分壁精馏塔分离芳烃的稳态及动态研究

采用分壁精馏塔（DWC）严格稳态模型,对比苯、甲苯、二甲苯以及均三甲苯四组分混合物的常规分离和分壁精馏塔分离方法,稳态分析结果表明：直接序列分壁精馏塔流程较常规三塔分离序列可减小再沸器负荷18.9%,年度总成本TAC可降低13.0%,DWC有效避免了常规塔器分离过程中中间组分的返混现象。在Aspen Dynamic环境下对最优序列进行组分控制,结果表明组分控制可很好地应对进料流量和组分组成波动。     

Internal configurations for a multi-product dividing wall column

This paper addresses possibilities and peculiarities associated with establishing the most beneficial internal configuration of a complex dividing wall column (DWC), using as a base case the separation of a multicomponent aromatics mixture into four or five product streams. As expected, the V_min-diagram method proved to be an appropriate tool in such a study, as a means for identifying and assessing promising configurations and at the same time to provide the necessary inputs and reliable initial guesses for detailed simulation-based determination of energy and stage requirements. A new, energy efficient two-top product configuration is introduced that appears to be an interesting option for a four-product DWC.     

Control and optimization of the divided wall column

The divided wall column (DWC) is, in terms of capital costs and energy savings, a promising alternative for separating ternary mixtures. Since its design was proposed, almost 50 years ago, many authors have addressed design considerations. Operation and control of the DWC have received much less attention. However, some works have been published recently. Preliminary results reported indicate that feedback diagonal control structures may be used to control the DWC. In this work, the study of feedback diagonal control strategies has been further extended to consider the DWC control design in detail. Different control structures have been systematically analyzed and compared under performance and robustness considerations. In order to study the effect of the energy optimization on the controllability of the DWC, a column at optimal nominal operating conditions is compared to a column under non-optimal operation. Finally, a complete control strategy is proposed. Linear analysis tools are used for the multiple input multiple output (MIMO) feedback control analysis, and simulations using a non-linear model are performed to study the non-linear behavior of the control systems.     

分壁式精馏塔精制丁二烯流程模拟

丁二烯是一种重要的石油化工烯烃原料,由于其生产过程能耗高,因此节能降耗成为丁二烯生产工艺的研究热点。利用Aspen Plus模拟软件对丁二烯精制工艺的两套流程进行了模拟研究,考察了分壁式精馏塔(DWC)中内部互连物流连接位置、预分离塔气液相流量和回流比对分离效果和热负荷的影响,对比了相同分离条件下DWC分离流程和传统顺序分离流程的能耗,并根据两套分离流程中塔内液相丁二烯浓度分布情况,分析DWC的节能原因。结果表明,当主塔理论板数105,预分离塔理论板数56,进入预分离塔气相流量1020kmol/h,液相流量890kmol/h,回流比7800时,DWC分离效果最好,丁二烯质量分数可达99.7%,这为DWC精制丁二烯工艺的工业化提供了理论依据。由于DWC有效减少了精馏过程中的返混效应,提高了能量利用率,使其冷凝器可节能29.36%,再沸器可节能29.19%,存在明显的节能优势。     

隔板塔共沸精馏分离二氯甲烷-乙腈-水-硅醚体系

以二氯甲烷-乙腈-水-硅醚为分离体系,采用自制隔板塔小试装置,研究了共沸剂回流比和液相分配比等操作参数对隔板塔分离效果的影响。实验结果表明,当气相分配比R_v为0.5,共沸剂回流比为3时,液相分配比R_l在[0.12,0.2]范围内,隔板塔分离效果较好。在实验的基础上,采用Aspen Plus软件对隔板塔共沸精馏工艺进行模拟,考察了隔板塔共沸精馏工艺最佳操作区域及节能效果。模拟结果表明,特定分离要求下,隔板塔存在一个使再沸器热负荷最小的最佳操作区域,在此最佳操作区域内,R_l和R_v相互关联,呈一一对应关系;与三塔串联简单精馏工艺相比,完成相同的分离任务,隔板塔共沸精馏工艺再沸器节能32.74%,冷凝器热负荷减少33.70%,乙腈回收率由66.47%提高到96.01%,且大幅降低设备投资。     

