Computers and Chemical Engineering 36 (2012) 160173

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Computers and Chemical Engineering

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/compchemeng

Modied simple column congurations for quaternary distillations

Massimiliano Errico , Ben-Guang Rong
University of Southern Denmark, Institute of Chemical Engineering, Biotechnology and Environmental Technology, Niels Bohrs Alle 1, 5230 Odense M, Denmark

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Distillation is the most energy demanding, capital intensive and widely used separation method. For
Received 15 April 2011 quaternary distillation, the conventional simple column congurations employ three columns to achieve
Received in revised form 14 June 2011 four products with any specied purity. In this paper, the modied simple column congurations are
Accepted 22 June 2011
studied which use two columns to accomplish four-component separations with any specied purity.
Available online 29 June 2011
The modied simple column congurations have the signicant process intensication feature that they
use less number of columns and heat exchangers. To study the performance of the modied simple column
Keywords:
congurations different four-component mixtures with different feed compositions were analyzed. The
Process intensication
Multicomponent distillation
performance was studied in terms of energy, capital cost saving and column sections function. It was
Energy and capital cost saving demonstrated that for the composition cases considered the proposed congurations have similar or
Process synthesis and simulation better energy performance than the traditional simple column sequences, however signicant capital
cost reductions are achieved in all the cases studied.
2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction interrupted by entering or exiting mass or heat ows (Hohmann,

During the years the way to approach the study of distillation
systems, from a research point of view, has considerably changed
due to the evolution of the society. At the present time the contin-
uous rising of the oil price makes the cost related to the energy so
high to be the dominant part in the production economy. Moreover
the strict relationship between energy consumption and carbon
dioxide emission receives a huge interest by the public opin-
ion. This aspect catalyzes the Governments and the research in
studying and promoting environmental/energy-friendly produc-
tion systems. Due to its wide diffusion in the process industry and
the high amount of energy required as separation agent, distillation
has been considered as the rst separation method to be ana-
lyzed for the possibility in energy reduction. Different evaluations
were made to estimate the energy used for distillation processes. It
was found that only in US alone, the distillation columns consume
5.07 1018 J per year, which is equivalent to a continuous power
of 160 GW. Considering that the worldwide nuclear power plants
have a total net installed capacity of 372 GW, it is easy to understand
how this number is important in the total energy balance (Plesu,
Bonet, Plesu, Bozga, & Galan, 2008). Currently most of the indus-
trial multicomponent separations are carried out employing simple
column sequences. A simple column (SC) is dened as a single feed
with two product streams separator. Each SC has a condenser and
a reboiler. A column section is a portion of a distillation column not
Corresponding author. Tel.: +45 65507482; fax: +45 65507354.
E-mail addresses: maer@kbm.sdu.dk (M. Errico), bgr@kbm.sdu.dk (B.-G. Rong).
Sander, & Dunford, 1982); for a SC sequence the total number of sec-
tions is equal to 2(n 1). Considering that each SC contains only one
feed, the number of reboilers and condensers will be the same with
the number of column sections. Only n of those exchangers is asso-
ciated to products streams, the remaining n 2 heat exchangers are
associated to submixtures of two or more components. Depending
of the order on which the components are separated it is possible to
generate different SC sequences. Considering a mixture containing
n components, to be separated into n pure products, n 1 simple
distillation columns are needed. The number of possible separation
schemes is provided by Eq. (1) (Thompson & King, 1972):
[2(n 1)]!
Sn = (1)
n!(n 1)]!
Despite the diffusion of this kind of columns their thermody-
namic efciency is limited by the presence of the so called remixing
effect. Fig. 1 shows all the possible SC sequences for the separation
of a quaternary mixture ABCD, where A is the lightest component
and D the heaviest one. Considering the direct sequence reported
in Fig. 1 SC(d), in the rst column, the composition prole of
component B below the feed, increases until a maximum value is
reached and then decreases. An analogous behaviour was observed
in the stages above the feed in the indirect sequence of Fig. 1
SC(i) (Hernandez, Pereira-Pech, Jimenez, & Rico-Ramirez, 2003). A
methodology to reduce the thermodynamics irreversibility of SC
separation sequences is the introduction of thermally coupled (TC)
structure. A thermal coupling is realized by substitution of a con-
denser and/or a reboiler associated with no product stream with a
bidirectional vaporliquid streams. Figs. 2 and 3 show two possible

