RESEARCH ARTICLE

Determination of a suitable index for a solvent via two-column extractive distillation using a heuristic method

  • Zhaoyou Zhu 1,3 ,
  • Guoxuan Li 1 ,
  • Yao Dai 1 ,
  • Peizhe Cui 1 ,
  • Dongmei Xu 2 ,
  • Yinglong Wang , 1,3
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  • 1. College of Chemical Engineering, Qingdao University of Science and Technology, Qingdao 266042, China
  • 2. College of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Shandong University of Science and Technology, Qingdao 266590, China
  • 3. Shandong Collaborative Innovation Center of Eco-Chemical Engineering, Qingdao University of Science and Technology, Qingdao 266042, China

Received date: 15 Mar 2019

Accepted date: 15 May 2019

Published date: 15 Oct 2020

Copyright

2019 Higher Education Press and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature

Abstract

The traditional approach to solvent selection in the extractive distillation process strictly focuses on the change in the relative volatility of light-heavy components induced by the solvent. However, the total annual cost of the process may not be minimal when the solvent induces the largest change in relative volatility. This work presents a heuristic method for selecting the optimal solvent to minimize the total annual cost. The functional relationship between the relative volatility and the total annual cost is established, where the main factors, such as the relative volatility of the light-heavy components and the relative volatility of the heavy-component solvent, are taken into account. Binary azeotropic mixtures of methanol-toluene and methanol-acetone are separated to verify the feasibility of the model. The results show that using the solvent with the minimal two-column extractive distillation index, the process achieves a minimal total annual cost. The method is conducive for sustainable advancements in chemistry and engineering because a suitable solvent can be selected without simulation verification.

Cite this article

Zhaoyou Zhu , Guoxuan Li , Yao Dai , Peizhe Cui , Dongmei Xu , Yinglong Wang . Determination of a suitable index for a solvent via two-column extractive distillation using a heuristic method[J]. Frontiers of Chemical Science and Engineering, 2020 , 14(5) : 824 -833 . DOI: 10.1007/s11705-019-1867-3

Acknowledgments

This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 21776145 and 21676152).

Electronic Supplementary Material

Supplementary material is available in the online version of this article at https://doi.org/10.1007/s11705-019-1867-3 and is accessible for authorized users.
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