Design and Control of HIDiC

Energy conservation in ethanol refinement was discussed in this paper. Ethanol is a candidate of the bio-energy that is useful for a crude oil remarkable rise and for global warming restraint. A new structure of HIDiC (Heat Integrated Distillation Columns) with alternating trays of rectifying section and stripping section was proposed in this research. Because it is a tray column, the correspondence of trays, between which heat is exchanged, is fixed and precise evaluation of exchanged heat can be performed. In not only HIDiC but also normal distillation columns, the realizable product purities have limits. If the desired purities are closed to the limits, the control is very difficult. Because the proposed HIDiC has large heat exchange area, high separate capability can be achieved without reboiler or condenser. Its controllability is higher than HIDiC in which only wall is the heat exchange area. Its superiority was shown in control simulation against the feed concentration changes