Conceptual design of an internally heat integrated propylene-propane splitter

Huge quantities of energy are required in distillation columns used for polymer grade separations of close boiling mixtures. The purpose of this paper is to introduce an industrially viable, internally heat integrated (HIDiC) version of a state of the art propylene-propane splitter. The base case is one of the world's largest, heat-pump assisted, stand-alone columns of this type. The actual plant data formed the basis for the techno-economic evaluation, which indicated that the HIDiC could become an economically attractive option for new designs, provided the barriers related to increased design complexity could be overcome.