Internal Heat Exchange in a Concentric Tray Heat Integrated Distillation Column (CT-HIDiC):

The HIDiC is a concept of distillation to increase the energy efficiency. The HIDiC combines the advantages of the heat pump assisted column with the diabatic column. The rectification section and stripping section are separated and the rectification section is placed inside the stripping section. By compressing the flow from the stripping section to the rectification section, heat exchange between the two sections is possible. The goal of this study is to determine and validate process parameters with experimental data of the HIDiC pilot plant with and without equipped heat panels to increase the total heat transfer area and therefore heat transfer. Outcome of the study is that the installation heat panels does increase heat transfer but decreases the heat transfer coefficient. Several explanations and suggestion are given to improve this heat transfer coefficient. The model of efficiency works well, the pressure drop model over predicts the pressure drop in the outer column but works well for the inner column. The heat transfer coefficient model over predicts the heat transfer coefficient.