A novel combination of internal and external heat integrations in

batch distillation: Application to a reactive system

Debadrita Maiti, Amiya K. Jana
*
Energy and Process Engineering Laboratory, Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur 721 302, India
h i g h l i g h t s
v We develop an internally energy integrated batch distillation.
v Vapor recompression scheme is further introduced to boost thermal efciency.
v The hybrid mechanism is illustrated by a batch reactive distillation.
a r t i c l e i n f o
Article history:
Received 20 January 2013
Accepted 24 May 2013
Available online 4 June 2013
Keywords:
Heat integration
Batch distillation
Internal and external coupling
Energy
Economics
a b s t r a c t
Studies on the thermal integration of batch rectier have received almost no attention, although it is
well-known for continuous distillation since the 1960s. In this contribution, we aim to develop an energy
integration approach for batch distillation columns by thermally coupling the rectication tower with
the concentric reboiler that surrounds the tower as a jackted. In this internally heat integrated batch
distillation with a jacketed reboiler (IHIBDJR), the vapor produced in the concentric reboiler is com-
pressed and then it enters the bottom of the rectier. With the judicious use of internal heat source, the
proposed IHIBDJR shows its attractiveness in terms of energy savings and payback time of excess capital.
The pressure elevation from the jacketed reboiler to rectifying section generates a possibility of further
intensication through the introduction of direct vapor recompression mechanism in the IHIBDJR. This
novel combination of internal and external heat integrations can utilize the latent heat, an additional
internal source, released by the compressed overhead vapor in vaporizing the reboiler liquid. After
deriving the general form of this combined heat integrated structure, the mechanism is nally illustrated
by a batch reactive distillation. This hybrid conguration shows promising energetic and economic po-
tential over the IHIBDJR and its conventional counterpart.
2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
The steady increase of fossil fuel prices and the uncertainties of
their long-term availability, along with the environmental alarm
owingtothegreenhousegas emissions, havepromotedresearchwork
on the improvement of process energy efciency. It is well-known
that the distillation, which is the workhorse of chemical process in-
dustries, is anenergy intensive but not anenergyefcient process. For
the purpose of enhancing the thermodynamic efciency, heat inte-
gration appears to be the most effective method and has already
found wide applications in continuous distillation columns [1,2].
Broadly speaking, there are two ways to intensify the distillation
processes. One is the external energy integration that includes the
vapor recompression column (VRC) [e.g. Refs. [3e6]]. The other one
classied as internal energy integration includes the internally heat
integrated distillation column (HIDiC) [e.g. Refs. [7e15]] and the
divided-wall column (DWC) [e.g. Refs. [16e21]]. The distillation
assisted by a heat pump of the vapor recompression type is a well
established technology and it is an economic way to conserve en-
ergy particularly when the temperature difference between the
overhead and bottom of the column is small and the head load is
high [6,22]. The Petlyuk column or DWC is already implemented in
industry with 100 units all over the world [21]. On the other hand,
the nal phase of testing on HIDiC is going on in Japan and in the
Netherlands [23]. Interestingly, all the aforementioned thermally
coupled schemes are devised for continuous distillation systems.
Therefore, we have undertaken this research project to explore the
possibility of energy intensication in batch distillation columns.
A remarkable shift toward batch distillation technology has been
noticed during the last two decades because of the exponential
* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: akjana@che.iitkgp.ernet.in (A.K. Jana).
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2013.05.039
Applied Thermal Engineering 59 (2013) 405e413
growth of the ne-chemical, food and pharmaceutical industries. The
operational exibility of batch rectiers makes them particularly
suitable for smaller amounts of products with high added value,
multi-product or multi-purpose operations. However, the batch
distillation has long been known as a highly energy inefcient pro-
cess, even compared to its continuous counterpart.
Takamatsu et al. [24] congure a thermally coupled scheme rst
time for a batch rectier and after a long gap, Jana and his co-
workers [25] have evaluated the energy saving and economical
potentials of that internally heat integrated structure. Recently, an
externally energy integrated batch rectier is introduced by the
same research group [26] showing sharp reduction in operating
expenses and total annualized cost (TAC). Till now, only a little
research work has been reported on the thermal coupling in batch
distillation, so this area is only beginning to be explored.
For boosting further the thermodynamic and economic perfor-
mance, this work proposes a novel combination of internal and
external heat integrations introducing direct vapor recompression
approach in the internally heat integrated batch distillation with a