0098-1354/$ see front matter 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.compchemeng.2011.06.015
 M. Errico, B.-G. Rong / Computers and Chemical Engineering 36 (2012) 160173
Nomenclature
Notations
CC capital cost, including installation ($/yr)
D column diameter (m)
N number of column stages
n number of feed components
MSC-V modied simple column sequence with a vapor side
stream
MSC-L modied simple column sequence with a liquid side
stream
NF feed location
Qc/r condenser/reboiler duty (kW)
RR reux ratio, molar basis
SC(d)/(i)/(di)/(id)/(s) simple column
direct/indirect/directindirect/indirectdirect
/symmetrical sequence
Sn number of possible simple column sequences
TC(di)/(id) thermally coupled sequence derived from the
SC(di)/(id)
TES-V1/V2 thermodynamically equivalent sequences
derived from the TC(di)
TES-L1/L2 thermodynamically equivalent sequences
derived from the TC(id)
thermally coupled congurations obtained from the directindirect
and indirectdirect SC sequences reported in Fig. 1 SC(di) and
SC(id) respectively. Considering the directindirect SC sequence,
Fig. 2 TC1 (di) reports the conguration obtained by eliminating the
reboiler of the rst column. Fig. 2 TC2 (di), instead, reports the con-
guration obtained eliminating the reboiler of the rst column and
the condenser of the second one. Additional information about the
complete subspace of thermally coupled structure can be founded
in specic works (Agrawal, 2003; Rong & Kraslawski, 2002). Once
that the possibility in both operational and capital costs reduc-
tion was proved (Caballero & Grossmann, 2004; Rev, Emtir, Szitkai,
Mizsey, & Fonyo, 2001), many researchers start studying different
applications for industrial retrot (Errico, Rong, Tola, & Turunen,
2008; Kim, 2006) or improving the understanding of the dynamic
behaviour of the structures and their controllability (Hernandez &
Jimenez, 1999; Wang, Wong, & Yu, 2008). A lately introduced prin-
ciple called Process Intensication allows considering distillation,
energy and capital cost reduction, greenhouse gas emissions, as a
single topic. Process intensication has the potential to positively
inuence processes by increasing their efciency via the reduction
in energy consumption, costs, volumes handled, waste generated,
and, by improving the process safety without sacricing product
quality (Reay, Ramshaw, & Harvey, 2008). Following this principle,
the presented work studies the behaviour, the energy performance
and the possibility in capital cost reduction of particular intensied
structures with a number of columns less than traditional column
congurations. The distillation sequences obtained are for the sep-
aration of four component mixtures and they are composed of two
columns connected with a liquid or a vapor side stream or with
a bidirectional vaporliquid stream. The particular design of these
sequences resembles the classical SC congurations and for this
reason we called modied simple column (MSC) congurations.
The prediction of these sequences was done utilizing a system-
atic method that from the SC sequences arrives to the intensied
or MSC structures by column section recombining and eliminat-
ing. Distillation column with single or multiple side streams are
widely applied in petrochemical plants where blends instead of
pure components are produced as the sidedraw products. Most of
the work done on this topic is addressed to dene design meth-
161
ods. Glinos and Malone (1985) described an approximate method
for side stream columns with a single feed that combines the
FenskeUnderwoodKirkibride equations. Later the method was
extended for multiple feed columns (Nikolaides & Malone, 1987)
and also for azeotropic mixtures (Gutirrez-Antonio & Jimnez-
Gutirrez, 2007). A renewed interest on this kind of congurations
was from the work of Agrawal (2000). He considered some side
stream columns obtained from thermally coupled sequences by
reducing the number of two-way transfers. Following his proce-
dure for a four component mixture, n 1 distillation columns are
employed and the same component is coproduced from more than
one column; at the same time, more column sections were added to
the congurations. Lately the same author proposes a new classi-
cation of the distillation sequences searching space introducing the
Basic Multicomponent Distillation Conguration and the thermally
coupled subspaces (Agrawal, 2003; Giridhar & Agrawal, 2010). The
Basic Conguration subspace besides the classical SC arrangements
includes also side stream columns, but the derivation of every
conguration is independent and it is not possible to dene a cor-
relation between the columns sequences. Moreover n 1 columns
were employed, reducing the possibility of capital cost savings. An
important contribution in the analysis of side stream columns as
a potential for capital and energy cost reduction was from Kim
and Wankat (2004). They considered only a set of alternatives
without taking into account the relationship between the different
classes of congurations. This is the main difference of the present
work, to understand the performance of the MSCs in relation to the
sequences from which are generated.
2. Derivation method
The complete subspace of distillation sequences with less than
n 1 columns was mapped by Errico, Rong, Tola, and Turunen
(2009) through the denition of a systematic method. Examining
the whole subspace is possible to divide the sequences in three
different categories: congurations without thermal coupling, con-
gurations with thermal coupling and congurations with only one
column. It must be indicated that during the synthesis of the com-
plete subspace for congurations with less than n 1 columns, all
the side columns were simply eliminated without any differen-
tiation of their functionalities. Now, with a close examination of
the functionality of the side columns, it is observed that there are
two kinds of side columns. One kind of the side columns serve as
the purication of the intermediate products, their elimination will
result in a conguration with the intermediate products as side
withdraw. As a consequence, their purity cannot be guaranteed due
to the elimination of the side column. For the second kind it is sig-
nicant to notice that the side columns not serve as the purication
of any products, they just serve as the transportation of a mix-
ture with intermediate components between two columns, their
elimination will result in a conguration without any intermedi-
ate products as the side withdraw. Rather, like in the conventional
simple column congurations, all the products are obtained from
the end of a column with either a condenser or a reboiler. As a con-
sequence, the purities of all products can be guaranteed. In other
words, the elimination of such side columns will only change the
way for transportation of the intermediate submixtures without
any affect to the nal product purities. Therefore, the intermediate
submixtures are directly transported from one column to another.
However, it will be shown later that the direct transportation of the
intermediate submixtures can be in one-way or two-way depend-
ing on the thermal coupling introduced. It is also signicant to
indicate that such congurations can be only produced from spe-
cic traditional simple column congurations. For four-component
separation, only two traditional simple column congurations, that
162 M. Errico, B.-G. Rong / Computers and Chemical Engineering 36 (2012) 160173

ABC AB
A B C 1 A
1 3 3 5
5 ABCD
ABCD BCD CD
2 4
2 4 6 6

D C B
D

SC (d) SC(i)

A BC ABC
B A B
1 3 5 1 3 5
ABCD BCD
ABCD
BC

2 4 6 2 4 6

D C D C

SC (di) SC (id)

A
3
AB

4
1
ABCD B

2
C
5
CD

SC (s)
Fig. 1. The SC congurations for quaternary mixtures: (d) direct, (i) indirect, (di) directindirect, (id) indirectdirect and (s) symmetrical sequences.

