Design of Azeotropic Distillation Systems

There are various methods in the industry that can be used for separating azeotrope mixture. Wise choice of effective separation method is very important in saving energy and reducing total annualized cost of such separation processes. In this chapter, methods for separating azeotrope via distillation will be reviewed. Industrial applications are used to demonstrate that large savings of energy can be made by selecting the most effective separation method. Several analytical tools can be used to aid the decision-making process. Rigorous process simulation is demonstrated for the two industrial examples. To further explore energy-saving potential for the azeotropic separation processes, several feasible heat-integration schemes are also explained. These include feed-effluent heat exchanger, multieffect distillation, and two kinds of thermally coupled distillation systems, i.e., extractive distillation and heterogeneous azeotropic distillation systems.