jacketed reboiler (IHIBDJR). In order to illustrate this hybrid VRCe
IHIBDJR mechanism, a multicomponent batch distillation with
esterication reaction is taken as a representative process. To our
knowledge, nosuchheat integratedstructure is reportedinliterature.
2. Conventional batch distillation (CBD)
A conventional batch column consists of a rectication tower
equipped with a reboiler (or still) at the bottom along with an
overhead condenser. The batch distillation is inherently an un-
steady state process and operated in two consecutive phases:
startup phase (close operation mode) and production phase (open
operation mode). Initially, the feed mixture is charged in the large
reboiler, on the trays and in the reux drum. The column starts
running in close operation mode under total reux condition, i.e. no
distillate is withdrawn from the top. During this startup phase, the
concentration of the lightest component in the reux accumulator
gradually increases until it reaches the steady state. In the subse-
quent stage (i.e. production phase), the column is operated in open
mode and the product is collected under partial reux condition.
Note that we can start product withdrawal as soon as the lightest
component met the composition specication, without waiting for
the steady state to be attained. For brevity, more details of batch
distillation, including the mathematical model and computer
simulation, are not included here and available elsewhere [27].
As stated, the batchdistillationprovides operational exibilityand
involves less capital investment than its continuous counterpart. In
contrast, the batch scheme is relatively less energy efcient. Keeping
this issue in mind, the present work attempts to improve the ther-
modynamic performance of the batch rectiers through energy
intensication route. The reduction of energy consumption leads not
onlytoa moreefcient andeconomical process but it alsoparticipates
toward a cleaner environment by minimizing ue gas emissions.
3. Internally heat integrated batch distillation with a jacketed
reboiler (IHIBDJR)
3.1. Principle and conguration
The schematic representation of a typical IHIBDJR structure is
shown in Fig. 1. As can be seen, the rectication tower is surrounded
with a concentric reboiler and the overhead condenser is placed, as
usual, at the top. To accomplish internal heat transfer from the
rectifying section to the reboiler, the rectier is operated at a higher
pressure (i.e. a higher temperature) than the still. For this, the vapor
produced in the still is compressed and then it enters the bottomof
the rectier. This mechanism leads to the transfer of heat through
the common wall by an indirect contact of the rectifying hot vapor
stream with the reboiler liquid. As a consequence, continuous
condensation of the vapor phase takes place along the rectier and
continuous evaporation, i.e. vapor generation, occurs in the reboiler.
It is clear that this energy integration leads to the reduction of
condenser and reboiler heat loads but at the expense of additional
compressor duty. We are aware that the electricity for driving the
compressor is several times more expensive than the thermal utility.
Therefore, here we aim to develop a thermally coupled IHIBDJC
scheme that should properly utilize the internal heat so that the
overall performance is improved in terms of energy consumption and
cost.
3.2. Mathematical model
The key assumptions adopted for introducing the energy inte-
gration in a batch distillation are:
v Internal heat transfer is estimated by UADT, where U is the
overall heat transfer coefcient (kJ/hr.m
2
.K), A the heat transfer
area (m
2
) and DT the temperature difference (K) between the
coupled tray and jacketed still.
v The liquid feed occupies 70% volume of the still pot, which
corresponds to a certain height in the rectier, and remaining
30% is left for the vapor disengagement.
v In the jacketed reboiler, naturally the vapor phase is present
just above the liquid phase. In comparison to the liquid phase,
the vapor phase leads to an insignicant overall heat transfer
coefcient. Hence, we neglect the internal heat transfer from
the hot rectier to the reboiled vapor.
As time progresses, the liquid height in the jacketed reboiler
decreases and this happens because of the continuous vapor gen-
eration. Accordingly, the heat transfer area decreases and this, in
turn, affects the rate of internal heat transfer.
In order to represent the heat integration, we develop the model
of IHIBDJR in the following form.
3.2.1. Internal heat transfer through the common wall
The heat transfer from the high pressure rectier to low pres-
sure reboiler is calculated by using:
Q
N
= UA
N
(T
N
T
B
) (1)
Here, T represents the temperature (K), and Q the rate of internal
heat transfer (kJ/hr). Subscripts N and B denote the Nth tray and
reboiler, respectively.
Distillate
Heat
Compressor
Condenser
Fig. 1. The IHIBDJR scheme.
D. Maiti, A.K. Jana / Applied Thermal Engineering 59 (2013) 405e413 406
3.2.2. Compressor
We estimate the work of the compressor (Q
comp
in kJ/hr) using:
Q
comp
=
V
B
mRT
B
m 1
_
_
_
P
C
P
B
_m1
m
1
_
_
(2)
Here, V
B
is the vapor inow rate to the compressor (kmol/hr), R
the ideal gas constant, and P the pressure (atm). Subscript C rep-
resents the compressed from. The value of polytropic coefcient (m)
is calculated from:
1=(m 1) =

