DESIGN METHODOLOGY FOR A MEMBRANE DISTILLATION COLUMN HYBRID PROCESS

Hybrid processes consisting of a distillation column and a membrane se paration module have gained some importance in the recent years due to their attractive capital and operating costs and potential in saving energy. For several applications hybrid processes proved to be superio r to single separation processes. The aim of an optimal hybrid design should be to take advantage of the specific benefits of both separatio n methods. This paper introduces some guidelines and general rules whi ch can be applied to distillation/membrane hybrid processes. The resul ts of numerical calculations dealing with an olefin purification hybri d process using a distillation column and a facilitated transport vapo r permeation membrane in different configurations are introduced and d iscussed. A McCabe-Thiele based approach is used to analyze different process configurations and find some short-cut methods to determine th e optimal operating conditions for each configuration. Both new column design and augmentation of an existing distillation column by a membr ane module are subjects of this paper.