Heat pump assisted distillation. VIII: Design of a system for separating ethanol and water

A heat pump assisted distillation system has been designed for the separation of ethanol from 7 per cent aqueous mixtures to produce 93 per cent ethanol by weight. The distillation column has been designed on the basis of conventional design procedures. Valve trays were chosen to provide operational flexibility. R114 was chosen as the working fluid for the mechanical vapour compression heat pump. The heat pump system has been designed to match the heat loads determined for the column. Auxiliary heat exchangers have been provided to aid flexibility and control of column operation.