[y
i
=(m 1)[ (3)
where, y
i
is the composition of component i in vapor phase. The
temperature of compressed vapor, T
C
(K) that enters the bottom of
the rectier is obtained as:
T
C
= T
B
_
P
C
P
B
_m1
m
(4)
where, P
C
/P
B
signies the compression ratio (CR).
3.3. Energy consumption
There are basically two approaches followed in investigating the
energetic performance improvement of a distillation column: one
is in terms of energy efciency and second one is in the aspects of
energy savings. In the former approach [1,28], the thermodynamic
efciency of both the conventional column and its heat integrated
counterpart is calculated, based on which, the energetic perfor-
mance improvement is obtained. In the later approach, the energy
savings achieved by the heat integrated scheme is estimated with
reference to the conventional stand alone column. In the present
study, the second approach is followed and it is briey presented
below (e.g., [29,30]).
For computing the heat duty of a heat integrated batch distil-
lation (HIBD), Q
HIBD
we add the reboiler duty, Q
R
with three times
the compressor duty, Q
comp
as:
Q
HIBD
= Q
R
3Q
comp
(5)
As suggested by Iwakabe et al. [30], it is logical to assume that
3 kW of thermal energy is needed to produce 1 kW of electrical
power.
We employ the above Eq. (5) for both startup period, Q
SP
and
production period, Q
PP
. Accordingly, the total energy consumption,
Q
total
is obtained as:
Q
total
= Q
SP
Q
PP
(6)
In order to calculate the energy savings achieved by the IHIBDJR
with reference to the CBD, we use:
% Energy savings =
Q
CBD
total
Q
IHIBDJR
total
Q
CBD
total
100 (7)
3.4. Economics
It is experienced that the improvement in thermodynamic ef-
ciency is usually achieved at the expense of capital investment.
Hence, once a thermodynamically efcient process scheme is
identied, the economic feasibility is tested in the next. This section
deals with the cost estimation of batch distillation columns in
terms of total annualized cost (TAC), which has the following form:
TAC($=yr) = operating cost(OC)
capital investment(CI)
payback period
(8)
Here the capital cost combines the cost of distillation column,
heat exchangers and compressor. The cost estimating formulas are
documented in Table 1. For the sake of simplicity, the operating
costs are taken to be identical to utility (heating steam, cooling
water and electricity) costs, i.e. the number resulting from the
summation of electricity (0.084 $/kW h), steam (17 $/ton) and
cooling water (CW) (0.06 $/ton) costs [13] for a year with 330
working days. Furthermore, we consider the operation of a single
batch cycle per day. For computing the TAC, we assume a payback
period of 3 years. The operating cost of the compressor is calculated
based on the bhp and a motor efciency of 0.8 [31]. It is worthy to
mention that in this cost estimation, a penalty of 10% is deliberately
added to the corresponding capital investment taking into account
the complexity involved in fabricating the heat integrated
structure.
4. A novel combination of internal and external heat
integrations: proposed VRCeIHIBDJR scheme
In the conventional batch distillation, the rectier top tem-
perature is less than the reboiler temperature. As mentioned
Table 1
Cost estimating formula [31] and parameter value [32,33].
- Column shell:
_
M&S
280
_
101:9D
1:066
c
L
0:802
c
(c
in
cmcp)
where, D
c
is the column diameter, L
c
the column height, M & S the
Marshall and Swift index (=980), and the coefcients c
in
= 2.18, c
m
= 3.67
and c
p
= 1.2.
- Column tray:
_
M&S
280
_
4:7D
1:55
c
Lc(cs ct cm)
where, the coefcients c
s
= 1, c
t
= 0 and c
m
= 1.7.
- Heat exchanger:
_
M&S
280
_
101:3A
0:65
(c
in
cm(ct cp))
where, the coefcients c
in
= 2.29, c
m
= 3.75, c
t
= 0.1 and c
p
= 1.35.
- Compressor:
_
M&S
280
_
517:5Q
0:83
comp
(2:11 F
C
)
Where, the correction factor for the compressor (F
C
) is taken as 1.0.
C
2
Distillate
Heat C
1
Condenser
Overhead
vapor
Fig. 2. The proposed VRCeIHIBDJR scheme [C = compressor].
D. Maiti, A.K. Jana / Applied Thermal Engineering 59 (2013) 405e413 407
earlier, when the temperature difference between the liquid
leaving the bottom tray and the overhead vapor is reasonably
high, the energy intensication within the framework of direct
vapor recompression mechanism is not economically attractive.
However, in case of the IHIBDJR scheme, usually the whole recti-
cation tower remains hotter than the jacketed reboiler. Therefore,
the possibility of external heat integration in the IHIBDJR is
generated, which may further strengthen its advantages over the
CBD column.
There are mainly two ways for applying the external energy
integration technique in the IHIBDJR structure. One way is to
thermally couple the overhead vapor with the bottom liquid
directly (without performing vapor compression) and the second
approach suggests the compression of overhead vapor before
coupling it with the reboiler liquid. In the later approach, attempt is
made to create an adequate temperature difference between the
coupled streams so that the latent heat of compressed overhead
vapor is optimally used in the still.
In this work, we follow the second approach that leads to the
introduction of VRC mechanism in the IHIBDJR column. This novel
combination of internal and external heat integrations is illustrated
in Fig. 2 and we call this combined structure here as the VRCe
IHIBDJR scheme. Unlike the conventional batch distillation, the
IHIBDJR column experiences a reverse trend in temperature prole
from the column top to the jacketed still (i.e., overhead vapor is
hotter than reboiler liquid). As a result, the second compressor (C
2
)
requires a reasonably low operating CR, thereby leading to an
improvement of overall thermodynamic efciency.
The conguration of VRCeIHIBDJR has already been claried
and we now attempt to develop an unsteady state heat integrated
batch rectier with following a systematic route, starting from the
thermodynamic feasibility test, through the compression ratio
tuning, to the economic analysis. In the subsequent section, the
proposed VRCeIHIBDJR mechanism is derived for a batch reactive
distillation performing several simulation experiments.
5. An illustrative example: a batch reactive distillation
5.1. Process description and mathematical model
The conventional batch reactive distillation (CBRD) operates at
atmospheric pressure and has total 16 trays, excluding the reboiler
and total condenser. The trays are counted from bottom to top;
bottommost stage is the 1st tray and topmost stage the 16th tray.
The column consists of two sections, namely rectifying section (2nd
to 16th tray) and reactive zone (reboiler and 1st tray). By con-
ducting sensitivity tests (not shown), the trays are selected for
these two sections mainly based on (i) batch time, and (ii) reaction
conversion.
5.1.1. Reaction kinetics
The representative column is a heterogeneously catalyzed pro-
cess, and it produces n-butyl acetate (BuAc) and water (H
2
O) by the
esterication of n-butanol (BuOH) with acetic acid (HAc). The
following reaction proceeds only in the liquid phase.
The rectication zone operates exactly as a nonreactive distil-
lation column, purifying product stream. n-Butyl acetate is formed
in the reaction zone and gets accumulated in the still. For the
esterication reaction, the pseudohomogeneous (PH) model has
been used. Esterication reactions are known to be reversible re-
actions of second order. Accordingly, the PH model [34] has the
following form:
r
j
= m
dx
j
dt
= d
j
M
cat
K
f
_
a
HAc
a
BuOH

