Technologies increasing the distillation performance

Improving the energy efficiency of distillation columns widely used in various industries is the focus of many researchers. Although conventional state-of-the-art distillation columns are widely used and cost efficient, new technologies can significantly reduce operating costs, the overall cost of a distillation plant and are important for global sustainable development. This article reviews and compares technologies aimed at increasing the energy efficiency of distillation plants, including multi-effect distillation, thermally coupled distillation, and diabatic distillation. Multi-effect distillation allows increasing the number of separation stages, thereby increasing the process efficiency. In thermally coupled distillation, the number of required heat exchangers is reduced through direct contact of steam and liquid flows fed from different columns. In diabatic distillation, controlled heat exchange devices are used to approximate process conditions to phase equilibrium line of the system. The paper also describes some promising developments improving the design of distillation columns, including the dividing-wall column and distillation with intermediate heat exchangers. These technologies have their advantages and can be integrated in industrial processes under certain conditions. This article is aimed at reviewing and comparing the existing common solutions designed to increase the energy efficiency of distillation columns.