Process design and multi-objective optimization for separation of different feed composition of acetonitrile / ethanol / water with extractive distillation by varying pressure / pervaporation

In order to separate and purify the reaction raw material ethanol (EtOH) and product acetonitrile (ACN) from the azeotrope of ACN / EtOH / water, an efficient extractive distillation by varying pressure process (EDP) was designed to separate them. Because the feed composition in industrial production was constantly changing, processes of different feed compositions was simulated. Taking into account both economic and environmental factors, the non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm comprehensively optimizes the parameters. The azeotrope was pressure sensitive and the pressure parameter was also optimized in order to improve the efficiency of process energy utilization. Heat exchange network optimization technology was used to fully utilize excess heat in the process. The distillation coupled pervaporation technology has also been designed to explore emerging technologies. Among the three different coupling processes, the performance of EDP-pervaporation (EDPV) was better. Compared with EDP, EDPV under different schemes reduce the total annual cost (TAC) and gas emissions by more than 15% and 21 %, respectively. It was found that the energy consumption was related to the normal distance from the feed composition to the distillation boundary and isovolatility curve.

Automated summary

An efficient extractive distillation by varying pressure process (EDP) was designed to separate the azeotrope of ACN / EtOH / water, using a non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm to optimize parameters considering economic and environmental factors. The sensitivity of the azeotrope to pressure was exploited to improve process energy utilization, and heat exchange network optimization and distillation coupled pervaporation technology were applied to further enhance the separation efficiency. Among the three coupling processes, EDP-pervaporation (EDPV) exhibited the best performance, reducing the total annual cost and gas emissions significantly.