1
K
a
a
BuAc
a
H2O
_
(9)
where,
a
j
= x
j
g
j
(10)
Here, r
j
denotes the reaction rate of component j (mol/s), x
j
the
liquid phase composition of jth component (mol fract.), d
j
the
stoichiometric coefcient of jth component, M
cat
the mass of the
catalyst (g), K
f
the forward reaction rate constant for esterication
(mol/g.s), K
a
the equilibrium constant of esterication, a
j
the ac-
tivity of jth component in the liquid phase, and g
j
the activity co-
efcient of jth component.
The temperature dependency of the rate constants K
j
is
expressed by the Arrhenius law:
K
j
= K
0
j
exp
_
E
j
=RT
_
(11)
The kinetic data for the PH model are reported in Table 2. The
UNIQUAC model is used to determine the activity coefcients in the
liquid phase. Values of UNIQUAC parameters and Antoine constants
are documented in Table 3.
5.1.2. Distillation model
The fundamental model [36] for the batch reactive rectier is
derived based on the following assumptions:
v Negligible tray vapor holdups
v Variable liquid holdup in each tray
v Perfect mixing and equilibrium on all trays
v No chemical reactions in the vapor phase
v Reaction occurred only in the reactive zone
v Total condensation with no subcooling
v No azeotropes formation
v Constant stage pressure drop (=0.3 kPa) and tray efciency
(vapor-phase Murphree efciency = 75%)
v Modied Raoults law (y
j
= g
j
P
0
j
x
j
=P
t
) for the vaporeliquid
equilibrium
Table 2
Kinetic parameters for the pseudohomogeneous model [34].
Reaction j K
0
j
(mol/g.s) E
j
(kJ/mol)
Esterication 1 6.1084 10
4
56.67
Hydrolysis 1 9.8420 10
4
67.66
Table 3
Thermodynamic data for the butyl acetate system [35].
Antoine constants, and the area and volume parameters for the UNIQUAC model
Component (no.) A B C r q
HAc (1) 22.1001 3654.62 45.392 2.2024 2.072
BuOH (2) 21.9783 3080.66 96.150 3.4543 3.052
BAc (3) 21.07637 3151.09 69.150 4.8274 4.196
H
2
O (4) 23.2256 3835.18 45.343 0.92 1.4
Antoine equation
ln(P
0
) = A (B/(T C)), where P
0
in Pa and T in K.
Binary interaction parameters for the UNIQUAC model (cal/mol)
U
11
= 0.0 U
21
= 68.0083 U
31
= 712.2349 U
41
= 527.9269
U
12
= 298.4344 U
22
= 0.0 U
32
= 24.6386 U
42
= 581.1471
U
13
= 131.7686 U
23
= 148.2833 U
33
= 0.0 U
43
= 461.4747
U
14
= 343.593 U
24
= 82.5336 U
34
= 685.71 U
44
= 0.0
Lattice coordination number (Z) = 10
D. Maiti, A.K. Jana / Applied Thermal Engineering 59 (2013) 405e413 408
v UNIQUAC model to compute activity coefcients (g
j
)
v Nonlinear Francis weir formula for liquid hydraulics
calculations
Note that P
0
j
denotes the vapor pressure of jth component and P
t
the total pressure. The scheme of a typical nthplate is showninFig. 3.
The plate is fed with a liquid feed mixture. Side streams are with-
drawn in state of both liquid and vapor. The model of a typical nth
plate consisting of MESH (Material balance, vaporeliquid Equilib-
rium, mole fraction Summation and Heat balance) equations is pre-
sented below.
Total mole balance
_ m
n
= L
n1
V
n1
F
n

