Refiner Benefits from Advanced Distillation Systems

This presentation gives a case study where a global refining company implemented Dividing Wall Column (DWC) technology to improve feedstock quality in an aromatics complex, while simultaneously reducing production cost. The application demonstrates that significant cost savings can be achieved without sacrificing flexibility or performance.

DWC technology is useful to separate a multi-component feed into three or more purified streams within a single tower, thereby eliminating the need for a second tower. There is a thermodynamic efficiency gained by designing a multi-component system with pre-fractionation followed by narrow-cut fractionation, which is done by segregating zones within the distillation column. Other variants of DWC distillation are used to gain heat recovery, or accomplish different unit operations within the same equipment. Collectively, these are termed â??Advanced Distillationâ?? systems.

The presentation is jointly prepared by licensor and operator, and includes the following topics:

• Basic concepts of dividing wall columns
• Case study of DWC retrofit into an existing refinery column
• Other applications where Advanced Distillation is applicable