John P. O'Connell1, Katie P. Bellezza2, James E. Murphy2, Maximilian B. Gorensek3, Paul M. Mathias4, Mark C. Thies5, and Jacob M. Crosthwaite6. (1) University of Virginia, 102 Engineers' Way, Charlottesville, VA 22904, (2) Chemical Engineering, University of Virginia, 102 Engineers' Way, Charlottesville, VA 22904, (3) Computational Science and Statistics Department, Savannah River National Laboratory, Aiken, SC 29808, (4) Fluor Corporation, 3 Polaris Way, Aliso Viejo, CA 92698, (5) Clemson University, Dept of Chemical Engineering, Earle Hall, Clemson, SC 29634-0909, (6) Chemical Engineering, Clemson University, Dept of Chemical Engineering, Earle Hall, Clemson, SC 29634-0909
Investigation has been made of the consequences of changing conditions and configurations of the reactive distillation column proposed for obtaining hydrogen and recycle iodine from feed hydriodic acid in section III of the sulfur-iodine process for thermochemical decomposition of water. Current designs involve degrading considerable amounts of energy for the reboiler and condenser, impacting the overall process efficiency. This analysis should be useful for the selection and design of the optimum process for this vital part of the system.
The presentation describes the results of systematic studies involving changes in column pressure, reflux ratio, feed plate location, etc., with implications for more effective optimization of the column. In addition, examination has been made of the sensitivity of the results to property modeling and, especially, to the impact of the conditions where multiple liquid phases appear under certain conditions, as indicated by newly measured data.