Research Article 517

Erwei Song
Design of a Dividing-Wall Column
Erqiang Wang*
Considering its Multiple Steady State
Characteristic
A dividing-wall column (DWC) may have more than one solution of liquid and
vapor split ratio for the same feed and product streams under a fixed number of
stages and reflux ratio, so the multiple steady states (MSS) of a DWC in the design
stage should be considered. An improved design method of a DWC is proposed
by studying its MSS characteristics. Additional steps are inserted after optimiza-
tion to check if MSS exist for the obtained optimal solution of vapor and liquid
split ratio, and further to select the best candidate. Finally, two cases of three-
product DWCs are described to verify this method. The results indicate that mul-
tiple solutions exist for these cases, which confirm the necessity of this method
and provide an important guidance for the flowing design of a DWC.

Keywords: Dividing-wall column, Liquid split ratio, Multiple steady states, Vapor split ratio
Received: April 04, 2017; revised: September 08, 2017; accepted: November 23, 2017
DOI: 10.1002/ceat.201700192

1 Introduction thus contributing to its thermal efficiency. However, it is diffi-

Distillation, as one of the most common methods in the chemi-
cal industry, accounts for a large percent of energy consumed
in industrial processes. To reduce energy costs, numerous strat-
egies are applied, of which the thermally coupled distillation
column appears to be a good alternative. It applies to perform
separations of three or more components and only needs one
condenser and one reboiler for two columns which are con-
nected by two pairs of coupled liquid and vapor streams, as
illustrated in Fig. 1.
cult to develop a systematic mature design method for the
Petlyuk column and to deal with the problem of pressure bal-
ance between the prefractionator and the main column, leading
to only few industrial applications of this column.
The dividing-wall column (DWC) has been developed from
thermally coupled distillation and widely employed in chemical
industry [2–6]. As shown in Fig. 2, the DWC, thermodynami-
cally equivalent to the fully thermally coupled distillation col-
umn, integrates two columns into one shell and divides the
middle section into two parts by inserting a vertical wall. The
left-side section of the dividing wall is similar to the prefractio-

Figure 1. Scheme of the Petlyuk column. Figure 2. Scheme of the dividing-wall column.

This column was first introduced in by Petlyuk et al. in 1965 –

[1], so it is usually called the Petlyuk column. Compared with Erwei Song, Dr. Erqiang Wang
the conventional two-column-in-series configuration, the wangerqiang@ucas.ac.cn
Petlyuk column boosts significantly the economical profit due University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, School of Chemistry and
to reduced capital cost, and avoids the remixing phenomenon, Chemical Engineering, No. 19 Yu Quan Road, 100049 Beijing, China.

Chem. Eng. Technol. 2018, 41, No. 3, 517–523 ª 2018 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim www.cet-journal.com
 Research Article 518

