Maximum thermodynamic efficiency problem in batch distillation

Abstract

-A dynamic batch distillation study of the non-ideal mixture Ethanol-Water is presented. The objective of the study was to calculate an average thermodynamic efficiency of the process under an optimal constant reflux policy and the objective function includes a given production time in order to obtain the desired product quality (measured as the average mole fraction of the accumulated product). An expression for computing the thermodynamic efficiency is presented. The simulation of the column uses a mathematical model considering the complete dynamics of the operation and the problem of optimal control resulting in a non-linear programming problem. A dynamic optimization technique based on a SQP method was used to solve the problem. The average thermodynamic efficiency for the separation process under the conditions presented was 37.95%.

Short-Cut Methods for Multicomponent Batch Distillation

“…This function is solved by applying mathematical methods such as dynamic programming, variation calculation, pontryagin maximum principle or nonlinear programming (NLP), among others. In general, the process is considered as an optimal control problem and the most common cases studied in the literature are [16]: (a) maximum distillate problem, (b) minimum time problem, (c) maximum profit problem, (d) minimum energy problem, and (e) maximum thermodynamic efficiency problem.…”

Batch Distillation: Thermodynamic Efficiency

“…A convenient way to express thermodynamic efficiency is the average thermodynamic equation used by Zavala Loría (2004), Zavala et al (2007), Zavala and Coronado (2008). and Zavala et al (2011) to solve the maximum thermodynamic efficiency problem:…”

“…The analysis of thermodynamic efficiency in a batch distillation column has been presented by Kim and Diwekar (2000), Zavala-Loría (2004), Zavala et al (2007), Zavala & Coronado (2008) and Zavala et al (2011). The first work only developed expressions to calculate thermodynamic efficiency while the rest of the works developed expressions to calculate thermodynamic efficiency and have applied them to a new problem of optimal control: Maximum thermodynamic efficiency.…”