_
L
n
S
L
n
_

_
V
n
S
V
n
_
R
f

C
j =1
d
j
r
n
(12)
Component mole balance
_ m
n
_ x
n; j
= L
n1
x
n1;j
V
n1
y
n1;j
F
n
z
n;j

_
L
n
S
L
n
_
x
n;j

_
V
n
S
V
n
_
y
n;j
R
f
d
j
r
n
(13)
Energy balance
_ m
n
_
H
L
n
= L
n1
H
L
n1
V
n1
H
V
n1
F
n
H
F
n

_
L
n
S
L
n
_
H
L
n

_
V
n
S
V
n
_
H
V
n
R
f
r
n
H
r
n
Q
n
(14)
Equilibrium
y
n;j
= k
n;j
x
n;j
(15)
Summation

C
j =1
x
n;j
= 1 (16)

C
j =1
y
n;j
= 1 (17)
In the above modeling equations, x
n,j
is the mole fraction of
component j in a liquid stream leaving nth tray, y
n,j
the mole frac-
tion of j in a vapor stream leaving nth tray, L
n
the liquid ow rate
leaving nth tray, V
n
the vapor ow rate leaving nth tray, F
n
the feed
ow rate entering nth tray, m
n
the liquid holdup on nth tray, H
F
n
the
enthalpy of feed stream entering nth tray, H
L
n
the enthalpy of a
liquid stream leaving nth tray, H
V
n
the enthalpy of a vapor stream
leaving nth tray, k
n,j
the vaporeliquid equilibrium coefcient spe-
cic to nth tray and jth component, Q
n
the heat loss from nth tray,
and H
r
n
the heat of reaction for nth tray. Here, R
f
is a multiplication
factor which takes values equal to zero for nonreactive and one for
reactive stage. The dot symbol (_) is used to represent the time de-
rivative. The time derivative of the multiplication of two variables,
say m and x, is denoted here by _ m_ x (=d(mx)/dt).
Heat of formation is considered while computing the enthalpies
of streams by means of which the heat of reaction term can be
removed from the energy balance equation. In the simulation,
algebraic formof equations [37] has been simulated to compute the
vapor and liquid enthalpies. It is worthy to mention that for a batch
distillation, values of feed ow rate (F) and bottomow rate (B) are
taken as zero. In addition, in the sample batch reactive column, no
side streams (S
L
n
= S
V
n
= 0) are involved. Negligible heat loss from
a stage to the surroundings (Q
n
= 0) is also assumed.
The internal heat integration approach will be applied on this
representative batch reactive distillation. The resulting internally
heat integrated batch reactive distillation with a jacketed reboiler
(IHIBRDJR) scheme additionally includes Eqs. (1)e(4). Like the
CBRD model, the IHIBRDJR model structure, consisting of mass
balance, energy balance and algebraic equations/correlations, is
derived in the form of differential-algebraic equations (DAE). We
have developed the computer code using the language C/C for
rigorous simulation of the DAE system.
The operating conditions and column specications are reported
in Table 4. Table 5 shows the still and reux drum compositions at
steady state and at the end of batch operation. The representative
column is treated with a distillate policy [38] based on which, the
lightest product, water is removed as distillate at the early stage of
production phase. As a consequence, the column gets progressively
richer with the main product, butyl acetate. It is obvious fromTable 5
that the nal mixture in the still consists mainly of butyl acetate and a
small amount of reactants. In order to present a meaningful compar-
isonbetweenthe CBRDandIHIBRDJR, along withthe identical startup
conditions, we attempt to keep the output specications same.
5.2. Development of internally heat integrated batch reactive
distillation with a jacketed reboiler (IHIBRDJR) scheme
5.2.1. Thermodynamic feasibility
With no heat integration between the rectifying tower and the
jacketed still, the IHIBRDJR will run with maximum condenser and
reboiler duties. To transfer any heat fromthe rectier to the still pot,
there must be a thermal driving force. After 2 h of starting the
Ln 1 + Vn
x j n , 1 +
y
j n,
S
V
n
, y
j n,
Fn
,
z j n,
S
L
n
,
x j n,
Ln Vn 1
x j n,
y
j n , 1
Tray n
(holdup =
mn
)
Fig. 3. Quantities associated with a typical nth tray.
Table 4
Operating conditions and column specications for both CBRD and IHIBRDJR.
System HAc/BuOH/BuAc/H
2
O
Feed composition (mol fract) 0.45/0.45/0.05/0.05
Total feed charge (kmol) 180 (reboiler) 16 0.9 (trays)
6 (reux drum)
Reboiler heat duty (kW) 878.43
Reboiler pressure (atm) 1.0
Distillate rate (kmol/hr) 11.44
Column diameter (m) 0.586
Column length (m) 10.12
D. Maiti, A.K. Jana / Applied Thermal Engineering 59 (2013) 405e413 409
column (startup phase), Fig. 4 displays the temperature for each
stage in rectifying section (T
N
) and that in reboiler (T
B
), before
performing any internal heat transfer. The temperature prole
along the rectier is obtained at a typical compression ratio of 2.4.
As shown in Fig. 4, one may nd that the temperature driving force
is always positive between all the rectifying stages and the jacketed
still, i.e. rectifying column is hotter. It clearly indicates the possible
heat transfer for butyl acetate system from the rectier to the still
pot, and the sample batch reactive distillation is a suitable case for
thermal integration. Because of the reason stated previously, the
feasibility region of thermal integration is selected to a height
equivalent up to 12th stage of the rectication tower at the starting
of a batch cycle.
5.2.2. Tuning of compression ratio (CR)
Now we wish to tune the CR of the IHIBRDJR by comparing its
overall performance with reference to the conventional stand alone
column. In this regard, a number of sensitivity tests have been
conducted and the results are summarized in Table 6. For a suc-
cessful thermally coupled structure, we should achieve positive
energy savings and economic benets. Here, the operating CR is
tuned on the basis of these two criteria along with the cut off value
of DT
min
of 10