BC
A BC
B A B
1 3 5 1 3 5
ABCD ABCD

2 4 6 2 4 6
BCD BCD
D C D C

TC1 (di) TC2 (di)

Fig. 2. Thermally coupled congurations obtained from the directindirect SC.

ABC ABC
A B A B
1 3 1
5 3 5
ABCD ABCD
BC

2 4 2
6 4 6
D C D BC
C

TC1 (id) TC2 (id)

Fig. 3. Thermally coupled congurations obtained from the indirectdirect SC.

 M. Errico, B.-G. Rong / Computers and Chemical Engineering 36 (2012) 160173
A A
1 1
3 3
ABCD
2 B
BC 5 BC
BC
4 6
D C
(TES-V1)
Fig. 4. TES derived from the TC sequences of Fig. 2.
is the directindirect SC sequence shown in Fig. 1 SC(di) and the
indirectdirect SC sequence shown in Fig. 1 SC(id). Starting from
the directindirect SC and the indirectdirect SC sequences it is
possible to generate the corresponding TC congurations shown in
Figs. 2 and 3, then by a column section recombination the thermo-
dynamically equivalent sequences (TES) reported in Figs. 4 and 5
are obtained. It is interesting to notice that in the TES of Fig. 4,
the side column with section 3 does not produce any product, it
just serves as a transportation function to transport the intermedi-
ate mixture from its antecedent column to its subsequent column.
Therefore, this side column can be eliminated and leaves the inter-
mediate mixture transferred directly between the two columns.
Depending on the TES structure, the transportation of the interme-
diate mixture can be in one way mode as shown in Fig. 6 (MSC-V),
or in two-way mode as shown in Fig. 6 (MSC-V2). For the TES in
Fig. 5, the same observation can be done for side column with
section 4, and its elimination will produce the MSCs in Fig. 7.
However, it is important to remember that the directindirect SC
sequence is the root for the MSC sequences reported in Fig. 6, and
the indirectdirect for the MSC congurations in Fig. 7. It is pos-
sible to notice some common features between SCs and MSCs. In
both sequences, each column is equipped with a condenser and a
reboiler and the products are obtained as distillates or as bottom
streams, but never as side withdraw. Moreover there is a correspon-
dence between the SC sections utilized for the products purication
and the column sections associated to the product streams in the
MSC sequences. This is a meaningful point that allows a direct con-
nection between the congurations and differentiates the present
work with others on the same topic. The method here presented
for four components can be easily extended to ve or more com-
ponents. In these cases the presence of more than three columns
could lead to congurations with the co-presence of side streams
and thermal couplings increasing the possibilities to be consid-
ered.
3. Simulation cases
The MSC sequences were studied for different feed composi-
tion cases and purity requirements so as reported in Table 1. The
composition distributions were dened following the indications
of Kim and Wankat (2004). The simulations were performed with
Aspen Plus V7.2 simulation software. The initial design parameters
like the number of stages, feed location and reux ratio, needed
for the initialization of the rigorous RADFRAC model were obtained
from short-cut simulations utilizing the DSTWU model based on the
WinnUnderwoodGilliland methods. A reux ratio of 1.1 times
the minimum, a feed owrate of 100 kmol/h as saturate liquid and
a xed operative pressure of 4.6 bar were considered. The BK10
163
BC
B
5
ABCD
2 6
C
4
D
(TES-V2)
thermodynamic property set was used. All the simulations were
optimized for the minimum energy consumption. The total con-
denser and reboiler heat duties have been utilized to compare
the energy performance of the different sequences. The condenser
and reboiler areas were evaluated considering mean overall heat
transfer coefcients (Errico et al., 2008). The column diameter
calculation was executed using the tray sizing tool already imple-
mented in Aspen Plus based on the correlations provided by Fair
(1961). The capital cost evaluation was performed using the corre-
lations reported by Peters, Timmerhaus, and West (2003) updating
the costs to January 2011 by the Chemical Engineering Plant Cost
Index (Chemical Engineering, 2011). A plant nancial lifetime of 10
years was also assumed.
4. Simulation results
In this section the simulation results are presented. The MSC
sequences are compared in terms of energy consumption and
installation costs with the traditional SC sequences. The whole
space of SC congurations is the starting point for any comparison
with modied structures and should never be eliminated from the
search space (Giridhar & Agrawal, 2010). The TES sequences were
included because these are the congurations from which the MSCs
are generated. Note that TESs have the same energy consumption
of the thermally coupled (TC) congurations with the additional
benets of a better operability and the possibility in a capital cost
saving (Rong & Kraslawski, 2002), for these reasons the analysis of
thermally coupled sequences was not included here.
4.1. Vapor side stream sequences
The directindirect SC sequence reported in Fig. 1 SC (di), the
corresponding TES of Fig. 4 and the MSC sequences in Fig. 6 are
considered. Composition cases 1, 2 and 3 reported in Table 1
are explored and the results are summarized in Tables 25. The
composition case 1 is a mixture with easy separations between
components A/B and C/D. In order to make the separation between
C/D easier, in the composition case 2, the same amount of n-nonane
was substituted with n-decane. Finally, in the composition case 3,
the same amount of components B and C was considered. For each
feed case the composition prole reported in Figs. 810 was also
evaluated to better understand the column section function and
the separation performance of the proposed sequences in relation
to the directindirect SC sequence.
4.1.1. Energy saving evaluation
For all the composition cases, for comparison purpose, all the
SC congurations were explored, but in Tables 24 only the results
164 M. Errico, B.-G. Rong / Computers and Chemical Engineering 36 (2012) 160173

A
A 3
3 BC
BC
1
1
ABCD
ABCD 4
4 B B
2
2 5 5
BC

BC D
D 6 6

C C
(TES-L1) (TES-L2)
Fig. 5. TES derived from TC sequences of Fig. 3.