nator of the Petlyuk column, and the right-side

section plus other sections below and above the di-
viding wall are similar to the main column. Com-
pared with the Petlyuk column, the DWC reduces
further the capital investment and spot area, and
naturally avoids the pressure balance problem
between the prefractionator and the main column,
so a better industrial application prospect is given.
Since the first industrial application of the DWC
in 1985 by BASF, more than 200 DWCs have been
running in the world. Most of these DWCs still be-
long to a small number of companies as propriet-
ary knowledge, and appear after the implementa-
tion of non-welded self-fixing dividing-wall
technology which allows maximization of the
application window for DWCs and allows building
DWCs for obtaining four or even more products.
So, it can be considered as a milestone in the devel-
opment of DWC technology. Recently, in China
more and more efforts have been devoted from the-
oretical research to industrial application in the
field of DWCs [7–13]. Some companies and design
institutes focused on this technology and showed
interest in new devices or revamped projects. In
recent years, a rapid development of DWC tech- Figure 3. Three-column schematic model for shortcut design.
nology is coming up in China.
Though the DWC has many advantages over the conven- which goes towards the prefractionator, and vapor split ratio
tional distillation column, it has more coupled design parame- Rv, i.e., the ratio of the amount of vapor in the stripping section
ters and optimization variables which lead to a lack of effective which goes towards the prefractionator.
design methods for all systems. The short-cut design can pro- Three variables are used to meet the three product specifica-
vide suitable initial parameters in order to achieve convergence tions, and the rest two variables can be used for other objects
of rigorous simulation and optimization. Among these meth- like optimization for the conceptual column. In addition, dif-
ods [14–17], the best-known one is for calculating the mini- ferent objective functions, such as N(RR+1) or total annual cost
mum reflux ratio using the Underwood equation, based on two (TAC), can be employed for DWC optimization. N and RR rep-
assumptions of constant molar flow and constant relative vola- resent the total number of stages in the main column and
tilities. A three-column model based on the Underwood equa- reflux ratio, standing for the capital cost and energy consump-
tion has been proposed by Triantafyllou and Smith [18], tion, respectively. Therefore, the function N(RR+1) means a
named ‘‘approximate design method’’, as displayed in Fig. 3. simple economic target including fixed investment and opera-
In addition, based on the minimum energy graph tional cost, which is basically equivalent to TAC. After getting
(Vmin diagram), Halvorsen and Skogestad described an effec- the optimization results, the next steps of hydraulic design and
tive method for the short-cut design of DWCs [19]. The mini- dimensioning will be done, thus only one optimal solution is
mum energy peak graph can provide visual initial values for considered.
rigorous simulation, only requiring feed composition, feed liq- These extra degrees of freedom also lead to MSS in DWC
uid fraction, relative volatility, and product recoveries or puri- distillation. This phenomenon has been studied and verified by
ties. Thus, this method seems simple and effective compared some researchers [20–27]. Wayburn and Seader [28, 29] have
with other methods. Based on initial values from the above been the first to report the existence of MSS in an interlinked
short-cut design, rigorous simulation and optimization of separation column, using a differential arc-length homotopy
DWCs can be performed. continuation method. In their following paper [30] they
In contrast with the traditional distillation column, the explained the reason of MSS based on the degree-of-freedom
DWC is more complex because of the increase of degrees of analysis. They obtained four different solutions of Rl and Rv
freedom (DFs) resulting from its internally coupled stream. which can give the same output product streams with the same
The stage number of each section inside the DWC column, input feed stream and reflux ratio. This multiplicity they found
feed location, side-stream location, and the location of the is called ‘‘input multiplicity‘‘. They concluded that the appear-
dividing wall are configuration variables, which should be ance of multiple solutions may occur in interlinked separations
specified and fixed before constructing the DWC configura- systems where two or more sections of the system have to share
tion. In addition, there exist five manipulated variables like specifications in order to satisfy the local degree of freedom.
reflux ratio/rate (or distillate flow), side-stream flow rate, bot- Wang [31]reported a group feature based on detailed compari-
tom flow rate (reboiler duty or boil-up ratio), liquid split ratio son and analysis of these multiple solutions of the benzene/
Rl, i.e., the ratio of the amount of liquid in the rectifying section toluene/o-xylene (BTX) DWC case.