C. It is reasonable to assume a driving force
(=DT =T
N
T
B
) of about 10

C for internal heat transfer through the

wall. It is evident in Table 6 that the rst four cases (Case 1 to Case
4) do not fulll the last criterion concerning DT
min
and therefore,
they are not considered for further investigation. Among the rest
cases (Case 5 to Case 9), Case 8 provides the maximum energy
savings of 45.1% and it is followed by Case 7 (42.93%). Again if we
see Fig. 5 (and to some extent Table 7), it is evident that Case 7
shows the best economic performance with a least payback period
of 3.11 years. Therefore, Case 7 is nally selected for further
intensication within the framework of direct vapor recompression
technique.
One interesting result we notice in Table 6 that for maintaining
nearly the same minimum temperature difference (i.e., DT
min
) in
both startup and production phases (see Cases 7e9), the IHIBRDJR
column should run at different compression ratios in these two
phases.
5.2.3. Process dynamics
Fig. 6 depicts the dynamic behavior of the proposed internally
heat integrated batch reactive distillation (Case 7). Both the startup
and production phase proles in terms of composition of all four
components are shown for reux drum and concentric still. Table 5
also reports the component compositions at two different states.
Like the CBRD, the proposed column reaches at steady state with a
distillate composition of water equals 0.857. The production phase
continues until the BuAc composition reaches about 0.90 at the top.
As indicated earlier, the reboiler duty, Q
R
is same for both the
CBRD and IHIBRDJR columns, and that heat input rate is remained
constant (i.e., Q
R
= 878.43 kW) throughout the batch operation. It
should be noted that the concentric still receives heat from two
sources: internal source, Q
IS
(i.e., hot rectier) and external source,
Q
ES
(i.e., steam). Since the energy available from internal source
cannot meet the demand (i.e., Q
IS
< Q
R
), therefore it is suggested to
use steam as an external heat source in the reboiler of the IHIBRDJR
system to provide the makeup energy:
Q
ES
= Q
R
Q
IS
(18)
Table 5
Component compositions in reux drum and reboiler.
Component Reux drum composition Reboiler composition
CBRD IHIBRDJR (Case7) CBRD IHIBRDJR (Case7)
At steady state
HAc 0.000747 0.000813 0.153818 0.184328
BuOH 0.007670 0.046866 0.153212 0.181377
BuAc 0.134583 0.095322 0.372679 0.344642
H
2
O 0.857000 0.85700 0.320291 0.289654
At the end of batch operation
HAc 0.056581 0.078837 0.013376 0.023258
BuOH 0.035409 0.012856 0.006422 0.001788
BuAc 0.900008 0.900008 0.980088 0.974882
H
2
O 0.008003 0.008314 0.000109 0.000070
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18
95
1 00
1 05
1 10
1 15
1 20
1 25
1 30
T
T
Tray position
T
e
m
p
e
r
a
t
u
r
e
,

0
C
Fig. 4. Tray temperature prole along the length of IHIBRDJR rectier in comparison
with constant reboiler temperature just after 2 h from the beginning of startup phase.
Table 6
Operating performance at different CR.
Case CR DT
min
,