A
A 1
1
ABCD ABCD
B B
2 2 5
5 BC
BC

6 4 6
4

C D C
D
(MSC-V) (MSC-V2)
Fig. 6. MSC: vapor side stream (MSC-V), side thermal coupling (MSC-V2).

A A B
3 3 5
BC
BC
B 1
1 6
5 ABCD
ABCD
C
2 6 2

D C D

(MSC-L) (MSC-L2)
Fig. 7. MSC: liquid side stream (MSC-L), side thermal coupling (MSC-L2).

Table 1
Feed compositions case study and corresponding purity target.

Component Composition case (mol%) Purity target [mol%]

1 2 3 4 5 6 1 2 3 4 5 6

A:n-butane 20 20 55 5 5 5 99.0 99.0 99.9 99.0 99.0 99.2

B: benzene 10 97.0
B:n-hexane 55 55 20 20 10 99.2 99.2 99.0 97.0 97.0
C:n-heptane 20 20 20 55 10 10 97.0 97.0 98.3 99.4 97.4 97.3
D:n-nonane 5 20 75 75 99.2 99.7 99.7 99.7
D:n-decane 5 5 99.2 99.1
 M. Errico, B.-G. Rong / Computers and Chemical Engineering 36 (2012) 160173 165

Table 2
Design and operational parameters for feed composition case 1.

Case 1 SC(d) SC(di) TES-V1 TES-V2

C1 C2 C3 C1 C2 C3 C1 C2 C3 C1 C2 C3

N 25 55 35 25 34 44 37 22 44 37 22 44
NF 11 26 20 11 22 23 11 23 11 23
RR 1.61 1.55 0.45 1.61 0.11 1.61 1.61 1.61 1.61 2.18
D 0.62 0.89 0.44 0.62 0.73 0.89 0.92 0.59 0.89 0.92 0.59 0.92
Qc 1460.48 1879.14 1819.61 1476.92
Qr 1634.78 2053.41 1993.74 1651.05
CC 56,930 59,419 57,150 55,155

Table 3
Design and operational parameters for feed composition case 2.

Case 2 SC(d) SC(di) TES-V1 TES-V2

C1 C2 C3 C1 C2 C3 C1 C2 C3 C1 C2 C3

N 25 50 33 25 20 44 34 11 44 34 11 44
NF 11 26 18 11 11 23 11 23 11 23
RR 1.61 1.53 0.26 1.61 0.73 0.87 1.61 1.54 1.61 2.02
D 0.62 0.88 0.43 0.62 0.73 0.87 0.94 0.59 0.87 0.94 0.59 0.89
Qc 1420.50 1814.47 1781.22 1411.68
Qr 1615.43 2009.41 1976.09 1606.54
CC 54,951 52,972 52,788 49,931

Table 4
Design and operational parameters for feed composition case 3.

Case 3 SC(d) SC(di) TES-V1 TES-V2

C1 C2 C3 C1 C2 C3 C1 C2 C3 C1 C2 C3

N 25 50 35 25 30 50 35 20 50 35 20 50
NF 11 23 18 11 21 25 11 25 11 25
RR 0.4 2.49 0.29 0.4 0.14 2.39 0.4 2.39 0.4 3.66
D 0.68 0.63 0.44 0.68 0.57 0.62 0.91 0.44 0.62 0.91 0.44 0.66
Qc 1084.32 1220.69 1179.41 1048.04
Qr 1329.72 1466.04 1424.83 1293.47
CC 56,321 54,402 56,611 54,621

of the best SC sequence and the directindirect were reported.
Table 5 reports the results for the MSC sequences. Referring to
the most popular heuristic rules, considering the small amount
of the heavier component and the not even molar distribution
of the composition cases considered, the direct SC separation
sequences should be favoured. This point was conrmed by the
calculations.
Table 2 shows the performance of the SC and TES sequences for
composition case 1. Compared to the direct SC sequence, TES-V1
conguration has 25% and 22% more of the total condenser and
reboiler duty respectively. However the energy consumption for
conguration TES-V2 and for the MSC-V approaches the best SC
sequence and can be considered almost the same. For composi-
tion case 2 the results are summarized in Table 3. It is possible
to notice that TES-V1 has the same trend of the previous case,
but the energy consumption of sequences TES-V2 and MSC-V is
slightly less of the corresponding best SC sequence. Table 4 shows
the results for composition case 3. The condenser and the reboiler
duty of the TES-V1 sequence are respectively 9% and 7% more
compared to the direct SC sequence. The energy consumption of
the TES-V2 so as the MSC-V, outperform the best SC sequence
realizing a 3% saving in both condenser and reboiler heat consump-
tion.
As already highlighted in other works (Rong & Kraslawski,
2003; Smith & Linnhoff, 1988), when considering energy consump-
tion, there is a correspondence between the distillation sequences
of one subspace with the sequences directly obtained from that
subspace. A similar conclusion can be obtained from the anal-
ysis of the energy performance of composition cases 13. The
MSC-V sequence is derived from the directindirect SC congu-
ration, so in the cases where there is a big difference between
the best SC and the directindirect sequence, the MSC-V should

Table 5
MSC design and operational parameters for all the composition cases considered.

