Multicomponent homogeneous azeotropic distillation 1. Assessing product feasibility

A new method for estimating the feasibility of a pair of product compositio ns from a single-feed, two-product distillation column is proposed. This me thod is particularly useful for columns that separate azeotropic mixtures o f more than four components, where existing feasibility tests are limited i n their applicability. Feasibility is determined using geometric principles , which are expressed numerically. The method therefore does not require vi sual aids and is applicable to mixtures containing more than four component s, where graphical representation is not possible. The new feasibility test is extended to test the feasibility of a proposed class of split, which is defined by the specification of product regions, or sets of product compos itions. Classes of splits are used extensively in the development of a colu mn sequence synthesis procedure, which will be presented in a further work. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.