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International audience; There is rich literature on the separation of binary azeotropic mixtures, whereas few studies exist on the separation of biazeotropic ternary mixtures. In this work, we propose a systematic approach for energy-efficient extractive distillation processes for the separation of a biazeotropic mixture that involves thermodynamic insights via residue curve maps and the univolatility line to find the optimal entrainer and operating pressure, global optimization based on a proposed two-step optimization procedure, and double-effect heat integration to achieve further saving of energy consumption. An energy-saving reduced-pressure extractive distillation (RPED) with a heat integration flowsheet is then proposed to achieve the minimum total annual cost (TAC). The results show that the TAC, energy consumption, and exergy loss of the proposed RPED with heat integration are reduced by 75.2%, 80.5%, and 85.8% compared with literature designs.

Designing a sustainable and economical distillation system is a big global challenge in the industrial chemical field. To address this issue, one of most promising solutions is the so-called dividing wall columns addressed in this work, which not only can cut energy cost but also use limited installation space. An improved shortcut design approach is developed in this work to provide accurate models for each section of dividing wall columns; meanwhile Underwood’s and Gilliland’s equations are employed to determine minimum reflux ratio and total number of stages in different column sections in terms of corresponding design specifications and operating conditions. This proposed approach has been applied to separations of mixtures of hydrocarbons and alcohol with different values on the ease of separation index. To test its effectiveness, the preliminary design parameters obtained through the improved proposed shortcut method are further validated by a rigorous simulation in Aspen HYSYS. Furthermore, the results indicate that this method could provide much more accuracy of average interconnecting stream composition of the prefractionator and main column than those of other methods. In practice, this method has been applied to a case of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) separation with three targeted products in an industrial liquefied petroleum gas plant. The applications and efficiency of the shortcut method in this study lay a theoretical foundation for designing the separation of ideal mixtures involving dividing wall columns.

International audience; The phase behavior of the methanol–palm oil system was first experimentally assessed in the temperature range of 363–393 K and pressure range of 1–4 MPa. Second, comparative modeling of the phase equilibrium of the methanol–tripalmitin system was performed using the Peng–Robinson equation of state (PR EoS) with second-order modified Huron–Vidal (MHV2) mixing rules, in combination with the universal functional activity coefficient model (UNIFAC) and the universal quasi-chemical (UNIQUAC) excess Gibbs free-energy model. The agreement between experimental and modeling results was found to be satisfactory when MHV2 mixing rules are used in combination with the UNIQUAC model. Finally, the thermodynamic model was applied to predict fluid phase equilibria of palm oil transesterification with supercritical methanol. From the isochoric method in the temperature range of 373–693 K and the pressure range of 1–16 MPa, the model was found to predict global mixture behavior.

International audience; Dividing wall columns (DWCs), as a subset of fully thermally coupled distillation systems (FTCDS), is considered as one of most appealing distillation technologies to the chemical industry, because it can bring about substantial reduction in the capital investment, as well as savings in the operating costs. This study targets on how to improve the energy efficiency of DWCs by achieving their well-designed feasible parameters. Two methods are applied to study the effect of liquid and vapor split ratios including a shortcut method and a method of systematic calculations by using differential equation profiles. In the latter approach, differential composition profiles in each column section are obtained by considering feasible key design parameters. The finding of pinch points for each section profiles allowed determining the limiting values of the operating parameters. The intersections of these profiles are used to get well-designed feasible parameters of the liquid and vapor split ratios in an attempt to obtain the desired purities of the top, bottom, and side-stream products. The obtained parameters are validated by rigorous simulations. Three types of case studies involve the separation of hydrocarbons (n-pentane, n-hexane, n-heptane), aromatics (benzene, toluene, p-xylene), and alcohols (ethanol, propanol, butanol).

International audience; This work aims to study the adsorption of phenol on activated carbons (ACs) and the consecutive in situ regeneration of carbon by Fenton oxidation. Two different operations have been carried out: (1) a batch procedure in order to investigate the influence of Fe2+ and H2O2 concentrations; (2) continuous fixed bed adsorption, followed by a batch circulation of the Fenton’s reagent through the saturated AC bed, to examine the efficiency of the real process. Two different activated carbons have been also studied: a both micro- and mesoporous AC (L27) and an only microporous one (S23). In the batch reactor the best conditions found for pollutant mineralization in the homogeneous Fenton system are not the best for AC regeneration: a continuous reduction of adsorption capacity of L27 is observed after 3 oxidations, due to the decrease of both AC weight and surface area. Higher concentration of Fe2+ and lower concentration of H2O2 (2 times the stoichiometry) lead to a 50% recovery of the initial adsorption capacity during at least four consecutive cycles for L27, while about 20% or less for S23. In the consecutive continuous adsorption/batch Fenton oxidation process, the regeneration efficiency reaches 30−40% for L27 after two cycles whatever the feed concentration and less than 10% for S23. A photo-Fenton test performed on L27 shows almost complete mineralization (contrary to “dark” Fenton) and further improves recovery of AC adsorption capacity although not complete (56% after two cycles).