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www.ingentaselect.com=titles=02638762.htm Trans IChemE, Vol 81, Part A, January 2003

REVIEW PAPER

INTERNALLY HEAT-INTEGRATED DISTILLATION

COLUMNS: A REVIEW
M. NAKAIWA1 , K. HUANG1 , A. ENDO1 , T. OHMORI 1 , T. AKIYA1 and T. TAKAMATSU2
1
Energy-Ef cient Chemical Systems Group, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba, Japan
2
Institute of Industrial Technology, Kansai University, Suita, Japan

T
he heat-integrated distillation column to be addressed in this paper is a special
distillation column that involves internal heat integration between the whole rectifying
and the whole stripping sections. An overview of the research on this process is
presented in this work. It covers from the thermodynamic development and evaluations to the
practical design and operation investigations for the process. Comparative studies against
conventional distillation columns are introduced and the results obtained show distinctively the
substantial advantages in energy ef ciency of the process over its conventional counterparts.
Some relevant issues of process design and operation are to be stressed and the results of the
rst of its kind bench-scale plant experimentation are given in great detail. The application of
internal heat integration principle to other distillation-related processes is also discussed in
depth. These include heat integration within batch distillation columns, pressure-swing
distillation columns that are used for the separation of pressure-sensitive binary azeotropes,
and different distillation columns that have no connections at all. The prospects of the HIDiC
and our future research work are then highlighted.

Keywords: distillation; heat integration; energy conservation; process design and control;
simulation.

INTRODUCTION address the problem of the degree to which the internal

Distillation columns are well known for their low energy
ef ciency. To effect a separation heat a high temperature has
to be provided in the reboiler and draw-off at a low
temperature in the condenser. To improve energy ef ciency
the heat pump principle is often adopted as an effective
means of reusing the rejected heat (Null, 1976; King, 1980;
Smith, 1995). This is generally referred as heat pump-
assisted distillation columns [Figure 1(a)]. Although it is a
useful technique for saving energy, it suffers from some
strict requirements imposed by the mixtures to be separated.
Since the 1960s, internal heat integration between the
rectifying and the stripping sections of a distillation
column has made signi cant advances in improving
energy ef ciency of distillation processes [Figure 1(b)].
Freshwater (1961) may have been the rst person to advo-
cate this technique. Flower and Jackson (1964) further
systematized the idea and clari ed the advantages of this
approach through numerical simulations based on the
second law of thermodynamics. In terms of the same
principle, Mah and his coworkers (Fitzmorris and Mah,
1980; Mah et al., 1977) developed and worked with their
own process, a secondary re ux and vaporization distillation
column, which actually included internal heat integration
between part of the rectifying and the stripping sections. For
the rst time, they established the general process con g-
uration to approximate the theoretical model based on the
second law of thermodynamics. However, they did not
heat integration should be adopted between the rectifying
and the stripping sections of a distillation column.
Takamatsu and Nakaiwa continued the work on this subject
both theoretically and experimentally since 1985, and
con rmed by large-scale experimental evaluations the
advantages of these kinds of internally heat-integrated
distillation columns in binary close-boiling mixture separa-
tions over conventional distillation columns (Nakaiwa et al.,
1986; Takamatsu et al., 1988; Lueprasitsakul et al.,
1990a, b). In 1995, they noticed that the degree of internal
heat integration within a distillation column played a very
important role in energy ef ciency for a given separation.
They proposed, therefore, to extend the internal heat inte-
gration to the whole rectifying and the whole stripping
sections and this resulted in a sharply different process
con guration from conventional distillation columns,
which they called internally heat-integrated distillation
column (HIDiC). They found out further that the HIDiC
was economically feasible for the separation of binary close-
boiling mixtures, as were other types of heat pump-assisted
distillation columns. The stringent limitations imposed
by the mixture separated have been further resolved
(Takamatsu et al., 1996, 1997a; Nakaiwa et al., 1998a).
It is worthwhile to stress here that the HIDiC possesses
several very attractive features and it is these features that
stimulate us to pursue its industrialization in chemical and
petrochemical process industries. These features include
mainly: (1) high energy ef ciencythe highest degree of

162
 INTERNALLY HEAT-INTEGRATED DISTILLATION COLUMNS
Figure 1. Schematics of a heat pump assisted distillation column and an internally heat-integrated distillation column between part of the rectifying section
and part of the stripping section. (a) A heat pump-assisted distillation column and (b) an internally heat-integrated distillation column between part of the
rectifying section and part of the stripping section.
internal heat integration within the HIDiC generally offers
higher energy ef ciency than conventional distillation colu-
mns as well as other types of heat-integrated distillation
columns, for instance, heat pump-assisted distillation
columns. The arrangement of internal heat transfer area
for every paired stage provides a large number of extra
degrees of freedom for process design, making it possible to
maximally tap the potential energy savings within a distilla-
tion column. This was con rmed by simulation evaluations
and bench-scale experimental evaluations, which will be
introduced later in this review. (2) zero external re ux and
reboil operationever since the creation of distillation
techniques, it has been common practice to use a condenser
and reboiler to generate external re ux and reboil ows for
distillation operation. For the HIDiC, the internal heat
integration plays this role and generates these two ows
internally, and thus neither condenser nor reboiler is, in
principle, necessary. This may cause new considerations on
distillation process design and operation. Finally (3) high
potentials and effectiveness of internal heat integration
techniquesinternal heat integration is a very effective
means of improving process energy ef ciency and can
nd many applications within distillation processes. As
will be discussed later, it can even facilitate operation of
batch distillation columns and pressure-swing distillation
processes, which are used for the separation of pressure-
sensitive binary azeotropic mixtures. Moreover, internal heat
integration is not limited only to a single distillation column.
It can be considered between two distillation columns that
may have no direct connections at all.
Recently, the research on the HIDiC has aroused world-
wide interest and a number of research groups have already
been formed. They have already begun their work on this
subject with their emphasis ranging from process design
(Kjelstrup et al., 1995; Aguirre et al., 1997), process
analysis (Niang et al., 1995; Rivera-Ortega, et al., 1999)
and process operations (Liu and Qian, 2000), to internal heat
and mass transfer mechanism and internal structure arrange-
ment (Jansens et al., 2001; Beggs, 2002). We have been
concentrating on this work since 1985. The rst term of a
national project on the HIDiC supported by the New-Energy
Trans IChemE, Vol 81, Part A, January 2003
163
and Industry Technology Development Organization
(NEDO) of Japan began in 1994 and ended in 2000. The
second term of the project started in April 2002. It seems to
us that it is necessary to review its current development,
pinpoint its future research targets and predict its prospects.
Therefore, the main objective of this paper is to give an
in-depth summary of our previous research outcomes on the
HIDiC. Considerable emphasis has also been placed on
the introduction of potential applications of internal heat
integration principle to other distillation-related processes,
for example, batch distillation columns and pressure-swing
distillation processes, as they also represent some very
important aspects of the HIDiC development.
In this work a detailed overview of our researches on the
HIDiC will be conducted, ranging from thermodynamic
development and evaluations to the practical design and
operation investigations for the process. Comparative
studies against conventional distillation columns will be
introduced and show distinctively the major advantages of
the HIDiC over its conventional counterparts. Some relevant
issues of process design and operation are to be stressed and
the results of the rst of its kind of bench-scale plant
experimentation will be given in detail. Some energy-
ef cient processes that make use of the internal heat integra-
tion principle, such as heat-integrated batch distillation
columns and heat-integrated pressure-swing distillation
columns, are also addressed. The prospects of the HIDiC
and our future research work will be highlighted.
THERMODYNAMIC ANALYSIS OF A
CONVENTIONAL DISTILLATION OPERATION
Figure 2 shows a diagram of a conventional distillation
column. In terms of the rst and second laws of thermo-
dynamics, the following equations can be derived (Kojima,
1996):
QREB QCOND FHF DHD BHB 0 1
Q Q
DS COND REB FSF DSD BSB 0 2
TCOND TREB
164 NAKAIWA et al.

