Control of Heat Integrated Pressure-Swing-Distillation Process for Separating Azeotropic Mixture of Tetrahydrofuran and Methanol

Dynamic control of a pressure-swing-distillation process for separation of azeotropic mixture of tetrahydrofuran and methanol is explored. The pressure-swing-distillation processes involved with no, partial, and full heat integration are simulated using Aspen Plus Dynamics. The influences of the selection of the sensitive temperature stage in the low-pressure column on the dynamic responses in the pressure-swing distillation with different heat integration were investigated. The results indicate that a suitable temperature control stage in the low-pressure column is crucial to achieve efficient control of the process. In addition, more time is needed to reach the quality specifications under feed disturbances for both components when heat integration is added in the distillation sequence.