that the column is run close to the optimum liquid and vapour splits for lower product speci cations
liquid and vapour splits for the higher product speci- and higher purity products are to be produced, the penalty
cations otherwise a high energy penalty will have to be in the energy consumption can be extremely high and, in
paid. certain cases, the higher product speci cations might not
Figure 8. Plots of changes in reboiler duty requirement with different liquid and vapour splits.
Table 6. Results from an example to illustrate the setting for the liquid and vapour splits for the dividing wall column operation.
Table 7. Results for the steady state gain array and the relative gain array.
Figure 10 (i). Control run for scheme L-S-V with set point changes. (ii). Control run for scheme D-S-V with set point changes.
between the middle product and the bottom product control DYNAMIC SIMULATION
loops. This means that the middle product composition
should be controlled by the vapour ow while the bottom Dynamic simulation was then performed to observe
product composition should be controlled by the side draw the behaviour of the two control schemes when subjected
ow. to set point changes and feed disturbances as shown in
Figure 11 (i). Control run for scheme L-S-V with feed disturbance. (ii) Control run for scheme D-S-V with feed disturbance.
Table 8. The controllers were tuned using the open loop show the response of the controllers in the two schemes
response curve method. Figure 10 (a) and (b) show the when subjected to feed disturbances. Again stable control
response of the controllers in the two schemes when response was produced by both schemes.
subjected to set point changes. Both schemes were able to Overall, the D-S-V scheme seemed to produce better
produce a stable control response. Figure 11 (a) and (b) response compared with the traditional L-S-V scheme and
Table 8. Set point changes and feed disturbances used. selected for demonstrating the control using simulation. The
column was subjected to changes in product speci -
Middle product composition
Set point changes IPA: 0.9850.988 cation and feed disturbances. Simulation results indicate
that stable control was achievable by both control schemes.
Feed disturbances Combined feed composition and owrate
Composition: MeoH 0.333 to 0.363
IPA 0.334 to 0.284 REFERENCES
BuoH 0.333 to 0.353
1. Linhoff, B., Dunford, H and Smith, R., 1983, Chem Eng Sci, 38(8):
Flowrate: 1.081 to 1.190 kmol/hr
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CONCLUSIONS in thermally coupled distillation systems, PhD Diss (University of
Southern California).
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and control of the dividing wall column have been 12. Tedder, D. W. and Rudd, D. F., 1978, AIChE J, 24(2): 303.
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through degrees of freedom analysis. This results from two Chemical Engineering, Paris, No 27: 43.
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the other hand, the liquid split can be easily varied but has 17. Chavez, R., Seader, J. D. and Wayburn, T. L., 1986, Ind Eng Chem
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been found to have little bene t in comparison to the 18. Lin, W. J., Seader, J. D. and Wayburn, T. L., 1987, AIChE J, 33:
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
disadvantage of this proposal is that the impurities
composition in the middle product cannot be controlled. The authors would like to express their appreciation to the UK
Department of Energy, Energy Ef ciency Of ce, BP, Exxon, Glitch, ICI,
The optimum location for the liquid and vapour splits M. W. Kellogg, and Shell for nancial support of this project. The authors
was found to be insensitive to the variation in the feed would also like to express their gratitude to Dr Frigyes Lestak for his
composition but this is not so for the variation in the product contribution to the project.
speci cation. From a sensitivity study, it was found that the
lower product speci cation has a atter optimum compared
with the higher product speci cations. Therefore, it was ADDRESS
concluded that the design for the liquid and the vapour split Correspondence concerning this paper should be addressed to
should be based on the highest product speci cation when Professor R. Smith, Department of Process Integration, UMIST,
PO Box 88, Manchester M60 1QD, UK.
the column is required to produce a range of product
compositions. The manuscript was received 4 August 1997 and accepted for publication
Two composition (three point) control scheme were after revision 22 January 1998.