C
a
Startup
period, hr
Q
SP
10
7
,
kJ
b
(A)
Energy saving at
startup period, %
Production
period, hr
Q
PP
10
7
,
kJ
c
(B)
Energy savings
production period, %
Q
total
10
7
kJ
(A B)
Overall energy
savings, %
Case 1 2.4 10.3/0.05 5.7 1.42 55.48 12.84 3.32 20.38 4.74 35.60
Case 2 2.6 12.93/2.62 6.3 1.46 54.23 12.82 3.17 23.98 4.63 37.09
Case 3 2.8 15.4/5.03 7.01 1.52 52.35 12.8 3.04 27.1 4.56 38.04
Case 4 3.0 17.73/7.31 7.88 1.59 50.15 12.78 2.92 29.98 4.51 38.72
Case 5 3.2 19.94/9.47 8.97 1.68 47.3 12.76 2.80 32.86 4.48 39.13
Case 6 3.4 22.03/11.5 10.4 1.81 43.26 12.75 2.7 35.25 4.51 38.72
Case 7 2.4/3.27 10.3/10.2 5.7 1.42 55.48 12.76 33.33 4.20 42.93 2.78
Case 8 2.78/3.78 15.16/15.2 6.93 1.51 52.66 12.92 2.53 39.32 4.04 45.10
Case 9 3.22/4.36 20.15/20.24 9.09 1.69 47.02 15.75 2.71 35.01 4.40 40.20
CBRD e e 10.09 3.19 e 13.19 4.17 e 7.36 e
a
DT
min
is the minimum temperature difference between the tray (among 1st to 12th stages) and the jacketed reboiler throughout the operation (startup/production) with
no internal heat exchange through the common wall.
b
Q
SP
is the amount of heat consumed during startup period.
c
Q
PP
is the amount of heat consumed during production period.
D. Maiti, A.K. Jana / Applied Thermal Engineering 59 (2013) 405e413 410
Because of the unsteady state nature of the batch distillation, the
external steam ow rate varies with time and it is straightforward
to manipulate the ow rate using the above equation.
5.3. Development of the proposed VRCeIHIBRDJR structure
For Case 7, we have observed that the overhead vapor is hotter
than the reboiler liquid by about 10

C. It promotes us to explore the

possibilities of further energy intensication by thermally coupling
the overhead vapor with the reboiler liquid. In this work, we
introduce the external heat integration mechanism(i.e., VRC) in the
IHIBRDJR without affecting the dynamic performance of the inter-
nally heat integrated scheme.
Fig. 7 demonstrates the temperature prole in terms of thermal
driving force, DT
T
(=T
16
T
B
) throughout the batch operation. It is
supposed for the combined VRCeIHIBRDJR scheme that the com-
plete condensation of compressed vapor can occur only when the
temperature difference, DT
C
(=T
16C
T
B
) is at least 20

C. Here T
16
denotes the temperature of overhead vapor, and T
16C
the temper-
ature of compressed overhead vapor.
By analyzing Fig. 7, we concentrate on devising the VRC scheme
for two scenarios. In rst scenario, we operate the second
compressor (C
2
) throughout the whole batch operation (Case 10)
and in second scenario, C
2
is operated only when DT
T
remains
below 20

C (Case 11). As marked in Fig. 7, there exist two regions
below 20

C, one for each startup and production phases. Anyway,
we nd separate CR value for the startup and production periods.
The CR value is actually determined in order to ensure DT
C
_ 20

C
with reference to a time step at which DT
T
is lowest. Accordingly,
we obtain the same CR values [1.14 (startup phase)/1.16(production
phase)] for both Cases 10 and 11.
It is interesting to note that the hybrid VRCeIHIBRDJR system
involves an additional internal heat source, i.e. latent heat of
compressed overhead vapor. Sometimes, the heat released by the
complete overhead vapor in compressed form through phase
change is more than the required heat supplied from external
Case5 Case6 Case7 Case8 Case9
3.0
3.5
4.0
4.5
5.0
5.5
6.0
Case6 Case7 Case8 Case9
0
10
20
30
40
50
Case5
Case5
Case6 Case7 Case8 Case9
3.0
3.2
3.4
3.6
3.8
4.0
P
a
y
b
a
c
k