MSC-V MSC-L

Case 1 Case 2 Case 3 Case 4 Case 5 Case 6

C1 C2 C1 C2 C1 C2 C1 C2 C1 C2 C1 C2

N 37 44 34 44 35 50 53 37 53 35 45 67
NF 11 20 11 23 11 25 33 20 32 20 29 35
RR 1.61 2.23 1.61 2.02 0.4 3.66 37.72 6.20 22.70 2.72 21.64 3.79
D 0.92 0.93 0.94 0.89 0.91 0.66 0.98 0.94 0.95 0.45 0.94 0.53
Qc 1495.59 1411.73 1048.64 1955.27 876.54 956.05
Qr 1669.68 1606.71 1294.08 2118.23 1159.05 1228.78
CC 46,066 46,502 48,456 51,606 40,138 51,038
166 M. Errico, B.-G. Rong / Computers and Chemical Engineering 36 (2012) 160173

Fig. 8. Vapor composition proles for composition case 1: (a) MSC (continuous lines) and SC (dotted lines) sections 1 + 2 + 4 comparison, (b) sections 5 + 6, (c) section 3.
Components A blue, B yellow, C green and D red. (For interpretation of the references to color in this gure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of the article.)

Table 6
Design and operational parameters for feed composition case 4.

Case 4 SC(s) SC(id) TES-L1 TES-L2

C1 C2 C3 C1 C2 C3 C1 C2 C3 C1 C2 C3

N 39 27 36 40 23 37 53 10 37 53 10 37
NF 23 15 21 20 13 20 33 20 33 20
RR 4.75 1.74 0.86 0.54 4.9 6.37 37.72 6.2 37.72 6.2
D 1.00 0.27 0.84 0.99 0.46 0.95 0.98 0.29 0.94 0.98 0.29 0.94
Qc 1896.93 2181.23 1955.96 1955.71
Qr 2059.91 2344.28 2118.90 2118.23
CC 59,533 60,633 56,132 54,915
 M. Errico, B.-G. Rong / Computers and Chemical Engineering 36 (2012) 160173 167

Fig. 9. Vapor composition proles for composition case 2: (a) MSC (continuous lines) and SC (dotted lines) sections 1 + 2 + 4 comparison, (b) sections 5 + 6, (c) section 3.
Components A blue, B yellow, C green and D red. (For interpretation of the references to color in this gure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of the article.)

Table 7
Design and operational parameters for feed composition case 5.

Case 5 SC(id) TES-L1 TES-L2

C1 C2 C3 C1 C2 C3 C1 C2 C3

N 36 30 35 53 13 35 53 13 35
NF 15 17 20 32 20 32 20
RR 1.73 1.5 2.74 20.6 2.72 20.4 2.72
D 0.92 0.29 0.46 0.92 0.46 0.45 0.92 0.15 0.46
Qc 911.32 821.62 816.20
Qr 1193.79 1104.16 1098.72
CC 48,502 44,999 43,954
168 M. Errico, B.-G. Rong / Computers and Chemical Engineering 36 (2012) 160173

Fig. 10. Vapor composition proles for composition case 3: (a) MSC (continuous lines) and SC (dotted lines) sections 1 + 2 + 4 comparison, (b) sections 5 + 6, (c) section 3.
Components A blue, B yellow, C green and D red. (For interpretation of the references to color in this gure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of the article.)

Table 8
Design and operational parameters for feed composition case 6.

Case 6 SC(id) TES-L1 TES-L2

C1 C2 C3 C1 C2 C3 C1 C2 C3

N 31 28 67 45 14 67 45 14 67
NF 15 14 35 29 35 29 35
RR 1.94 1.37 3.79 21.57 3.79 21.57 3.79
D 0.94 0.26 0.53 0.94 0.13 0.53 0.94 0.13 0.53
Qc 1059.30 953.18 953.66
Qr 1332.12 1225.77 1226.28
CC 57,748 56,703 55,039
 M. Errico, B.-G. Rong / Computers and Chemical Engineering 36 (2012) 160173 169

Fig. 11. Liquid composition proles for composition case 4: (a) MSC (continuous lines) and SC (dotted lines) sections 3 + 1 + 2 comparison, (b) sections 5 + 6, (c) TES (continuous
lines) and SC (dotted lines) section 4 comparison. Components A blue, B yellow, C green and D red. (For interpretation of the references to color in this gure legend, the
reader is referred to the web version of the article.)

not be convenient. The difference of the total condenser and
reboiler heat duty between the direct and the directindirect
SC sequence was about 419, 394 and 136 kW for composi-
tion cases 1, 2 and 3 respectively. As this difference decreases,
the opportunity of energy saving for the MSC-V sequence,
increases.
4.1.2. Capital cost comparison
Considering the results for composition case 1 reported in
Table 2, the direct SC sequence has the less annual installation cost
and only the TES-V2 slightly improve this value. The results for the
corresponding MSC-V conguration reported in Table 5 show that
this conguration reaches a 20% saving on the installed cost com-
pared to the best SC sequence. For composition case 2, TES-V1 and
TES-V2 realize 4% and 9% saving on the capital cost compared to the
direct SC sequence. However from Table 5 it is possible to notice
that the MSC-V sequence realize 15% saving for the same composi-
tion case. For composition case 3 the MSC-V sequence exhibits a 14%
capital cost saving compared to the best SC sequence so as reported
in Tables 4 and 5. Therefore, for all three cases, the MSC-V system
has signicant capital cost reduction compared to the best direct SC
sequence.
4.1.3. Column sections function
To study the behaviour of the MSC-V congurations, a com-
parison between the component composition proles in the vapor
170 M. Errico, B.-G. Rong / Computers and Chemical Engineering 36 (2012) 160173