To improve the energy ef ciency of a distillation column, it

is necessary to reduce the dissipation energy, WLoss, as much
as possible. For the heat transfer and pressure distribution
loss, they can be controlled by effective heat exchanger
design and internal ow structure arrangement. For the
remixing loss, it can be mitigated by selection of appropriate
feed locations. The remaining mass transfer loss is, there-
fore, left as the main cause for the low energy ef ciency of a
conventional distillation column, as it is closely related to
the contacts and distributions of internal liquid and vapor
ows.
The thermodynamic energy ef ciency of a conventional
distillation column can be de ned as

Wmin
Zcon
Figure 2. Schematic of a conventional distillation column. WLoss Wmin
Wmin

QREB 1 T0 =TREB QCOND 1 T0 =TCOND
Dissipation energy, WLoss, is the energy loss owing to Wmin
process irreversibility in the mass and heat transfer, pressure 5
QREB QCOND
distribution and remixing within a distillation column. It is
calculated as follows.
Figure 3(a) shows a McCabeThiele diagram for a conven-
WLoss T0 DS tional distillation column run at a certain re ux ratio

T T0 operating condition. As can be seen, the mass transfer
QREB 1 0 QCOND 1 driving force is unevenly distributed along the length of the
TREB TCOND
distillation column, with the smallest value at feed location
FHF T0 SF DHD T0 SD
and increasing gradually away from the feed location to
BHB T0 SB both ends of the distillation column. One can also imagine
that, even at the minimum re ux ratio operating condition,
T0 T0
QREB 1 QCOND 1 a great degree of irreversibility in mass transfer still exists
TREB TCOND
within a conventional distillation column. The uneven
Wmin 3 distribution of mass transfer driving force constitutes one
of the main reasons for the high degree of irreversibility in
Here, Wmin is the minimum energy required by a certain distillation process operation. It is therefore not dif cult to
separation and is determined by process operating condi- understand why effective arrangement of mass transfer
tions and product speci cations. driving force is so essential to the energy ef ciency of
Wmin DHD BHB FHF T0 DSD BSB FSF a distillation column. The equilibrium operation model of a
distillation column can be of great guidance to the design
DH T0 DS 4 of energy-ef cient distillation columns.

Figure 3. McCabeThiele diagrams for a conventional distillation column and an HIDiC. (a) Conventional distillation column, (b) HIDiC.

