Optimization of Pressure Swing Distillation (PSD) Process for Production of Anhydrous Ethanol using RSM

Separation of azeotropic mixtures is one of the interesting topics in the chemical industries. Various methods were developed for azeotropic mixtures including extractive distillation, azeotropic distillation, PSD, and membrane distillation. The relative volatility of components in an azeotropic mixture changes with pressure, So, the azeotropic point can be shifted, allowing for the mixture separation. In this paper, the separation of azeotropic mixture of ethanol and water was carried out using PSD. Optimization was performed using RSM. The design was carried out using Box-Behnken (BBD) method. The parameters studied were reflux ratio of two columns, pressure of the second column and boilup ratio of the second column. The responses studied include concentrations of ethanol and water in two products and heat duties of reboilers and condensers of two columns. Based on the results in the best conditions, the concentration of ethanol and water are ۰.۹۹۵ and ۰.۹۹۱ respectively.

کلیدواژه ها:

Pressure Swing Distillation ، PSD ، Optimization ، Anhydrous ethanol ، Response Surface Methodology