Shortcut design of reactive distillation columns

Abstract: Shortcut design methods can be valuable tools for rapid screening of different separation process alternatives to assess feasibility and determine minimum energy demand. This work presents a variant of the feed angle method (), which applies to single- and double-feed reactive distillation columns. The proposed method relies on pinch point analysis and determines the minimum energy demand from the calculation of a tray at the feed pinch. It is fully algorithmic and insensitive to impurities in product specifications. Its validity and performance is illustrated by a variety of case studies covering multi-component and multi-reaction systems, mixtures with potential liquid–liquid phase split, and double-feed columns. The results show that the method is sufficiently accurate and computationally efficient, even for highly non-ideal systems and complex configurations. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]