Trans IChemE, Vol 81, Part A, January 2003

 INTERNALLY HEAT-INTEGRATED DISTILLATION COLUMNS
DEVELOPMENT OF THE HIDiC WITH
HEAT-PUMP PRINCIPLES
A Theoretical Model of the HIDiC
Figure 4 shows a temperature-heat (T-H) diagram of a
conventional distillation column separating a benzene and
toluene binary mixture. The T-H diagram has been deve-
loped based on a thermodynamic equilibrium operation
within a distillation column (Naka et al., 1980; Dhole and
Linnhoff, 1993). It can indicate clearly heating and cooling
sections for a distillation column and thus guide internal
heat integration design. For a binary distillation column in
equilibrium operation, its rectifying section is a cooling
section and must release a certain amount of heat to the
environment. On the other hand, its stripping section is a
heating section and has to take in a certain amount of heat
from the environment. These two coherent properties
provide fundamentals for the consideration of internal heat
integration within a conventional distillation column. It is
therefore reasonable in process development to reuse the
heat available from the rectifying section to heat the strip-
ping section and approach more closely to a reversible
distillation operation in the meantime.
To achieve the internal heat integration between the
rectifying section and the stripping section, one has to
maintain enough temperature driving forces and this can
be realized through heat pumps. With the assumption of a
myriad of reversible heat pumps between corresponding
stages of the rectifying and the stripping sections, the
following equations can be obtained (Gokcen and Reddy,
1996).
TR
dQR 6 are divided into two different columns, while connected
TS dQS
T TR
dW S 7
TS dQS
Integration of these two equations, one can get
TF TB
dQR dQS
TC TR TF TS
TB
TS TR
W dQS QS QR
TF TS
Equation (9) is illustrated in Figure 4. One can readily
understand that, at appropriate operating conditions, distilla-
tion processes can become self-contained in heat utilization
Figure 4. T-H diagram of a conventional distillation column.
Trans IChemE, Vol 81, Part A, January 2003
165
and the separation can be driven only by shaft work. Neither
the condenser nor the reboiler appears necessary. Further-
more, the pressure elevation from the stripping section to the
rectifying section and feed thermal condition must be
determined carefully so as to satisfy equation (9). This
provides us with fundamentals and guidelines for the
development of a new model of internally heat-integrated
distillation columns, namely the HIDiC. Note that it also
helps with the synthesis and design of the decentralized
control systems for the HIDiC, as will be discussed below.
Re-examine Figure 3, one can see that internal heat
integration causes the operation curve of the HIDiC to be
exactly the same as the equilibrium one. With the same mass
transfer duty, the HIDiC apparently needs less driving force
than conventional distillation columns at the minimum
re ux ratio operating condition, hence being able to present
higher energy ef ciency in process operation.
An Approximation to the Theoretical
Model of the HIDiC
It is impossible to develop a HIDiC with its operating
curve exactly the same as the equilibrium one, because of
the in nite amount of xed investment, for instance, an
in nite number of compressors and stages. We, therefore,
have to create an approximate process con guration,
enabling it to still possess most of the merits of the
theoretical model of the HIDiC that is based on the
second law of thermodynamics (Nakaiwa et al., 1988a).
As is sketched in Figure 5, an approximated con guration
for the HIDiC has been created. It possesses a process
con guration whose stripping section and rectifying section
through many internal heat exchangers. To accomplish
internal heat transfer from the rectifying section to the
stripping section, the rectifying section is operated at a
higher pressure and a higher temperature than those of the
stripping section so as to guarantee the necessary driving
forces for the heat transfer from the rectifying section to the
8
stripping sections. To adjust the pressures only a compressor
and a throttling valve have to be installed between the two
sections, thus the investment can be drastically reduced
9
compared with the theoretical model of the HIDiC. Owing
to the internal heat integration, a certain amount of heat is
Figure 5. An approximate con guration for the HIDiC.
166 NAKAIWA et al.
transferred from the rectifying section to the stripping
section and generates the re ux ow for the rectifying
section and the vapor ow for the stripping section. Thus
the condenser or reboiler is, in principle, not needed and a
zero external re ux and reboil operation could be realized.
Moreover, as the overhead product is a relative high-
pressure vapor ow, it can be seen as a potential hot utility,
hence the process energy ef ciency could be further
improved if the heat content could be used effectively.
In Figure 3(b), one can also examine the operation curve
of the approximated HIDiC. It is now contracted and shifted
away from the equilibrium, but still takes a quite analogous
shape to the latter, thus ensuring that the approximated
HIDiC still has advantages in energy utilization over
conventional distillation columns.
Thermodynamic Analysis of the HIDiC
Here the superiority of the HIDiC in energy ef ciency
will be proved by virtue of the thermodynamic energy
ef ciency mentioned above. For the theoretical HIDiC,
Wmin
ZHIDiC
WLoss Wmin
Wmin
10
W QF 1 T0 =TF Q1 1 T0 =T1 stages. One can thus understand why the pressure differ-
Here, QF and Q1 are the feed preheating duty and latent heat
of the overhead product ow. In terms of the principle of the
HIDiC, one can readily understand that the following
inequalities are satis ed.
Q1 QF and T1 TF 11a
Yet the following relationships are generally held for distil-
lation processes:
W QS QR QREB QCOND QF 11b ities have been developed for the HIDiC so far. Although
Thus,
Wmin Wmin
ZHIDiC > Zcon 12 tion can be well illustrated.
W QREB QCOND
Per the above thermodynamic analysis, we can see that the
theoretical HIDiC is generally more energy-ef cient than its
conventional counterparts at its minimum re ux ratio oper-
ating condition. Takamatsu and Nakaiwa once analyzed the
HIDiC with the concept of available energy and demon-
strated that the HIDiC can outperform its conventional
counterparts in energy utilization in general operation
conditions (Takamatsu et al., 1997b).
In practical applications, however, it must be borne in
mind that equation (12) holds only under proper process
design. As shown in Figure 3(b), it is necessary to keep the
operating curve of the HIDiC in a certain place between the
equilibrium curve and the operating lines of a conventional
distillation column. Otherwise, the HIDiC would be more
expensive in either xed investment or operating cost and
not be competitive with its conventional counterparts. More-
over, even when equation (12) is satis ed, the fact that
electricity is generally several times more expensive than
heating steams should also be considered in process design.
This would restrict the operating curve of the HIDiC in a
further narrowed region between the equilibrium curve and
the operating lines of a conventional distillation column. It
is, therefore, necessary to check the economical feasibility
of the HIDiC in process design and development prior to the
detailed process development.
DESIGN PRINCIPLES OF THE HIDiC
It should be stressed here that there exist a number of
similarities between the HIDiC and conventional distillation
columns, although they look rather different in process
con gurations. Takamatsu and Nakaiwa (1997) systemati-
cally explored these similarities and emphasized particularly
the existence of two extreme operating conditions for the
HIDiC, namely, the maximum re ux ratio operating mode
and the minimum re ux ratio operating mode. These two
extreme operating conditions are both closely related to the
pressure difference between the rectifying and the stripping
sections, pr 7 ps. The minimum re ux ratio operation
corresponds to the situation where internal heat integration
between the rectifying and the stripping sections causes
operating curve to be tangent to the equilibrium one, thus
requiring an in nitive number of stages, i.e. the situation of
the theoretical model of the HIDiC. The maximum re ux
ratio operating operation is where internal heat integration is
so intensive that the operation curve is coincident with the
45 diagonal line, thus requiring a minimum number of
ence, pr 7 ps, appears to be a dominating variable for the
design of the HIDiC (Nakaiwa et al., 1998b). In terms of the
above analysis, a modi ed McCabeThiele design algorithm
has already been developed and found very effective in
process design and analysis (Takamatsu et al., 1997c).
MODELING THE HIDiC
Various kinds of process models with different complex-
they are used for different purposes, they can re ect the
general behaviors of the HIDiC. Here, a very simple model
is given below, where the principle of internal heat integra-
Vj1 yj1 Vj yj Lj1 xj1 Lj xj d j f Fzf 0
j 1; . . . ; n 13
yj yj Pj ; Tj ; xj j 1; . . . ; n 14
Qj Qjn=2 UATj Tjn=2
j 1; . . . ; n=2 15
Q
L1 1 16a
l1
Qj
Lj Lj1 Cj f Fq j 2; . . . ; n 16b
lj
Qn
Vn 17a
ln
Qj
Vnj Vnj1 Cf jF1 q
lj
j 1; . . . ; n 1 17b
In addition to being used in process design and operation
studies, one potential application of the process models is to
assist the process con guration development for the HIDiC.
Trans IChemE, Vol 81, Part A, January 2003
 INTERNALLY HEAT-INTEGRATED DISTILLATION COLUMNS 167

Because experimental-based development of process

con gurations is very expensive and time-consuming,
model-based development of process con gurations is thus
highly desired. This requires process models to be of great
reliability and accuracy and generally model validation
through experimentation must be carried out to achieve
these requirements. More work will be directed to this
problem in the future.

