Simulation and Analysis on Multiple Steady States of an Industrial Acetic Acid Dehydration System

In this work, an industrial acetic acid dehydration system via heterogeneous azeotropic distillation is simulated by Aspen Plus software. Residue curves are used to analyze the distillating behavior, and appropriate operating region of the system is determined. Based on steady states simulation, a sensitivity analysis is carried out to detect the output multiple steady states in the system. Different solution branches are observered when the flow rates of the feed stream and the organic reflux stream are selected as manipulated variables. The performance of the column under different steady states is different. A method is proposed to achieve the desired steady state.