(25b) Three Products with High-Purity BTX Dividing Wall Columns in Operation

Dividing Wall Column (DWC) applications have seen a resurgence in the refining and petrochemicals industry with several such columns in operation world-wide. Currently, DWCs are employed in applications where product purities are low and a bit flexible such as naphtha/reformate splitters. This presentation will focus on applications where DWCs have been used to in high-purity product applications. Two case studies will be presented wherein the DWC column produces high-purity products.

• Case study of DWC application to a high-purity product grassroots column where mixed xylenes (99.95 wt% purity with more than 99% recovery) are obtained as the middle cut.
• Case study of DWC application to a high-purity B/T/X column where petrochemical-grade benzene, toluene and mixed xylenes are obtained.

The paper will discuss the design and operating challenges for such columns. Also, a comparison is made between the operating data and results from steady state simulations used in design. The control scheme of high-purity DWC columns is the most challenging part of design. The presentation will also discuss the control methodology along with results of dynamic simulation.

Authors:

• Manish Bhargava, mbhargava@gtctech.com
• Ashish Shah, ashah@gtctech.com

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