Operating Pressure of a Plate-to-Plate Heat-Integrated Distillation Column

In this study, the operating pressure of a plate-to-plate heat-integrated distillation column was investigated. A condition of operating pressure was found that minimizes the pressure difference between rectifying section and stripping section, thus saving separation energy. Also, a procedure is proposed for determining this condition. The minimum value of compression work required for operating this distillation column can be calculated from this condition. Further, a benzene-toluene binary mixture was adopted as a calculation example to show the usefulness of the proposed procedure.