Mathematical Model of Rectification Process and Selection of the Separation Sequence for Multicomponent Mixtures

Abstract: Based on the equations of thermodynamic balances, a model of a stationary non-equilibrium distillation process is proposed. It is shown that the heat consumption for any given efficiency of a distillation column depends monotonically on the parameters of the reversible distillation. Using this result, the authors propose an algorithm for choosing the optimal separation sequence for a system of several columns used for multicomponent distillation process; this algorithm is based on the criterion of the minimum of the total energy consumption with the use of the coefficient of thermal efficiency which depends on the still and dephlegmator temperatures. The algorithm for calculating the coefficient of thermal efficiency in the mixture fractionation process is proposed. © 2021, Pleiades Publishing, Ltd.