A control perspective on process intensification in dividing-wall columns

During the last decades, process intensification led to major developments also in separation technology. Particularly in distillation, dividing-wall column (DWC) is the next best thing as it allows significant energy savings combined with reduced investment costs. However, in spite of these clear advantages and the steady increase of DWC applications, the spreading of DWC at industrial scale is still limited to only a few companies. One of the major reasons for this status quo is the insufficient insight with regard to the operation and control of a DWC - this lack of knowledge making most chemical companies reticent to large-scale implementations. This study gives an overview of the available control strategies for DWC, varying from the classic three-point control structure and PID controllers in a multi-loop framework to model predictive control (MPC) and other advanced control strategies (LQG, LSDP, H_∞ and μ-synthesis). The previous studies prove that the DWC is not difficult to control providing that an appropriate control structure is selected. The available results show that MIMO controllers perform better than multi-loop PID controllers. However, among the decentralized multivariable PI structured controllers, LSV and DSV are the best control structures being able to handle persistent disturbances in reasonably short times. All things considered, this study clearly concludes that the DWC controllability is only perceived as a problem, but in fact there are no real solid grounds for concern.     

减少气相耦合流股隔板塔的严格模拟研究

隔板塔虽然有显著的节能优势,但因在操作中无法控制和调节气相分割比这一重要参数,其工业应用受到了限制。为此Agrawal等提出了隔板塔的改进流程,通过增加塔段和冷凝器或者再沸器,有效避免了因气相分割比导致的局限性。Agrawal等仅用简捷法分析证明了几种新的结构和原隔板塔是等价的。用Aspen Plus软件,选用不同物系,对改进型隔板塔流程和原流程进行了严格模拟和比较,证实了改进流程和原流程的等效性。同时给出多种改进流程的塔径设计计算结果,对改进的隔板塔实际设计可行性进行了讨论。     

Application of the dividing wall column to olefin separation in fluidization methanol to propylene (FMTP) process

Dividing wall column (DWC) is shown to be energy efficient compared to conventional column sequence for multi components separation, which is used for olefin separation in fluidization methanol to propylene process in the present work. Detailed design for pilot DWC was performed and five control structures, i.e. composition control (CC), temperature control (TC), composition-temperature control (CC-TC), temperature difference control (TDC), double temperature difference control (DTDC) were proposed to circumvent feed disturbance. Sensitivity analysis and singular value decomposition (SVD) were used as criterion to select the controlled temperature locations in TC, CC-TC, TDC and DTDC control loops. The steady simulation result demonstrates that 25.7％and 30.2％duty can be saved for condenser and reboiler by substituting conventional column sequence with DWC, respectively. As for control structure selection, TC and TDC perform better than other three control schemes with smal er maximum deviation and shorter settling time.     

Composition control and temperature inferential control of dividing wall column based on model predictive control and PI strategies

The dividing wall column (DWC) is considered as a major breakthrough in distillation technology and has good prospect of industrialization. Model predictive control (MPC) is an advanced control strategy that has acquired extensive applications in various industries. In this study, MPC is applied to the process for separating ethanol, n-propanol, and n-butanol ternary mixture in a fully thermally coupled DWC. Both composition control and temperature inferential control are considered. The multiobjective genetic algorithm function “gamultiobj” in Matlab is used for the weight tuning of MPC. Comparisons are made between the control performances of MPC and PI strategies. Simulation results show that although both MPC and PI schemes can stabilize the DWC in case of feed disturbances, MPC generally behaves better than the PI strategy for both composition control and temperature inferential control, resulting in a more stable and superior performance with lower values of integral of squared error (ISE).     

Analysis of different control possibilities for the divided wall column: feedback diagonal and dynamic matrix control

This work addresses the control of the divided wall column (DWC) as a basic issue to be considered when this kind of distillation arrangement is used to take profit of its potential to reduce energy consumption. Different control structures of diagonal feedback control are compared using multiple input multiple output (MIMO) linear analysis tools in the frequency domain. A controllability analysis of the process is done for the separation of different mixtures and for different operating conditions, including optimal operation. As a result, it is seen that a trade off appears between energy minimisation and controllability. As an alternative, application of dynamic matrix control (DMC) to the DWC is also evaluated. Through simulation, the ability of DMC for disturbance rejection and setpoint tracking is studied and compared with that of the feedback diagonal control. Important limitations of using DMC for the composition control of the DWC are finally highlighted.     

