Research advances in thermally coupled intensification technology for special distillation

In the production and separation process of petroleum， medicine， chemical industry and other industries， it is often accompanied by the production of azeotropic or similar boiling point mixtures. Its high-efficiency and energy-saving separation is a prerequisite for industrial clean production and sustainable development. Special distillation as an effective separation method attracts substantial attention from researchers. However, special distillation is a process with high-energy consumption. Therefore, the development of intensification technology for special distillation with low costs and reliable performance is of great significance for the economy and energy sustainable development. According to the heat and mass transfer laws of special distillation, this work introduces the research advances of thermally coupled distillation, dividing wall column, side-stream distillation, organic Rankine cycle, heat pump and different pressure thermally coupled technologies in energy saving special distillation process from the intensification principles and retrofitting technologies. In addition, this work outlines the challenge and opportunity of intensification technology to provide references of the theoretical research and application to special distillation.