p
e
r
i
o
d
,

y
r
A
B
C
O
v
e
r
a
l
l

e
n
e
r
g
y

s
a
v
i
n
g
s
,

%
T
A
C

x

1
0
-
5
,

$
/
y
r
Fig. 5. Inuence of CR on (A) overall energy savings, (B) TAC, and (C) payback period.
Table 7
Economic overview.
Item CBRD IHIBRDJR
Case 5 Case 6 Case 7 Case 8 Case 9 Case 10 Case 11
Capital Investment (CI), $
Column shell 78220.97 78220.97 78220.97 78220.97 78220.97 78220.97 78220.97 78220.97
Column tray 4061.72 4061.72 4061.72 4061.72 4061.72 4061.72 4061.72 4061.72
Condenser 60312.5 53933.14 54459.7 51492.26 52722.06 53987.18 43911.13 43911.13
Reboiler 83102.3 83102.3 83102.3 83102.3 83102.3 83102.3 83102.3 83102.3
Compressor 0.0 305103.78 322075.8 310844.7 354644.2 416698.1 320875.58 313981.22
Total CI 225697.49 524421.91 541920.49 527721.95 572751.25 636070.27 530171.70 523277.30
Operating Cost, $/yr
Heating steam 219777.48 67845.88 59764.19 72517.97 54809.89 32775.35 720.84 706.77
Cooling water 10161.1 3817.6 3569.74 3818.93 3187.97 2672.72 298.79 305.0
Electricity 0.0 70787.8 80226.53 56603.69 70657.47 105916.4 59392.94 58198.91
Total OC 229938.58 142451.28 143560.46 132940.59 128655.33 141364.47 60412.57 59210.68
Payback time, yr e 3.41 3.66 3.11 3.43 4.63 1.80 1.74
Total Annualized Cost (TAC), $/yr
TAC 305171.08 317258.58 324200.62 308847.91 319572.41 353387.89 237136.47 233636.45
%TAC savings e 3.96 6.24 1.20 4.72 15.8 22.29 23.4
D. Maiti, A.K. Jana / Applied Thermal Engineering 59 (2013) 405e413 411
source. In that situation, a fraction of vapor leaving the column top,
V
/
16
that exactly alter the heat given by external steam is com-
pressed for thermal coupling and the rest amount,
V
//
16
( = V
16
V
/
16
) is directly sent to the overhead condenser. It in-
dicates the necessity of V
/
16
manipulation and this can be done
using:
V
/
16
=
Q
R
Q
IS
l(T
16C
)
(19)
So, there are two probabilities:
(i) when the overhead vapor fails to generate Q
R
Q
IS
amount of
heat (makeup heat) through the condensation process, we
need auxiliary heat input to the still by manipulating the
steam ow rate,
(ii) when the overhead vapor provides more than the required
makeup heat, manipulate the overhead vapor ow with no
steam input to the reboiler.
Truly speaking, it is hardly possible to obtain the exact amount
of vapor from column top that can perfectly meet the energy de-
mand with an amount of Q
R
Q
IS
at every time step. Therefore, in
the proposed scheme, either of these two manipulated variables
(steam ow rate or V
/
16
) is required to adjust for providing the
makeup energy to the still. It is observed for the representative
reactive system that both the variables participate in manipulation.
For Case 10, the manipulation of steam ow rate is involved for a
short time period and at the beginning of batch operation; for rest
of the time, the column adjusts V
/
16
only. On the other hand, in Case
11, although the steam ow rate is adjusted for a relatively long
time, still the manipulation of V
/
16
dominates.
At this moment, it is worthy to mention that by using the excess
amount of overhead vapor, when available, in VRC mechanism, we
do not nd any improvement in economical performance; rather it
affects the process dynamics. Note that the Q
R
of 878.43 kW is
determined as a pseudo-optimal value, and any other value of
reboiler duty may deteriorate the overall performance by
increasing the batch time.
Now we compare the VRC-IHIBRDJR system (Cases 10 and 11)
with the IHIBRDJR (Case 7) and its conventional counterpart. With
reference to the CBRD, the IHIBRDJR provides an energy savings of
42.93% (see Table 6), whereas the VRC-IHIBRDJR column secures a
74.46% and 75% reduction in energy consumption for Cases 10 and
11, respectively. As far as cost is concerned, similarly Case 11 of
the VRCeIHIBRDJR provides more or less same payback
period (1.74 yrs) with Case 10 of that scheme (1.8 yrs), whereas the
VRCeIHIBRDJR secures a lower payback period compared to the
IHIBRDJR (3.11 yrs). Evaluating the energetic and economic per-
formance, we observe a signicant improvement achieved by the
proposed VRCeIHIBDJR system (both Cases 10 and 11) over the
IHIBDJR and its conventional stand alone column.
6. Conclusions
In this article, a novel combination of internal and external heat
integrations is proposed for batch distillations. First, the congu-
ration for heat integration between the rectifying section and the
jacketed reboiler is derived. In this internally heat integrated
structure, namely IHIBDJR, the rectier operates at a higher pres-
sure (i.e., a higher temperature) than the concentric reboiler. It
leads to the transfer of heat fromthe hot rectier to the still through
a common wall. By this way, the internal energy integration helps
to improve process design in not only thermodynamic efciency
but also capital investment.
-2 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
(

T
1
6
-
T
B
)
,
0
C
Time, hr
Below 20
0
C Below 20
0
C
Fig. 7. DT
T
prole throughout the batch operation.
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
0.0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0.9
Production phase Startup phase
X
X
X
X
Time, hr
X
D
,

j

,

m
o
l

f
r
a
c
t
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
0.0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0.9
1.0
Production phase Startup phase
X
X
X
X
Time, hr
X
B
,

j
,

m
o
l

f
r
a
c
t
(B)
(A)
Fig. 6. Composition prole of IHIBRDJR (Case 7) throughout the batch operation in (A)
reux drum, and (B) jacketed reboiler.
D. Maiti, A.K. Jana / Applied Thermal Engineering 59 (2013) 405e413 412
In pursuit of further improvement in system performance, this
contribution introduces the direct vapor recompression mecha-
nism in the IHIBDJR scheme. Proposing the general process
conguration for the combined VRCeIHIBDJR, this thermal inte-
gration mechanism is illustrated by a reactive batch distillation.
This novel structure secures a substantial improvement in terms of
energy consumption and payback period with respect to the
IHIBDJR and its conventional counterpart. Although the proposed
thermally integrated scheme is found economically superior to its
conventional counterpart, it might give rise to additional dif-
culties in process operation and control, and these issues will be
addressed in our future work.
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