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In an effort to reduce costs, a systematic optimization approach is proposed to address the energy consumption of dividing-wall columns (DWCs). This iterative optimization procedure begins by minimizing the overall heat duty using an innovative objective function within a constrained design space. A sensitivity analysis is then carried out on the manipulated variables to obtain their optimal ranges. Optimal operating parameters are obtained through the evaluation of the total annualized cost (TAC). For the separation process of benzene/toluene/ o-xylene, the optimal DWC flow sheet exhibits a significant decrease in TAC when compared to conventional flow sheet optimum designs. The applied optimization method and sensitivity analysis have proven to produce results at the global optimum. This method is both practical and easily applied to other systems, even to systems with more than three components. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An intensified scheme for the separation of ternary azeotropic system is explored to reduce the energy consumption and recycle important organic solvents. Herein, a novel double-thermally coupled ternary extractive distillation (DTCTED) for separating azeotropic system benzene/toluene/cyclohexane (denoted as B/T/CH) is proposed to achieve energy-saving and emissions reduction. Thermodynamic feasible insights of the B/T/CH using dimethyl formamide as entrainer are firstly analyzed via residue curve maps to find separation constraints. Following that, the proposed intensified scheme is optimized via the in-house multi-objective genetic algorithm software while using total annual cost and CO 2 emissions as objective functions. The results show that the total annual cost and CO 2 emissions of the proposed intensified DTCTED scheme are significantly reduced by 18.60% and 20.22% compared with the existing single-thermally coupled ternary extractive distillation process. Furthermore, exergy loss and relative volatility are introduced to explore the essence of energy-saving in the proposed DTCTED scheme. • An intensified double-thermally coupled ternary extractive distillation is proposed. • The proposed scheme is optimized based on the multi-objective genetic algorithm. • Proposed scheme can save 18.60% and 20.22% of total annual cost and CO 2 emissions. • Essence of the energy-saving is explored by exergy loss and relative volatility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]