Homogeneous azeotropic distillation in an energy- and mass-integrated pressure swing column system

The separation of a homogeneous azeotropic mixture using the pressure swing distillation process is insufficient researched and therefore industrial applications are limited. The process performance of a heat- and mass-integrated pressure swing distillation column system to separate an acetonitril/water mixture is analysed in the scope of this paper. Different control structures are developed and compared by using a rigorous dynamic model written in gProms(R). The disturbance performance of the process is analysed especially for changes in feed concentration and feed flow rate. Remarkable is the robust process operability by changes of the feed concentration from one distillation region to the other region. The robust process performance of the pressure swing distillation column system relative to feed disturbance is demonstrated.