A WORKING EXAMPLE: SEPARATION OF A

BENZENE AND TOLUENE BINARY MIXTURE
Throughout this work, separation of a binary equimolar
mixture of benzene and toluene will be frequently selected Figure 6. Relationship between the total annual cost and the number of
as an illustrative example for the design, analysis and stages for a HIDiC and a conventional distillation column.
control of the HIDiC. Here, it is assumed that the overhead
product is withdrawn in its liquid state and the latent heat is
used to preheat the feed ow. For simpli cation, an equal process with 80 stages. Thus, the number of stages has
latent heat and a constant relative volatility between benzene drastically increased for the HIDiC over the conventional
and toluene have been assumed. The detailed operating distillation column. Together with the expenses for the
conditions, product speci cations and utility costs are set compressor, TAC for the HIDiC is more than that for the
out in Table 1. conventional distillation column by about 50%, demonstra-
ting the very high xed investment for the HIDiC.
In terms of the above optimum process designs, the
CONCEPTUAL PROCESS DESIGN payback time for the extra investment can be easily esti-
AND EVALUATIONS mated for the HIDiC. As can be seen from Table 2, the
HIDiC provides a 57.6% reduction in operating cost, but at
Conceptual design for a HIDiC and a conventional
an expense of 1.73 times more xed investment than its
distillation column has been conducted for the working
conventional counterpart. The payback time is then around
example and Figure 6 demonstrates the relationships
4 years and is slightly longer than that assumed for the
between the total annual cost (TAC) and the number of
conventional distillation column. However, we con dently
stages for the two processes (Nakaiwa et al., 2001a). Here,
expect that the payback time could generally be reduced to
TAC is the sum of operating cost and annual capital cost
less than 3 years for the HIDiC and this is due to the
(Douglas, 1988). Annual capital cost is assumed to be
following reasons: (1) an intermediate value for the overall
capital investment divided by a payback period of 3 years.
heat transfer coef cient, U 516.75 kcal m2 K1 h1, has
Because the installation of internal heat transfer area into the
been adopted in the calculation, which can actually be as
HIDiC is much more dif cult than that for conventional
large as, 826.79 kcal m2 K1 h1, according to our
distillation columns, it is reasonable to give extra penalties
previous pilot-scale experimental measurements; (2) the
to the cost estimation. In this calculation a penalty of 20% is
heat transfer area per stage is assumed to be A 5 m2 in
deliberately added to the corresponding cost. As can be
the calculation, which can be made even larger through
readily seen, the optimal design for the conventional distil-
development of more effective process con gurations for
lation column corresponds to a process with 40 stages. And,
the HIDiC (Nakaiwa et al., 2002); (3) the cost estimation for
similarly, the optimal design for the HIDiC results in a
the process equipments is made too conservative for the
HIDiC, due to process complexities and a shortage of
Table 1. Nominal steady-state operating conditions of the HIDiC. accurate and reliable prediction models. The expectation
was actually answered by the bench-scale plant experiment,
Items Values which will be introduced below. A payback time of 2.78
Pressure of rectifying section 0.2586MPa years was obtained. More research work will be conducted
Pressure of stripping section 0.1013MPa on the development of more effective process con gurations
Feed ow rate 300 kmol h1 so as to obtain a further reduced payback time.
Feed composition (benzene=toluene) 0.5=0.5 mol%
Feed thermal condition 0.5
Relative volatility (benzene=toluene) 2.4
Heat of vaporization 7000=7000kcal kmol1 Table 2. Economics of optimal steady-state design for a HIDiC and a
(benzene=toluene) conventional distillation column.
2 1 1
Overall heat transfer coef cient 516.75kcal m K h
Heat transfer area per stage 5.0 m2 Conventional
Overhead product 0.995 mol% Items HIDiC DiC Comparisons
composition (benzene)
6 5
Bottom product 0.005 mol% Capital investment 2.58 10 9.45 10 173%
composition (benzene) ($US)
Operating hours per year 8760 h Operating cost 3.03 105 7.14 105 57.6%
Cost of electricity 8.43 102 $ kW h1 ($US)
Cost of steams 3.03541 101 $ kmol1 Payback time (2.58 1069.45 105)=(7.14 1053.03 105)
Cost of cooling water 1.06239 103 $ kmol1 (year) 3.98