Fig. 12. Liquid composition proles for composition case 5: (a) MSC (continuous lines) and SC (dotted lines) sections 3 + 1 + 2 comparison, (b) sections 5 + 6, (c) TES (continuous
lines) and SC (dotted lines) section 4 comparison. Components A blue, B yellow, C green and D red. (For interpretation of the references to color in this gure legend, the
reader is referred to the web version of the article.)

phase of different column sections has been performed. For com-
position case 1, Fig. 8(a) compares the vapor composition proles
for sections 1, 2 and 4 in the congurations of Fig. 1 SC(di) and
Fig. 6 (MSC-V). These sections are included in the same column for
the MSC-V conguration, but in the directindirect SC sequence
section 4 is separated, for this reason the prole exhibits a dis-
continuity corresponding to the section 2 and 4 connection. It is
possible to notice that the general trend prole is the same for both
congurations, but the MSC-V has a higher composition of compo-
nents B and C in the vapor phase compared to the SC sequence.
Moreover a lesser concentration of A in section 2 and D in sec-
tion 4 means a better separation between components A/B and
C/D respectively. Fig. 8(b) shows the behaviour of sections 5 and
6 for the congurations reported in Fig. 1 SC(di) and Fig. 6 (MSC-
V); in this case the structure of the column is the same between
the two congurations, but for the MSC-V sequence it is possible
to notice a wide variation of the composition prole corresponding
to higher separation efciency. This behaviour is mainly due to the
change of the feed quality; in the SC sequence all the streams are
saturated liquid, but in the MSC sequence the feed to the second
column is a saturated vapor. The results for composition case 2 are
reported in Fig. 9. It is possible to notice that for this case the differ-
ences in the composition proles, between the SC and the MSC-V
sequence for components A and B, are higher compared to the pre-
 M. Errico, B.-G. Rong / Computers and Chemical Engineering 36 (2012) 160173 171

Fig. 13. Liquid composition proles for composition case 6: (a) MSC (continuous lines) and SC (dotted lines) sections 3 + 1 + 2 comparison, (b) sections 5 + 6, (c) TES (continuous
lines) and SC (dotted lines) section 4 comparison. Components A blue, B yellow, C green and D red. (For interpretation of the references to color in this gure legend, the
reader is referred to the web version of the article.)

