Shortcut Method for Initialization of Dividing‐Wall Columns and Estimating Pareto‐Optimal NQ‐Curves

Abstract

In early project stages, often no simulation results are available for dividing‐wall columns. Hence, shortcut methods are used to estimate suitable vapor and liquid splits. In a previous paper, it was demonstrated that V · min diagrams are a suited tool to satisfy this need. However, it has turned out that it shows weaknesses for columns with finite or non‐optimal stages. This contribution closes that gap and presents an extended approach to derive suited initial guesses. For this purpose, the original V · min diagram is combined with a heuristic approach to calculate Pareto‐optimal column designs resulting in a stage‐adapted V · min diagram. A comparative study illustrates that the new approach is a powerful tool to generate reliable guesses for multiple dividing‐wall column simulations with finite stage numbers.

Understanding Temperature Profiles of Distillation Columns

“…[12][13][14]16 Even though the V ̇min diagram was originally intended for the minimum energy demand case, it was shown that it can also be extended to finite number of stages. 17 The so-called stageadapted V ̇min diagram helps us understand the actually performed separation task at a given number of stages and energy input.…”