Trans IChemE, Vol 81, Part A, January 2003

168
Figure 7. In uences of operating conditions on the pro ts of the HIDiC and a conventional distillation column. (a) Feed ow rate, (b) feed composition.
As far as separation of other binary close-boiling
mixtures is concerned, the HIDiC can still offer much
higher energy ef ciency than conventional distillation
columns and the detailed number is closely dependent on
the binary mixtures processed (Nakaiwa, 1988).
PROCESS SENSITIVITY AND FLEXIBILITY ANALYSIS
Sensitivity Analysis
As chemical processes are often subjected to a changeable
operating condition due to the in uences of market needs
and price variations, it is therefore necessary to ascertain to
what degree the HIDiC can be tolerant to the variations from
its designated operating condition and still maintain a higher
energy ef ciency than conventional distillation columns.
Figure 7(a) illustrates comparison of the HIDiC with a
conventional distillation column, when both the end
products have been kept to their speci cations. The two
processes have been designed for the feed ow rate: F
100 kmol h1. J1 represents the operation pro t per hour of
the HIDiC and J3 that of the conventional distillation
column. The pro t is product value minus operating costs.
It is clearly demonstrated that the HIDiC is, within a certain
region, i.e. F 230 kmol h1, more economical than the
conventional distillation column. Beyond this region
the HIDiC loses its advantages in energy utilization, because
electricity is generally several times more expensive than
heating steam. As for the in uences of feed composition, the
HIDiC appears to always be more energy ef cient than its
conventional counterparts, as is shown in Figure 7(b),
although the energy ef ciency has experienced considerable
variation.
As far as the in uences of other design and operating
variables have been concerned, they may have strong effects
on the energy ef ciency of the HIDiC. Therefore, great
efforts should be spent in making the HIDiC as insensitive
as possible to operating condition variations in process
design and development (Nakaiwa et al., 2001b).
In uences of Impuriti es
Very often, the binary mixtures to be separated by the
HIDiC may contain a certain impurity or a third component,
although it is usually in a small amount. The presence of an
impurity or a third component, however, in uences the
energy ef ciency of the HIDiC, if no correct measure has
NAKAIWA et al.
been taken in process design. The reason is that process
heating and cooling sections have changed and they no longer
correspond exactly to the stripping and the rectifying sections.
Instead, the rectifying section can contain a heating section
and a cooling section simultaneously,and so can the stripping
section. To deal with these situations, con gurations of the
HIDiC should be modi ed accordingly based on detailed
thermodynamic analysis of the mixture to be separated. In
Figure 8 two potential con gurations are demonstrated. The
left process con guration is for the case where the boiling
temperature of the impurity or the third component is close to
that of the light component and the right one for the case
where the boiling temperature of the impurity or the third
component is close to that of the heavy component (Naka
et al., 1980; Naito et al., 2000a).
Flexibility Consideration
Although the HIDiC can be said to be self-contained in
heat utilization, adding a trim-condenser and trim-reboiler
can, however, enhance process operation exibility substan-
tially (Huang et al., 1997a, 2000a). Figure 9 shows a HIDiC
with a trim-condenser, and a trim-reboiler and its perfor-
mance in energy utilization is also illustrated in Figure 7,
where J2 stands for its operating pro t per hour. As can be
seen, J2 7 J3 goes upwards at a constant slope and no
in uence from the feed ow rate changes can be observed.
The reason for this is that, when the feed ow rate has
increased above the designated value, it is not economical to
obtain product separation by enhancing the pressure differ-
ence between the rectifying and the stripping sections,
pr 7 ps, through the compressor, because electricity is
generally several times more expensive than heating
steams. Instead, it is better to rely on the trim-condenser
Figure 8. Potential con gurations of the HIDiC for dealing with impurities.
Trans IChemE, Vol 81, Part A, January 2003
 INTERNALLY HEAT-INTEGRATED DISTILLATION COLUMNS
Figure 9. Adding a trim-condenser and a trim-reboiler enhances process
exibility for the HIDiC.
and trim-reboiler in this situation. This is why adding a trim-
condenser and a trim reboiler can facilitate the operation of
the HIDiC.
The trim-condenser and trim-reboiler help to increase the
applicability of the HIDiC to various chemical and petro-
chemical process systems. However, it should be noted here
that a certain loss in energy ef ciency of the HIDiC is
experienced. As has been demonstrated in both the diagrams
of Figure 7, J2 7 J3 is less than J1 7 J3 in most of the
preferred operating regions.
One minor modi cation made in Figure 9 is the feed
location arrangement. Instead of the total feed, only the
vapor portion is fed into the overhead of the stripping
section. The left liquid portion is fed into the bottom of
the rectifying section. This can reinforce mass transfer
within the HIDiC and thus improve process energy ef -
ciency, especially for those close-boiling binary mixture
separations.
PROCESS DYNAMICS AND OPERATION
Open-loop Process Stability
When applying internal heat integration to chemical
processes, it is better not to vary the original process
Figure 10. Transient responses of the HIDiC after 1% perturbations in pressure difference.
Trans IChemE, Vol 81, Part A, January 2003
169
dynamics drastically. In particular, it is important that the
resultant process should be maintained as open-loop stable
as possible. Otherwise, great efforts have to be spent on
process control of the resultant non-minimum phase system.
Even so, process performances can degrade considerably.
For the HIDiC, it has already been demonstrated by math-
ematical proof and numerical evaluations that the process is
still open-loop stable despite the introduction of internal
heat integration between the rectifying and the stripping
sections (Huang, 1995).
However, if we further add the heat integration between
the overhead product and the feed ows to the HIDiC, this
will turn the HIDiC into an open-loop integrating process
(Nakaiwa et al., 2002a), which is no longer open-loop
stable, as will be discussed, later. This will certainly cause
extra dif culties in process design and operation and lead
inevitably deterioration in control system performances.
Therefore, a judgment must be made on whether to achieve
the economics of internal heat integration at the expense of
control system performances or vice versa in the process
development.
Process Dynamics
One concern for applications of internal heat integration
is the complicated process dynamics that may be introduced.
It is therefore imperative to investigate if it really happens.
Figures 10 and 11 illustrate step responses of the HIDiC,
when the pressure difference between the rectifying and the
striping sections, pr 7 ps, and the feed thermal condition, q,
have been changed by 1% in both positive and negative
directions. Here, the transient responses of the light compo-
nent, benzene, are shown and y1 and xn are the overhead and
bottom product composition, respectively. It is readily to
see that the in uences of the feed thermal condition, q, to
the HIDiC appear to be much stronger than those of the
pressure difference, pr 7 ps.
An interesting phenomenon observed from the process
step responses is the two different time constants associated
with the pressure difference, pr 7 ps, and the feed thermal
condition, q (Huang, et al., 1996a). The feed thermal
conditions, q, is much longer than the pressure difference,
pr 7 ps. The higher the product speci cations become, the
more distinctive the difference between the two time
constants will be. When the pressure difference, pr 7 ps,
170 NAKAIWA et al.

Figure 11. Transient responses of the HIDiC after 1% perturbations in feed thermal condition.

becomes zero, it will be expected that only one time Process Operation
constant exists within the HIDiC. It should be stressed
It is impossible to run the HIDiC in the same way as its
here that designing the HIDiC with sharply different time
conventional counterparts because of the no-reboiler and no-
constants will be, to a certain degree, bene cial to the
condenser structure. It is therefore necessary to synthesize
process operation, because it can lead to less interaction in
speci c control systems for the HIDiC. Reconsidering
the dynamic state between the overhead and the bottom
equation (9), one may nd that the left side is the energy
control loops. In other words, the HIDiC with a high-
consumption of the compressor, which is closely related to
pressure difference would be more operation resilient than
the pressure difference between the rectifying and the
the one with a low-pressure difference. However, the former
stripping sections, pr 7 ps. The right side is the imbalance
must afford more energy consumption than the latter. There-
of heat loads between the rectifying and the stripping
fore, a careful tradeoff must be exercised between process
sections. Feed thermal condition, q, is the dominating
design economics and process operation.
variable to change this imbalance. As, for any separations,
The special dynamics of the HIDiC is closely related to
equation (9) must be satis ed, it is not dif cult to understand
the internal heat integration between the rectifying and the
that the pressure difference between the rectifying and the
stripping sections. It can be explained through the theory of
stripping sections, pr 7 ps, and feed thermal condition, q,
gain directionality. The feed thermal condition, q, is along
can potentially be manipulated variables for the process
the high gain direction, thus having a large process gain and
operation. A schematic diagram for a control con guration
a long time constant. However, the pressure difference
of the HIDiC is shown in Figure 12 and a typical response to
between the rectifying and the stripping section, pr 7 ps,
a 5% step change in feed composition is illustrated in
is in line with the low gain direction, thus having a small
Figure 13. It is easy to see that both the overhead and bottom
process gain and a short time constant.
products can be maintained accurately at their desired
According to the principle and operation characteristics
steady-state values. Extensive simulation studies have
of the HIDiC, it is reasonable to call the feed thermal
con rmed the feasibility of this control con guration as
condition, q, a variable for material balance control and
the pressure difference, pr 7 ps, a variable for energy
balance control. As the HIDiC is very sensitive to changes
in the feed thermal condition, q, it is imperative to tightly
tune the control system with the feed thermal condition, q,
as its manipulated variable. For example, a cascade control
system is a better choice than a single-loop control
system.