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 Research Article
Considering the occurrence of the MSS phenomenon in
DWCs, it is necessary to take this into account in the design
and optimization of DWCs. Besides, the optimized solution
may be not the only one solution, namely, there may be other
solutions for the same feed and product streams but having dif-
ferent internal vapor split ratio and liquid split ratio.
An improved design method of a DWC based on its MSS
characteristics is proposed, in which additional steps were
needed to check if MSS exists and simple rules are provided on
how to select the suited solution for the next step of hydraulic
analysis and dimensioning. Finally, two cases of three-product
DWC are described to verify this method.
2 Method and Principle
As mentioned in the introduction section, MSS have already
been reported in literature for the Petlyuk column and DWC
[28, 29, 32]. For the same column configuration and feed
parameters, different solutions of Rl and Rv could be found for
the same products under the same reflux ratio which means
the same energy consumption. Keeping this in mind, it is possi-
ble to get multiple optimization solutions for the same TAC
value since the number of stages and the energy cost are identi-
cal, using the current design and optimization methods of
DWC.
An improved design method based on its MSS characteristics
was proposed for the DWC, as demonstrated in Fig. 4, includ-
ing a comparison with a traditional design method. It can be
seen that the traditional design method for DWC involves
short-cut design, rigorous simulation and optimization, and
dimensioning, so only one pair of Rl and Rv is obtained after
optimization. For the improved method, additional steps
shown in dashed lines were inserted to check if MSS exist after
obtaining the optimal solution, and then selecting the best suit-
ed solutions based on some rules were selected if MSS really
Figure 4. Comparison of traditional design method with im-
proved method based on MSS characteristics.
Chem. Eng. Technol. 2018, 41, No. 3, 517–523 ª 2018 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim
519
exist. Here, different solutions mean that only Rl and Rv are
different.
For DWC short-cut design and optimization, there are some
published papers which can be relied on to obtain an optimized
solution [33–37]. Some papers also reported how to perform
hydraulic design and dimensioning of DWCs [38, 39]. So, we
will not repeat them here.
2.1 MSS Check
To check if multiple solutions exist, sensitivity analysis was first
applied for a given DWC to get the change of compositions of
three product streams with Rv and Rl varying in some ranges,
respectively, with a constant flow rate of product streams and
reflux ratio. Second, contour charts for component composi-
tion of three product streams were drawn, respectively, with Rl
and Rv as coordinates. Finally, specified contour lines at desired
composition were selected from the contour chart and drawn
again together in another graph to check if these lines have
intersection points. Only one intersection point means one
solution, so no MSS phenomenon happens; two or more inter-
section points mean multiple solutions, thus MSS phenomenon
exists.
For example, these composition lines can be defined as
functions of Rl and Rv, such as Z1 = f1(x, y), Z2 = f2(x, y),
Z3 = f3(x, y). Here, Z1, Z2, Z3 represent the molar fraction of
the desired component in the distillate, side stream, and bot-
tom stream, respectively. Meanwhile, x and y denote Rl and Rv,
respectively. So, three contour charts can be drawn for Z1, Z2,
and Z3, respectively, and three lines can be picked up from
these contour charts. Finally, these three lines can be drawn in
one new graph, and according to the number of their intersec-
tion points one can estimate the existence of the MSS phenom-
enon.
2.2 Solution Selection
It is important to select the best suitable solution if multiple
solutions really exist by using the above checking procedure.
These solutions have the same energy cost and the identical
number of stages, so they have the same value of TAC. The dif-
ference between these solutions is that they have varying Rl
and Rv, so the flow rate profiles of liquid and vapor phase
inside the DWC, especially on the two sides of the dividing
wall, are also different. These variances could have a great effect
on the following hydraulic design stage, since different Rl and
Rv mean a dissimilar location of the dividing wall in the radial
direction, and have an influence on their dynamic characteris-
tics when facing some disturbances.
Here, a simple rule, based on the deviation of the split ratio
with 0.5, is applied to select the best suitable solution from
these MSS solutions. More rigorous rules including the com-
parison of their dynamic characteristics will be introduced
later.
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3 Case Study
Two reference cases were used to verify the above-described
improved design method. Since the design and optimization
have already been done in the references, their optimal param-
eters were directly used here. The first case was chosen from
Ling et al. [40], in which the feed mixture contained benzene
(B), toluene (T), and o-xylene (X). The feed conditions were as
follows: saturated liquid, 0.5 atm; mole fraction: B/T/X = 3/3/4;
feed rate, 3600 kmol h–1.
The Chao-seader thermodynamic equation was applied in
the simulation and optimization. Product purities were
99 mol %. After design and optimization, the DWC included a
46-tray main column and 24-tray prefractionator, feeding on
the 12th tray of the prefactionator and extracting side stream
from the 19th tray of the main column, with 9 trays above the
wall and 13 trays below the wall. The optimal liquid split ratio
and vapor split ratio were 0.353 and 0.627, respectively.
As indicated in Fig. 5, a four-section model was employed
for DWC simulation in which each column section uses the
RadFrc module of Aspen Plus software. Compared with the
two-section model, the four-section model is more flexible and
reasonable. Finally, simulation of the optimization solution in
the reference was done and the results are summarized in
Tab. 1. The simulation results agree well with the literature data
and the little difference may come from the feed pressure
which was not given in the reference.
Figure 5. Four-section model for DWC simulation.
Chem. Eng. Technol. 2018, 41, No. 3, 517–523 ª 2018 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim
520
The second case was chosen from Dejanovic et al. [41], who
applied a 15-component mixture. Detailed parameters of feed
and products are listed in Tab. 2.
The product specifications are given as follows in mass frac-
tions: C5–C6 gasoline contains not more than 1.5 % benzene; a
benzene-rich cut contains 68 % benzene; a heavy reformate
stream consists of toluene, xylene, and heavier components
with not more than 0.5 % benzene.
Optimal design results include a 64-tray main column and
22-tray prefractionator, feeding on the 10th tray of the prefac-
tionator and extracting side stream from the 38th tray of the
main column, with 26 trays above the wall and 16 trays below
the wall. The operating pressure is 2.7 atm.
For this case, the SRK equation was applied in the simula-
tion. The simulation results are summarized in Tab. 3 com-
pared with the literature data. The difference between the re-
boiler duties may be caused by the different feed thermal state.
4 Results and Discussion
Sensitivity analysis was first done to investigate the influence of
Rl and Rv on product compositions under the same reflux
ratio, then the results were used to draw graphs by means of
the Origin software. Fig. 6 illustrates the 2D contour surface of
product compositions with Rl and Rv for case 1. It is obvious
that Rl and Rv have a significant influence on the product
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 Research Article 521

Table 1. Comparison of simulation results with literature data. Table 3. Comparison of the results of simulation and literature.