三元混合物分壁塔精馏分离的研究

提出了甲醇-乙醇-正丙醇三元混合物分壁塔精馏分离的新工艺。通过模拟和灵敏度分析,考察了分壁塔的进料位置、隔板位置、液体分配比、回流比等工艺参数对分离效果的影响,确定了分壁塔的最佳操作条件,并对分壁塔的能耗进行了分析。结果表明,单个分壁塔能达到常规三元混合物分离的要求,并且比常规精馏流程的分离过程节能约30%。     

Energy conserving effects of dividing wall column☆

The energy-conserving performance of dividing wal column (DWC) is discussed in this paper. The heat transfer through the dividing wall is considered and the results are compared with that of common heat insulation dividing wall column (HIDWC). Based on the thermodynamic analysis of heat transfer dividing wall column (HTDWC) and HIDWC, both computer simulation and experiments are employed to analyze the energy-conserving situation. Mixtures of n-hexane, n-heptane and n-octane are chosen as the example for separation. The results show that the energy consumption of HTDWC is 50.3%less than that of conventional distillation column, while it is 46.4% less than that of HIDWC. It indicates that DWC is efficient on separating three-component mixtures and HTDWC can save more energy than HIDWC. Thus it is necessary to consider the heat transfer while applying DWC to industry.     

Control structure comparison for three-product Petlyuk column

The focus of this paper is to investigate different control structures (single-loop PI control) for a dividing wall (Petlyuk) column for separating ethanol, n-propanol and n-butanol. Four control structures are studied. All the results are simulations based on Aspen Plus. Control structure 1 (CS1) is stabilizing control structure with only temperature controllers. CS2, CS3 and CS4, containing also composition controllers, are introduced to reduce the steady state composition deviations. CS2 adds a distillate composition controller (CCDB) on top of CS1. CS3 is much more complicated with three temperature-composition cascade controllers and in addition a selector to the reboiler duty to control the maximum controller output of light impurity composition control in side stream and bottom impurity control in the prefractionator. CS4 adds another high selector to control the light impurity in the sidestream. Surprisingly, when considering the dynamic and even steady state performance of the proposed control structures, CS1 proves to be the best control structure to handle feed disturbances inserted into the three-product Petlyuk column.     

Experimental study and CFD numerical simulation of an innovative vapor splitter in dividing wall column

The vapor split ratio (R_V) adjustment plays an important role on energy efficiency during dividing wall column (DWC) operation. In order to achieve active control of R_V, this aticle presents an innovative vapor splitter driven by hydraulics. The vapor flows into main tower from prefractionation section through the rectangle hole located at the end of the partition. Vapor splitting is implemented by the change of flow resistance at the rectangular hole caused by adjusting the liquid level on the bottom plate. This design makes full use of the hydraulic properties in DWC, employing simpler construction with single tunable parameter. Numerical simulations and laboratory tests were both carried out to validate its performance in the DWC with a diameter of 600 mm. The results demonstrate that the desired R_V can be handled effectively in the approximate range from 0.5 to 2, basically satisfying the industrial demand for the gas distribution.     

Study of the structural characteristics of a divided wall column using the sloppy distillation arrangement

An efficient design method is proposed for determining the optimal design structure of a dividing wall column (DWC). The internal section of the DWC is divided into four separate sections and matched to the sloppy arrangement with three conventional simple columns. The light and heavy key component mole-fractions are used as the design variables in each column. The structure that gives superior energy efficiency in the shortcut sloppy case also brings superior energy efficiency in the DWC, while the optimal internal flow distribution of the DWC is different from that obtained from the sloppy configuration. Based upon an extensive simulation study, a two-step approach is proposed for the DWC design: the optimal DWC structure is first determined by applying the shortcut method to the sloppy configuration; the optimal internal flow distribution is then found from the corresponding DWC configuration. The simulation study shows that the DWC designed by the proposed method gives a near-optimal structure.     

Design,optimization, and control of reactive distillation column for the synthesis of tert-amyl ethyl ether

The temperature–composition cascade strategy was proposed to control the reactive distillation (RD) process for the synthesis of tert-amyl ethyl ether. Aspen Split tool was adopted to obtain the design parameters of the column from the viewpoint of separating tert-amyl alcohol, ethanol, and water. The proposed procedure which included optimization and sensitivity analysis was implemented to optimize the design parameters of the column and obtain the sensitive variables simultaneously, without requirement to run various simulations. In those optimized conditions, the proposed control strategy was introduced to manage the RD process by changing the sensitive variables. From results of the dynamic simulation, it can be known that the proposed strategy was able to handle disturbances while maintain the tert-amyl ethyl ether product purity and quickly reach the steady state. Therefore, the proposed control strategy was regarded as the effective control structure and could successfully control this RD system.     