Process Startup
Owing to the no-reboiler and no-condenser structure, it is
impossible to start up the HIDiC by itself and it is therefore
necessary to carry out the operation by means of an external
trim-condenser and an external trim-reboiler. An effective
procedure for process startup was proposed recently (Huang
et al., 2000b). A very important step towards smooth process
startup is that the inverse heat transfer from the stripping
section to the rectifying sections must be avoided, otherwise,
there is a risk not only consumption of extra energy but also
of operation problems. Figure 12. A control strategy for the HIDiC.

Trans IChemE, Vol 81, Part A, January 2003

 INTERNALLY HEAT-INTEGRATED DISTILLATION COLUMNS
Figure 13. Responses of the HIDiC to a 5% feed composition change.
well as other alternatives (Huang et al., 1996b; Huang et al.,
1998; Nakaiwa et al., 1998b, 1999).
Process Design and Operation
As discussed earlier, it is sometimes necessary to
consider the interaction between process design economics
and process operation in order to guarantee enough resi-
lience for process operation. For the HIDiC, the symme-
trical characteristics between the rectifying and the
stripping sections intensify the interaction between the
overhead and bottom product control loops, signi cantly.
These include, for example, the same number of stages for
the rectifying and the stripping sections, the steady-state
value of the feed thermal condition, q, equaling 0.5, and the
product compositions satisfying: 1 7 y1 xn, etc. It is
sometimes bene cial to modify the process con guration
and Figure 14 demonstrates two alternative process designs
for the HIDiC. As can be seen, the symmetry between the
rectifying and the stripping sections has, to a certain extent,
been broken in these two processes. As a result, the
performances of process operations could be improved
Figure 14. Other potential con gurations of the HIDiC.
Trans IChemE, Vol 81, Part A, January 2003
171
substantially compared with the general process con gura-
tion as shown in Figure 5 (Huang et al., 1997b, c),
however, still at the expense of a certain degree of loss in
energy ef ciency.
BENCH-SCALE EXPERIMENTAL
EVALUATIONS OF THE HIDiC
Practical Applications of the HIDiC
Although the HIDiC appears to be very attractive for its
energy ef ciency, it poses great dif culties in nding an
effective con guration. Dif culties come from not only
the arrangement of adequate heat transfer area between the
rectifying section and the stripping section, but also the
possible degradation in mass transfer between vapor and
liquid phases, owing to, of course, the in uence of internal
heat integration. To seek an appropriate solution, we have
already developed and evaluated experimentally several
process con gurations for the HIDiC and obtained insight
into the associated problems (Nakanishi et al., 1999, 2000;
Nakanishi and Aso, 2001; Nakanishi et al., 2002b). As a
typical example, a concentric con guration will be intro-
duced here, which is very similar in structure to a single-
tube and single-shell heat exchanger (see Figure 15). The
tube side and shell side work as the rectifying and the
stripping sections, respectively, and they are both furnished
with packed distillation columns. The side area of the inner
tube works as the effective heat transfer area between the
rectifying and the stripping sections. The diameters of both
sections are arranged to change gradually along the height
of the distillation column so as to deal with changeable
vapor and liquid loads caused by the internal heat integra-
tion. A special design has been undertaken so as to
guarantee enough contact between vapor and liquid phases
in both sections, making them actually very different from
172
Figure 15. Layout for the bench-scale plant.
those in conventional packed distillation columns. Further
detailed discussions can be found elsewhere (Takamatsu
et al., 1998b, 1999).
It should be mentioned that the example shown here is by
no means the best con guration for the HIDiC. It is merely a
suitable one for the purpose of the bench-scale experimental
evaluation, as will be discussed in the next subsection.
For example, it has a very small feed ow rate,
F 3.28 kmol h1.
Layout of the Bench-scale Plant
A simpli ed layout of the bench-scale HIDiC is shown in
Figure 15. The plant is about 27 m in height and 0.254 m in
diameter. Feed is introduced to the process at a constant ow
rate and several temperature and pressure sensors are
installed along the length of the HIDiC. A trim-condenser
and a trim-reboiler have been af liated to the process, owing
to the necessity of process startup and exibility considera-
tion, as has been discussed earlier. The levels of the re ux
drum and the trim-reboiler are maintained by the overhead
and bottom product ows, respectively and the overhead and
bottom products are mixed together and then recycled back
to the feed tank (Naito et al., 2000b).
Figure 16. A typical re ux-free operation result of the bench-scale plant.
NAKAIWA et al.
Process Startup
During process startup the inverse heat transfer from the
stripping to the rectifying sections should be avoided, as has
been discussed above. To enhance the pressure difference
between the rectifying and the stripping sections as early as
possible, one needs to start the overhead trim-condenser at
the correct time later than the bottom trim-reboiler. Based on
a startup operation procedure, it was found that no special
dif culties were encountered during startup operation.
Generally speaking, around 10 h were needed for the process
to reach its normal steady state, although further reduction of
this time period seems to be possible (cf. Figure 16).
Steady-state Operation with External Re ux
Steady-state operations with external re ux were obtained
directly after startup operation. More than 100 h of contin-
uous operation have been performed and no special dif cul-
ties were encountered during a half year period of
experimental tests. The obtained results show that the process
can be operated very smoothly, like its conventional counter-
parts. It was these valuable results that gave us con dence to
perform external re ux-free operations, see below.
Steady-state Operation with No External Re ux
External re ux-free operation was achieved by reducing
the external re ux rate and increasing the pressure differ-
ence, pr 7 ps, between the rectifying and the stripping
sections, gradually. Figure 16 shows the responses of a
typical process operation. The operation style of the
bench-scale plant could be easily shifted to the re ux-free
mode from the startup period [Figure 16(a)]. The internal
heat integration between the rectifying and the stripping
sections could function as an ef cient means of generating
internal liquid and vapor ows [Figure 16(b)]. Figure 16(c)
illustrates the time history of the overhead and bottom
temperatures of the rectifying and the stripping sections,
respectively, demonstrating stable operation of the bench-
scale plant. Figure 17 shows the steady state heat and mass
balances for the bench-scale plant at the same conditions as
Trans IChemE, Vol 81, Part A, January 2003
 INTERNALLY HEAT-INTEGRATED DISTILLATION COLUMNS
Figure 17. Heat and mass balances for the bench-scale plant in a re ux-free
operating mode.
Table 3. Comparisons between the bench scale plant and a conventional
distillation column.
Energy
Items consumption (kW)
Conventional DiC (R 1.5) 43.1
HIDiC (R 0.0) 26.5
in Figure 16. It can be readily seen that the internal heat
integration between the rectifying and the stripping sections
plays a very important role in the process operation.
Energy Ef ciency of the HIDiC
Table 3 compares the operating costs of the HIDiC and a
conventional distillation column which is designed for the
same separation task. The comparisons clearly demonstrate
the advantages of the HIDiC. As can be seen, the HIDiC
without external re ux is more energy-ef cient than the
conventional distillation column by about 59.2%, con rming
that the HIDiC is really superior to its conventional counter-
parts in energy utilization (Naito et al., 2000c). This outcome
is in good agreement with that calculated in the conceptual
process design, as has been shown in Table 2. The small
discrepancy between the conceptual process design and
bench-scale plant experimentation is mainly due to the
facts that the bottom trim-reboiler is still in operation
within the bench-scale plant, and the relative costs of
electricity and heating steams used in the conceptual process
design. Furthermore, very different feed ow rates also
sharpen the deviation between these two calculation results.
AN INTENSIFIED HIDiC
As mentioned in the preceding section, the overhead
product of the HIDiC is a relative high-pressure vapor ow
and it can be reused as a potential hot utility for the feed
preheating, giving rise to a further intensi ed process con g-
uration, as shown in Figure 18. This process consumes, in
Trans IChemE, Vol 81, Part A, January 2003
173
Figure 18. Schematic representation of the intensi ed HIDiC.
Comparison fact, only shaft work in operation and it is why we sometimes
describe the HIDiC a self-contained process in heat utiliza-
100.0%
59.2%
tion, as mentioned in the preceding sections. In our research
work, it is called the intensi ed HIDiC.
Besides the internal heat integration between the recti-
fying and the stripping sections, now there exists another
heat integration between the overhead product and feed
ows within the intensi ed HIDiC. These two heat integra-
tions interact with each other and complexities in process
design and operation arise. It has been proven that this
process has actually a pole at the origin of the complex
plane and hence becomes an open-loop integrating process
(Nakaiwa et al., 2000). It is, therefore, impossible to design
the HIDiC as an open-loop stable process again and penal-
ties have to be paid in control system performance. This is
apparently the drawback introduced by the heat integration
between the overhead product and feed ows.
It is interesting to examine the effect of mass transfer delay
from the overhead of the HIDiC to the feed preheater, td. In
Figure 19, the transient responses of the intensi ed HIDiC are
