An innovative energy saving based on self-heat recuperation for distillation process

An innovative energy saving based on self-heat recuperation for distillation processes is proposed. The energy saving occurs via internal heat circulation of the process. It consists of a heat circulation module and a distillation module in which the heating and cooling loads are balanced by energy/exergy analysis. The self-heat recuperation technology proposed in previous studies is adopted, and thus, the heat of condensation and the cooling heat are recuperated by compressors, and exchanged with the heat of vaporization and the heating heat using heat exchangers in both the heat circulation and distillation modules. The self-heat recuperation technology helps to achieve a drastic energy saving for distillation of > 80% in comparison with a benchmark distillation involving the use of an external heat source and a reboiler for heating. This is an abstract of a paper presented at the 2012 AIChE Spring Meeting and 8th Global Congress on Process Safety (Houston, TX 4/1-5/2012).