Dividing Wall Column - Reliable Solution for Efficient Refinery Separations

Conventional, multi-column, staged distillation has long been the industry’s standard separation method. While conventional distillation configurations offer simplicity of design, they are typically energy intensive and thermodynamically inefficient, especially in refining, where separation of multi-component mixtures is routine. Dividing wall columns can provide an efficient solution to satisfy selective separation demands in the system and can be designed to reduce cost and/or increase throughput for a given separations task.

Dividing wall column technology was first commercialized in 1985. Since then, acceptance by the refining industry has been limited due to concerns about operability & control. By contrast, dividing wall column technology is widely accepted in the chemicals industry with one leading chemicals producer employing more than 20 such installations throughout their facilities.

This paper presents KBR’s wealth of experience in successfully applying dividing wall technology to both grassroots and retrofit applications in refining applications, and also demonstrates that operability risk and control issues can be mitigated by applying a rigorous design procedure. Case studies presented herein take dividing wall column from concept to reality.