depicted for three different values of td. As can be seen, even
reinforced with a large value of td, it cannot change the
process into an open-loop stable process. When td is small,
the interaction between the two heat integration designs,
namely that between the rectifying and the stripping sections
and that between the overhead product and feed ows,
becomes strong and consequently causes the process to
have a large process gain. The extreme case comes when
td 0, the dynamics for the feed thermal condition, q,
becomes a pure integrator and possesses the largest process
gain, therefore possibly bene ting process operation if the
feed thermal condition, q, has been adopted as a manipulated
variable. On the contrary, when td becomes large, the inter-
action is weak and causes the process to have a small process
gain, therefore possibly worsening process operation.
One defect of the heat integration between the overhead
product and feed ows is the introduction of coupling
between the feed thermal condition, q, and the pressure
174
Figure 19. Dynamic behavior of the intensi ed HIDiC.
difference between the rectifying and the stripping sections,
pr 7 ps. Although this kind of coupling appears to be very
weak, it does impose requirements for control system
synthesis and design.
To examine the process operation feasibility, we
investigated system performances with the same control
con guration as shown in Figure 12. A typical response to
a disturbance of 5% in feed composition is also shown in
Figure 13. It elucidates that the intensi ed HIDiC can still
be operated quite smoothly with the pressure difference
between the rectifying and the stripping sections, pr 7 ps,
and the feed thermal condition, q, although a certain degree
of deteriorated performance has been observed.
EXTENSIONS OF INTERNAL HEAT
INTEGRATION PRINCIPLES TO OTHER
DISTILLATION-RELATED PROCESSES
An Internally Heat-integrated
Batch Distillation Column
The principle of internal heat integration can also be
applied quite analogously to batch distillation columns.
Figure 20 shows a schematic of such an application,
where internal heat integration between rectifying section
and reboiler has been devised. Recently, Takamatsu et al.
(1998c) presented a systematic analysis for this process and
at the same time conducted comparative studies against
conventional batch distillation processes. It has been
Figure 20. Schematic of an internally heat-integrated batch distillation
column.
NAKAIWA et al.
demonstrated that the energy ef ciency could be improved
sharply compared with its conventional counterparts. This
could be attributed mainly to the much lower re ux ratio
than the minimum one and, as a result, higher distillate rate
of the overhead product.
Facilitating Pressure-swing Distil lation Processes
for the Separation of Binary Pressure-sensitive
Azeotropic Mixtures
Separation of binary pressure-sensitive azeotropic
mixtures through pressure-swing distillation (PSD)
processes can be facilitated with internal heat integration.
A PSD process is one of the simplest and yet most
economical techniques for separating binary azeotropes,
provided that the azeotropic composition is sensitive
enough to the changes in operating pressure. A PSD process
consists of two distillation columns. One is operated at a
relatively low pressure and temperature and the other at a
high pressure and temperature. By this pressure elevation,
the constraint imposed by the azeotropic point can be
avoided and pure components can be produced from the
high-pressure (HP) and low-pressure (LP) distillation
columns, respectively. The existence of HP and LP distilla-
tion columns also provides chances for consideration of
internal heat integration within PSD processes.
Figure 21 demonstrates a scheme for the separation of a
binary minimum azeotropic mixture, acetonitrile (ACN)
water system, with an internally heat-integrated PSD
Figure 21. Separation of binary pressure-sensitive azeotropes with an
internally heat-integrated PSD.
Trans IChemE, Vol 81, Part A, January 2003
 INTERNALLY HEAT-INTEGRATED DISTILLATION COLUMNS
process (Nakaiwa et al., 2001c). The rectifying section of
the HP distillation column provides heat to the stripping
section of the LP distillation column. Table 4 compares the
internally heat-integrated PSD process with its conventional
counterpart for three different scenarios. The three scenarios
differ only in feed composition, with their values being 0.05,
0.2 and 0.5, respectively. The comparison illustrates the
economic advantages brought about by the internal heat
integration within the PSD process. It results in reductions
in xed investment by more than 4%, but with almost no
in uence on the operating costs for scenarios 2 and 3. With
regard to scenario 1, extra investment should be expended,
resulting in a 9% reduction in operating costs. From Table 4,
it is reasonable to reach a conclusion that when the internal
circulation rate between the HP and LP distillation columns
is large (feed composition is large), the xed investment
could be reduced with internal heat integration, and when
the internal circulation rate is small (feed composition is
small), the operating cost could be reduced.
It should be mentioned here that the bene t of internal
heat integration is closely related to the mixture to be
processed. The azeotropic mixture of acetonitrilewater is
actually not a very appropriate system for studying internal
heat integration within PSD processes. According to the
optimum process design, the geometric average relative
volatility is more than 4.1 for the LP and 2.4 for the HP
distillation columns. These relatively large values make the
re ux ratios very small for both the LP and HP distillation
columns and consequently restrict the bene t that can be
obtained by internal heat integration. As internal heat
integration is generally more effective for close-boiling
mixture separations, it is therefore expected that internal
heat integration within PSD processes will be applied most
appropriately to such azeotropic mixture separations.
It is interesting to note that internal heat integration has
reduced the xed investment for scenarios 2 and 3. It is,
however, in great contrast to the common sense that
internal heat integration generally requires extra xed
investment for the reduction of operating costs. For scenar-
ios 2 and 3, the internal circulation rates between the HP
and LP distillation columns are relatively large, requiring,
therefore, large heating and cooling duties for both distilla-
tion columns. Internal heat integration reduces these duties
and hence the heat exchange area for all the condensers and
reboilers. In contrast, the internal heat exchange area
incorporated between the HP and the LP distillation
columns is much smaller than those reductions at all
reboilers and condensers, because of the large pressure
difference, and thus the high-temperature driving force
from the HP to the LP distillation columns. As heat
exchangers usually take a great portion of xed investment
Table 4. Reductions in heating loads and costs of internally heat-integrated
against conventional PSD processes.
Values
Items Scenario I Scenario II
Cooling duty load 21.5% 9.50%
Heating duty load 9.80% 8.60%
Fixed cost 9.60% 4.70%
Operating costs 7.80% 0.525%
Trans IChemE, Vol 81, Part A, January 2003
175
for distillation columns, it is not dif cult to understand why
the total xed investment has decreased after internal heat
integration.
Internal Heat Integrati on Between Different
Distillation Columns
Similar to the case of the PSD process discussed in the
last subsection, the internal heat integration principle can
also be applied to two distillation columns that may have no
connections at all. Provided it is feasible in both principle
and economics to consider internal heat integration between
the two different distillation columns concerned, it can
generally lead to more bene ts in either energy utilization
or xed investment than that based on condenserreboiler-
type heat integration con gurations. If one examines a
distillation train system, either the direct or the indirect
sequences, he will nd that there exist many opportunities to
consider this type of internal heat integration. It is
even considered to hold higher potential for applications
than the HIDiC.
PROSPECTS OF THE HIDiC AND
FUTURE RESEARCH
Commercialization of the HIDiC is set as the most
important objective for the second term of the research
project and it is now underway. The rst commercial
application is yet to appear. In order to extend the applica-
tions of the HIDiC to the separation of binary mixtures
having relatively large relative volatilities, schemes with
partial internal heat integration between the rectifying
section and the stripping section have also been under
development. Air separation has been targeted as one of
the potential application processes for the HIDiC, which has
been considered to offer large energy savings by internal
heat integration (Agrawal and Yee, 1994; Nakaiwa et al.,
1996). An HIDiC with plate n internals will also be
investigated and evaluated in the future (Egoshi et al.,
2001; Kawakami, 2001).
Separation of multi-component mixtures is usually much
more energy-consuming than that of binary mixtures and
higher potentials of energy savings can thus be expected if
an effective multi-component HIDiC can be developed. It is
set as the second most important objective for the second
term of the research project. Thermodynamic analysis of
multi-component mixture separation indicates that a very
complicated con guration is necessary if equilibrium opera-
tion has been required, making its industrial approximation
an extremely challenging problem (Fonyo, 1974a,b; Petlyuk
et al., 1965; Fidkowski and Krolikowski, 1987). Great
efforts will be paid to solving this problem and the aromatics
process has been designated as one of the potential applica-
tion processes.
Another important future research task is the development
Scenario III
of more appropriate con gurations for the HIDiC. These
9.10% include, for example, multi-tube and multi-shell as well as
8.10% plate-type HIDiC (Nakanishi, 20002). The former can
4.10%
0.405%
provide more internal heat transfer area and the latter
represents a major type of distillation columns.
176 NAKAIWA et al.