vious case. Fig. 10(a) shows the vapor composition proles for case
3 in sections 1, 2 and 4. It is possible to notice that in the MSC-V con-
guration the vapor molar fraction of components B and C is higher
compared to the SC sequence whereas a less amount of A and D was
observed in sections 2 and 4 respectively. Like in composition cases
1 and 2 the differences evidenced in Fig. 10(b) are due to the change
in feed quality. From the comparison of all the three composition
cases it is possible to notice that the more energetic interesting MSC
sequences, have a higher vapor molar fraction of components B and
C respect to the SC conguration. Section 3 was originally the sec-
ond columns rectifying section of the directindirect SC sequence.
Its performances were analyzed in terms of vapor composition pro-
les and reported in part (c) of Figs. 810. For the congurations
TES-V1, TES-V2 and for the directindirect SC sequence the proles
are completely overlapped. For all the sequences considered, sec-
tion 3 has only a transport function without any improvement of
separation. Therefore this section can be eliminated and the mod-
ied simple column conguration was obtained as in MSC-V.
4.2. MSC with two-way transportation
The results of the MSC-VTC were not reported because they were
exactly the same for all the feed composition cases considered. The
reason of this behaviour is related to the nature of the feed com-
positions considered. In all cases, the vapor interconnection stream
contains the components B and C in high concentration and the liq-
uid back stream does not improve the separation performance of
the whole sequence. It should be emphasized that in cases where
172 M. Errico, B.-G. Rong / Computers and Chemical Engineering 36 (2012) 160173
the C/D separation is not easy the liquid stream could be essential
to reach the purity targets.
4.3. Liquid side stream sequences
The indirectdirect SC sequence reported in Fig. 1 SC(id), the
corresponding TES of Fig. 5 and the MSC sequences in Fig. 7 are
considered. Composition cases 46 reported in Table 1 are explored
and the results are summarized in Tables 68. The composition
case 4 contains the same components of case 1 but with a reverse
amount distribution. The mixture has an easy separation between
components A/B and C/D. In composition case 5 the same molar
owrate of the middle components and an excess of the heavier one
was considered. Finally, in order to make the separation between
A/B easier, in case 6, the same amount of n-hexane was substituted
with benzene. For each feed case the composition prole reported
in Figs. 1113 was also evaluated to better understand the column
section function and the separation performance of the proposed
sequences in relation to the directindirect SC sequence.
4.3.1. Energy saving evaluation
For each composition case all the SC congurations were
explored, but in Tables 68 only the results of the selected best
SC sequence and the indirectdirect were reported. Table 5 reports
the results for the MSC sequences. Table 6 shows the performance
of the SC and TES sequences for composition case 4. The symmet-
rical sequence reported in Fig. 1 SC(s) was evaluated as the best SC
conguration. Both the thermodynamically equivalent sequences
TES-L1 and TES-L2 have an energy consumption slightly higher that
the best SC sequence. From Table 5 it is possible to verify that also
the corresponding MSC-L has a total condenser and reboiler duty
3% higher than the symmetrical SC sequence. For composition case
5 the results are summarized in Table 7. Increasing the amount
of the heavier component the indirectdirect sequence becomes,
among all the ve SC congurations, the best one. TES-L1 and TES-
L2 sequences realize 10% saving in the condenser heat duty and 7.5
and 8% savings in the reboiler heat duty respectively. The results for
the MSC-L conguration, reported in Table 5, shown a 4% reduction
of the condenser heat demand and 3% saving in the reboiler duty.
Table 8 reports the results for composition case 6. Also in this case
the indirectdirect sequence was selected to be the best SC cong-
uration. Both the TES-L1 and TES-L2, so as the MSC-L conguration
reported in Table 5 realize a 10% and 8% reduction in the condenser
and reboiler energy consumption respectively. From the analysis
of the results obtained is possible to assert that the MSC-L congu-
ration has the potential in energy saving when the indirectdirect
is the best among the SC congurations. This result agrees with the
conclusions obtained for the MSC-V conguration.
4.3.2. Capital cost comparison
Considering the results for composition case 4 reported in
Table 6, the symmetrical sequence has the less annual installation
cost. TES-L1 and TES-L2 sequences realize 6% and 8% capital cost
savings respectively, but this value increases to 13% if the MSC-L
conguration reported in Table 5 is considered. For case 5, accord-
ing to Table 7, the TES congurations realize a 7% and 9% saving
in the capital costs, but these values are overcome by the 17% of
the MSC-L sequence. Also for the composition case 6 the MSC-L
sequence exhibits the best performance in terms of capital cost;
compare to the indirectdirect SC sequence it realizes 12% saving.
Therefore, similar for MSC-V in 4.1.2, for all three cases, the MSC-L
system has signicant capital cost reduction compared to the best
SC sequence.
4.3.3. Column sections function
The behaviour of the MSC-L congurations it was also exam-
ined comparing the component composition proles in the liquid
phase of the different column sections. For composition case 4,
Fig. 11(a) compares the liquid composition proles for sections 3, 1
and 2. These sections are included in the same column for the MSC-
L conguration, but in the indirectdirect SC sequence, section 3 is
separated, for this reason the prole exhibits a discontinuity corre-
sponding to section 3 and 1 connection. Despite the similar trend
of the proles, the MSC-L conguration has a higher concentration
of B and a lower concentration of A in the liquid phase of section
3 compared to the SC sequence. The A/B separation is favoured in
the MSC-L sequence but on the other hand the lower concentra-
tion of D penalizes the C/D separation. The results for composition
case 5 are reported in Fig. 12. It is possible to notice that for this
case the differences in the composition proles between the SC and
the MSC-L sequence are higher compared to the previous case. In
particular from Fig. 12(a) is possible to notice that the MSC-L con-
guration has a higher concentration of components B and C in
the liquid phase compared to the SC case. This aspect reects the
better energy performance of the MSC-L sequence respect to the
indirectdirect SC sequence. Fig. 13(a) shows the liquid composi-
tion proles for case 6 in sections 3, 1 and 2. It is possible to notice
that in the MSC-L conguration the liquid molar fraction of compo-
nents B and C near the side withdrawal is higher compared to the
SC sequence whereas a less amount of A in sections 3 was observed.
The proles in sections 5 and 6 showed in part (b) of Figs. 1113
are mainly the same between the congurations compared.
Figs. 11(c), 12(c) and 13(c) report the liquid prole for compo-
nents B and C in section 4. The comparison was done between the
TES and the SC congurations. As pointed out for the MSC-V con-
guration, also in this case this section has no effect on the overall
separation performance of the sequence and its function is only for
transportation. Therefore, this section can be eliminated and the
modied simple column conguration was obtained as in MSC-
