Use of Short-cut Methods to Analyse Optimal Operation of Petlyuk Distillation Columns

Analytical methods are used to compute all important operational parameters for an infinite staged Petlyuk column as a function of feed composition, feed enthalpy, and relative volatilities. The computational effort is very low, and the methods can be used to get a very good picture of the applicability of a Petlyuk column for a specific separation task. It is found that the largest energy savings are obtained for the set of feed compositions when the prefractionator is operated at its preferred split and both the upper and lower parts of the main column operate their respective minimum reflux condition at the same time. The position of this boundary region relative to the actual feed is very important when we consider important operational aspects of the column.