Presented at Distillation'2002 Symposium, Baden-Baden, Germany, Oct. 2002

SEPARATION OF TERNARY HETEROAZEOTROPIC MIXTURES IN A CLOSED MULTIVESSEL BATCH DISTILLATION-DECANTER HYBRID

Stathis Skouras and Sigurd Skogestad

Norwegian University of Science and Technology, NTNU, Trondheim, Norway

A multivessel batch distillation-decanter hybrid is proposed for the separation of ternary heterogeneous azeotropic mixtures. The column is operated as a closed system and the products are accumulated simultaneously at the vessels during one such 'total reflux' operation. Two ternary azeotropic mixtures of Serafimov's topological class 1.0-2 were studied. Simulated results for the first system verify the feasibility of the novel process in separating heterogeneous azeotropic mixtures. Results for the second mixture further justify the potential of the proposed distillation-decanter hybrid in separating close boiling temperature systems by the addition of a heavy heterogeneous entrainer.