CONCLUSIONS Q heat load, kJ

R re ux ratio
An HIDiC has been developed through effectively S entropy, kJ K1
applying heat pump principles to conventional distillation T temperature, K
t time, h
columns. In contrast to other heat pump-assisted distillation U overall heat transfer coef cient, kJ (m2 K h)1
columns, this process involves internal heat integration bet- V vapor ow rate, kmol s1
ween the whole rectifying and the stripping sections and W shaft work, kJ
thus possesses high potential for energy savings. It has been WLoss dissipation energy, kJ
proved from both thermodynamics and bench-scale experi- Wmin minimum energy, kJ
x mole fraction of liquid
mental evaluations that it holds much higher energy ef - y mole fraction of vapor
ciency than conventional distillation columns for those zf feed composition
close-boiling binary mixture separations. Simulation studies
and experimental evaluations have further con rmed that the Greek Symbols
process can be operated very smoothly, with no special td mass ow delay from overhead to feed preheating, h
dif culties found as yet. Z ef ciency
d Kronecker function
A number of important issues must be considered during C unit step function
the HIDiC design, for example, exibilities to operating l latent heat, kJ=kmol
condition changes, in uences of an impurity or a third D perturbations in variables
component, and process dynamics and operation. They
impose strict constraints on the energy ef ciency that can Subscripts
be achieved potentially by the HIDiC. Therefore, trade-off B bottom
con conventional
between process design economics and process operation COND condenser
appears to be very important and has to be carried out with D distillate
great caution. F feed
Practical development of the HIDiC has gained great R rectifying section
REB reboiler
progress. In the meantime, several con gurations for the S stripping section
HIDiC have been developed and investigated up to now. The 0 environment
rst commercial application of the HIDiC will appear in 1 top stage of HIDiC
the next few years. In the meantime, more attention will be j stage index
paid to the development of multi-tube and multi-shell and n bottom stage of HIDiC
plate-type HIDiCs.
By applying the same principle of internal heat integra-
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
A part of this work was nancially supported by the New-Energy and
Industry Technology Development Organization (NEDO). K. Huang is
grateful to the nancial support from the Japan Science and Technology
(JST) Corporation under the frame of Core Research and Evolutional
Science and Technology (CREST).
The paper was presented at the International Conference on Distillation
and Absorption held in Baden-Baden, Germany, 30 September2 October
2002. The paper was received 8 July 2002 and accepted for publication
after revision 20 November 2002.