Efficient Energy Integration and Design of Distillation Separation Sequences

In this paper we show that for a zeotropic mixture the simultaneous implementation of different heat integration alternatives like direct reboiler-condenser heat exchange, Direct or reverse vapor recompression cycles, multi-effect distillation, partially or totally breaking of thermal couples and substitution of thermal couples by the equivalent only liquid transfer alternative, when possible, considerable increase the thermal efficiency of a sequence of distillation columns and its total cost. We illustrate the procedure with the separation a four-component mixture. Results show that we can get impressive reductions in total annual cost.The authors acknowledge financial support to the Spanish «Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad» under project CTQ2016-77968-C3-2-P (AEI/FEDER, UE) and to the «Generalitat Valenciana» under project PROMETEO/2020/064