Design and control of energy-efficient distillation columns

Distillation is the best option for the separation of hydrocarbon mixtures, unless the boiling points of the constituents are close together. Despite being widely utilized in field applications, the high energy demand of distillation calls for efficient columns in order to save energy. The efficient divided wall column (DWC), diabatic distillation column, and internally heat-integrated distillation column (HIDiC) are introduced here, and the design and control of the columns are briefly reviewed. The practical applications of the columns in the processes of natural gas production from raw gas drawn from underground and benzene separation from naphtha reformate are presented to show the energy-saving performance of the energy-efficient distillation columns. The side-rectifier DWC reduced the heating duty of the conventional system by 5.9%, and provided a compact construction, replacing the three-column conventional system with a single column suitable for offshore application. Moreover, the controllability of DWC was improved by utilizing the side-rectifier. The benzene removal process utilizing the extended DWC lowered the heating duty of the whole conventional process by 56.8%.     

隔壁式空分精馏塔应用性能研究

为了降低空气低温分离过程的设备投资和能耗,在分析空分体系的热力学性质及流程特点的基础上,提出了一种新型的隔壁式空分精馏塔流程。应用Aspen Plus模拟软件,对空气分离的传统流程和隔壁塔流程进行了模拟对比,考察了隔壁式空分精馏塔各结构参数与操作参数对其年总成本的影响,并分析比较了空分传统流程和隔壁式空分精馏塔流程的热力学效率。结果表明,隔壁式空分精馏塔的建模合理可行,通过年总成本优化得到了该隔壁塔的最优结构参数与操作参数,分别为:液氧流量为3 kmol/h,气相分配比(体积比)为0.05,精馏段理论板数为33,侧线精馏段理论板数为30,公共提馏段理论板数为22。与传统空分流程相比,隔壁式空分精馏塔流程的有效能损失降低并且在热力学效率方面高出4.7%。     

Dynamic optimization of a dividing-wall column using model predictive control

Dividing-wall column (DWC) is one of the best examples of process intensification, as it can bring significant reduction in the capital invested as well as savings in the operating costs. Conventional ternary separations progressed from the (in-)direct sequences to thermally coupled columns such as Petlyuk configuration, and later to the DWC compact design that integrates the two distillation columns into a single shell. Nevertheless, this integration leads also to changes in the control and operating mode due to the higher number of degrees of freedom.In this work we explore the dynamic optimization and advanced control strategies based on model predictive control (MPC), coupled or not with PID. These structures were enhanced by adding an extra loop controlling the heavy component in the top of the feed side of the column, using the liquid split as manipulated variable, thus implicitly achieving energy minimization. To allow a fair comparison with previously published references, this work considers as a case-study the industrially relevant separation of the mixture benzene–toluene–xylene (BTX) in a DWC.The results show that MPC leads to a significant increase in performance, as compared to previously reported conventional PID controllers within a multi-loop framework. Moreover, the optimization employed by the MPC efficiently accommodates the goal of minimum energy requirements – possible due to the addition of an extra loop – in a transient state. The practical benefits of coupling MPC with PID controllers are also clearly demonstrated.     

Intensified process for aromatics separation powered by Kaibel and dividing-wall columns

Process intensification in distillation led to major developments, such as reactive distillation, heat-integrated distillation, cyclic distillation, as well as Kaibel and dividing-wall column. Still, the separation of aromatics at industrial scale is carried out typically in a series of conventional distillation columns, with severe penalties on the associated plant footprint, investment and operating costs. To solve this problem, this study investigates novel separation alternatives powered by dividing-wall column (DWC) and Kaibel distillation column. The new sequences using process intensification are able to separate five products (lights, benzene, toluene, xylene and heavies) at high purity levels, in only two distillation columns.AspenTech Aspen Plus^® was used as a computer aided process engineering tool to perform the rigorous simulation and optimization of the new separation alternatives, applied to a simplified industrial case study. In order to allow a fair comparison, all design alternatives were optimized using the sequential quadratic programming (SQP) method.Notably, the novel design with two consecutive DWC units reduces the energy demand by 14%, while the alternative combining a conventional stripper with a Kaibel column leads to over 17% energy savings as compared to the conventional direct distillation sequence. Moreover, the new separation schemes require less equipment and a reduced plant footprint.