Research progress of cyclic distillation technology

Under the carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals, process intensification is one of the key technologies for achieving green production. Cyclic distillation, a new distillation technology based on the process intensification theory, utilizes specific tower internals and control schemes to change the flow mode of gas and liquid phase in the traditional distillation column and achieves periodic separate phase movement (SPM) of gas and liquid phases, offering advantages such as high processing capacity, low energy consumption, and excellent separation performance. Compared with traditional distillation operations, the Murphree efficiency of cyclic distillation technology can be increased to 140%—300%, and energy consumption can be reduced by 20%—30%. This article provided a brief overview of the research of background, working principle, industrial applications, and two special trays (Maleta tray and COPS tray) of cyclic distillation technology. The paper summarized the control methods and tower internals of cyclic distillation columns and proposed the prospective development of cyclic distillation technology. © 2024 Chemical Industry Press Co., Ltd.. All rights reserved.