(332d) Dual-Dividing Wall Column R&D and Deployment

Dual-Dividing Wall Column R&D and Deployment

Robert Piszczek, Michael L. Hergenrother, Sundar Narayanan, Rustom Billimoria

ExxonMobil Research and Engineering (EMRE) Company

EMRE discovered simplified design configurations for Multi-Partition Dividing Wall Columns (MP-DWC) that contain two dividing walls and are referred to as Dual-Dividing Wall Columns (DDWC). DDWC is the next generation of Dividing Wall Columns (DWC) technology that utilizes Process Intensification (PI) to produce up to six high purity products (>99 wt%) in one vessel at reduced CAPEX, OPEX, and plot space compared to multiple conventional columns and/or DWCs in series.

Multiple process configurations with DDWCs were developed and screened for a potential first commercial deployment for a new chemicals project. Numerous technical challenges were encountered, mitigated, and no showstoppers are anticipated.

Cost estimates indicate total erected cost (TEC) savings of 30% for a 6-Product DDWC compared to the next best alternative consisting of two DWCs and one conventional column in series. A risk mitigation strategy was developed to reduce the potential risk exposure for the first deployment of DDWC technology. As a result, a lower consequence 5-Product DDWC configuration with prorated CAPEX savings of 20% was selected as the lead option for further development, evaluation, and detailed design in parallel to the Stage 3 base process configuration for the project. Also, energy savings of up to 25% were projected but depend on each specific application and DDWC design philosophy.

Robert Piszczek, P.E. graduated from Rutgers University with B.S. and M.S. in chemical engineering. He has over 17 years of experience in process engineering in the areas of distillation (9 yrs), process control (6 yrs), gas treating and wet treating (2 yrs). He is currently on assignment as the Distillation Specialist for ExxonMobil Asia Pacific PTE LTD for Singapore.