L. However, simulation results showed that MSC-L conguration
can reach the same purity targets as SC conguration. Most signif-
icantly, it can reduce the energy consumption and also reduce the
capital cost investments than SC congurations.
4.4. MSC with two-way transportation
As for the MSC-VTC, the results of the MSC-LTC were not
reported because they were exactly the same for all the feed com-
position cases considered. The reason of this behaviour is related
to the nature of the feed compositions considered. In all cases, the
liquid interconnection stream contains the components B and C in
high concentration and the vapor back stream does not improve
the separation performance of the whole sequence. It should be
emphasized that in cases where the A/B separation is not easy the
vapor stream could be essential to reach the purity targets.
As already proved by Jimnez, Hernndez, Montoy, and Zavala-
Garcia (2001), thermally coupled congurations with a reduced
number of interconnections offer a better dynamic response com-
pared to the conventional distillation sequences. For this reason the
controllability of the MSC-V2 and MSC-L2 congurations, reported
in Figs. 6 and 7 respectively, should not be considered as a limit to
their possible future application.
5. Conclusions
For four-component distillation, the specic traditional simple
column congurations with three columns can be modied to dis-
tillation congurations with two columns. These congurations,
called modied simple column sequences, have similar features
 M. Errico, B.-G. Rong / Computers and Chemical Engineering 36 (2012) 160173
as the classical simple column sequences. First, the products are
obtained only as distillates or as bottom streams and each column
is equipped with a condenser at the top end and a reboiler at the
bottoms end. Moreover, between the MSC and the SC, there is a cor-
respondence between the column sections and their functions. It
was proved that since the MSC congurations are obtained by col-
umn recombination of the directindirect and the indirectdirect
SC sequences, for the composition cases where this conguration
is the best or close to the best SC sequence there is the possibility in
both capital and energy cost reduction. In the other cases the energy
consumption approaches the best SC, but the MSC sequences have
the extra benet of the capital cost saving because are intensied
structures. As evidenced by Harmsen (2010), capital cost reduction
is an important industrial driver and it has at least 3 main effects
on the process economy: lower depreciation cost, reduction of the
associate costs (maintenance) and increase the return of invested
capital. For all the composition cases studied, signicant capital cost
reductions are achieved from the MSC congurations compared to
the best SC conguration. This reduction is due to the less number
of equipment used in the MSC congurations than the traditional
SC congurations.
Finally, such modied simple column congurations are rst
developed for quaternary distillation, it can be claimed that the
methodology is applicable to a mixture with a higher number of
components for more than four products.
References
Agrawal, R. (2000). Thermally coupled distillation with reduced number of intercol-
umn vapor transfers. AIChE Journal, 46, 21982210.
Agrawal, A. (2003). Synthesis of multicomponent distillation column congurations.
AIChE Journal, 49, 379401.
Caballero, J. A., & Grossmann, I. E. (2004). Design of distillation sequences: From con-
ventional to fully thermally coupled distillation systems. Computers & Chemical
Engineering, 28, 23072329.
Economic indicators. (2011). Chemical Engineering, 118, 68.
Errico, M., Rong, B. G., Tola, G., & Turunen, I. (2008). Process intensication for
the retrot of a multicomponent distillation plant An industrial case study.
Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, 47, 19751980.
Errico, M., Rong, B. G., Tola, G., & Turunen, I. (2009). A method for systematic synthesis
of multicomponent distillation systems with less than N 1 columns. Chemical
Engineering and Processing, 48, 907920.
Fair, J. R. (1961). How to predict sieve tray entrainment and ooding.
Petroleum/Chemical Engineering, 33, 4562.
173
Giridhar, A., & Agrawal, R. (2010). Synthesis of distillation congurations: I. Char-
acteristics of a good search space. Computers & Chemical Engineering, 34,
7383.
Glinos, K. N., & Malone, M. F. (1985). Design of sidestream distillation columns.
Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Process Design and Development, 24, 822828.
Gutirrez-Antonio, C., & Jimnez-Gutirrez, A. (2007). Design of side-stream
azeotropic distillation columns. Chemical Engineering Research & Design, 85,
13841389.
Harmsen, J. (2010). Process intensication in the petrochemicals industry: drivers
and hurdles for commercial implementation. Chemical Engineering Progress, 49,
7073.
Hernandez, S., & Jimenez, A. (1999). Controllability analysis of thermally coupled
distillation systems. Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, 38, 39573963.
Hernandez, S., Pereira-Pech, S., Jimenez, A., & Rico-Ramirez, V. (2003). Energy ef-
ciency of an indirect thermally coupled distillation sequence. Canadian Journal
of Chemical Engineering, 81, 15.
Hohmann, E. C., Sander, M. T., & Dunford, H. A. (1982). A new approach to the
synthesis of multicomponent separation schemes. Chemical Engineering Com-
munications, 17, 273284.
Jimnez, A., Hernndez, S., Montoy, F. A., & Zavala-Garcia, M. (2001). Analysis of
control properties of conventional and nonconventional distillation sequences.
Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, 40, 37573761.
Kim, J. K. K., & Wankat, P. C. (2004). Quaternary distillation systems with less than
N 1 columns. Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, 43, 38383846.
Kim, Y. H. (2006). A new fully thermally coupled distillation column with postfrac-
tionator. Chemical Engineering and Processing, 45, 254263.
Nikolaides, I. P., & Malone, M. F. (1987). Approximate design of multiple-feed/side-
stream distillation systems. Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, 26,
18391845.
Peters, M. S., Timmerhaus, K. D., & West, R. E. (2003). Plant design and economics for
chemical engineers (5th ed.). McGraw-Hill Inc.
Plesu, A. E., Bonet, J., Plesu, V., Bozga, G., & Galan, M. I. (2008). Residue curves
map analysis for tert-amyl methyl ether synthesis by reactive distillation in
kinetically controlled conditions with energy-saving evaluation. Energy, 33,
15721589.
Reay, D., Ramshaw, C., & Harvey, A. (2008). Process intensication Engineering for
efciency. Sustainability and exibility. Elsevier Ltd.
Rev, E., Emtir, M., Szitkai, Z., Mizsey, P., & Fonyo, Z. (2001). Energy savings of inte-
grated and coupled distillation systems. Computers & Chemical Engineering, 25,
119140.
Rong, B. G., & Kraslawski, A. (2002). Optimal design of distillation owsheets with a
lower number of thermal couplings for multicomponent separations. Industrial
& Engineering Chemistry Research, 41, 57165726.
Rong, B. G., & Kraslawski, A. (2003). Partially thermally coupled distillation systems
for multicomponent separations. AIChE Journal, 49, 13401347.
Smith, R., & Linnhoff, B. (1988). The design of separators in the context of overall
processes. Chemical Engineering Research and Development, 66, 195228.
Thompson, R. W., & King, C. J. (1972). Systematic synthesis of separation schemes.
AIChE Journal, 18, 941948.
Wang, S. J., Wong, D. S. H., & Yu, S. W. (2008). Design and control of transesterication
reactive distillation with thermal coupling. Computers & Chemical Engineering,
32, 30303037.