SIMULTANEOUS-OPTIMIZATION OF DESIGN AND OPERATION OF MULTICOMPONENT BATCH DISTILLATION COLUMN - SINGLE AND MULTIPLE SEPARATION DUTIES

A method is presented for the simultaneous optimization of a batch dis tillation column design and its operation, for single and multiple sep aration duties, each involving different multicomponent mixtures and c omplex operations with intermediate cuts. For operation structures sel ected a priori, the formulation presented permits the use of general d istillation design and cost models. The objective function and constra ints include capital and operating cost. In particular, the number of internal plates is optimized along with the most significant operating variables (recoveries in various cuts and reflux ratio profiles and t imes). The multiple duty formulation presented accounts for the differ ent importance of each duty and setup time between batches. Applicatio n of the method to single duty multicomponent separation from the lite rature shows that significant profit improvements can be achieved with in acceptable computing times. For multiple separation duties (two bin ary mixtures), the method clearly shows the importance of including al location time to each duty and setup time for each batch in the object ive function.