The use of shortcut methods for the design of complex distillation systems provides preliminary structures that need to be updated, typically by a recursive use of simulations. Although this procedure is generally effective, it can be time-consuming. In this work, collocation techniques are used as part of the design of Petlyuk distillation columns for the separation of ternary mixtures. Once a preliminary design is generated by a shortcut method, collocation techniques are applied to refine the location of the interconnecting and sidestream product stages, as well as the flowrate values of interlinking streams. The proposed method gives a proper distribution of stages for the Petlyuk system. The final designs are easily obtained with the proposed methodology, with a significant lower effort than that required when preliminary designs are corrected using recursive simulations.
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