Parameters Simulation Literature Parameters Simulation Literature

Product purity, mole fraction Reflux ratio [mole] 2.76 2.80

- Benzene in top stream 0.99 0.99 Condenser duty [MW] –2.58 –2.76

- Toluene in side stream 0.99 0.99 Reboiler duty Qr [MW] 4.45 3.50
–1
- Xylene in bottom stream 0.99 0.99 Distillate flow [kg h ] 7114 6938
–1
Reflux ratio, mole 2.92 2.84 Side-stream [kg h ] 3696 3697
–1
Condenser duty Qc, MW 38.32 37.52 Bottom flow [kg h ] 20918 21095

Reboiler duty Qr, MW 40.92 35.69

–1
Fig. 7 displays the contour surface for case 2, showing similar
Distillate rate [kmol h ] 1090.1 1090.8 characteristics of case 1.
Side stream [kmol h–1] 1065.3 1065.6 By using the method described in Sect. 2, one curve of speci-
–1
fied composition of 0.99 can be picked up from the composi-
Bottom rate [kmol h ] 1444.5 1443.6 tion contour graph of product streams. So, three curves can be
Liquid split ratio Rl 0.353 0.353 obtained for three product streams and then drawn together in
Fig. 8 for case 1. Four intersection points marked with A, B, C,
Vapor split ratio Rv 0.627 0.627
and D may be formed which means four steady-state solutions.
The coordinates of these points can be obtained from Fig. 8
directly and used as initial value for further confirmation by
Table 2. Parameters of feed and products for case 2.
rigorous simulation.
Finally, four different rigorous solutions can be obtained for
Feed C5–C6 BRC Heavies
Rl and Rv as listed in Tab. 4. Similar steps were done for case 2
Total flow [t h–1] 31.74 and the results are presented in Fig. 9 and Tab. 4. There were
three solutions for case 2. Based on the above results, it is
Temperature [°C] 37.00
obvious that MSS exists for the optimized solution.
Pressure [bar] 3.01 Based on the multiple solutions in Tab. 4, it is easy to select
Component mass fraction:
the first solution as the appropriate one for case 2 since its Rv is
in the middle region of the 0–1 range which can bear some-
n-Butane 0.019 0.008 0.000 0.000 what more disturbance of other parameters. For case 1, these
iso-Pentane 0.064 0.291 0.000 0.000 solutions are close to each other, thus, an equation is defined:
f(Rl,Rv) = (Rl–0.5) 2+(Rv–0.5) 2, to select the best pair. Conse-
n-Pentane 0.045 0.206 0.000 0.000 quently, the first solution is considered the best one. This selec-
2-Methylpentane 0.080 0.351 0.026 0.000 tion method is relatively rough, but it can bring some useful
guidance with no accurate methods at hand.
n-Hexane 0.043 0.050 0.270 0.000 From these two cases, it can be concluded that MSS exists in
Benzene 0.086 0.013 0.068 0.005 DWCs. If MSS are not taken into account during design and
optimization, the best suitable one may be missed, which is
3-Methylhexane 0.020 0.000 0.024 0.026
harmful for profitability. Therefore, the MSS check is an indis-
Toluene 0.247 0.000 0.000 0.373 pensable measure in the course of DWC design.
Ethylbenzene 0.035 0.000 0.000 0.053

p-Xylene 0.042 0.000 0.000 0.064 5 Conclusions

m-Xylene 0.122 0.000 0.000 0.183
Compared with the traditional distillation column, the DWC
o-Xylene 0.055 0.000 0.000 0.083 has more degrees of freedom in design and optimization, which
may lead to MSS. However, current design DWC methods only
m-Ethyltoluene 0.047 0.000 0.000 0.071
rely on the optimal solution to do the next hydraulic design,
1,3,5-Trimethylben- 0.077 0.000 0.000 0.116 without considering the fact that there may be other solutions
zene which have the same energy cost as the optimal one.
1,4-Diethylbenzene 0.017 0.000 0.000 0.025 An improved method for DWC design based on its MSS
characteristics is proposed and for two cases this method was
applied. As a result, it is possible to have multiple solutions
compositions. The distribution of the composition lines ap- after DWC optimization, and different solutions have a diverse
pears somewhat symmetrical along the diagonal direction with effect on distillation operation, thus it is worth to consider this
higher compositions within the middle core region. MSS characteristic prior to the hydraulic design. But, more rig-

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 Research Article 522

a) b) c)

Figure 6. Change of product composition with Rl and Rv for case 1: (a) XDB; (b) XST; (c) XBX.

a) b) c)

Figure 7. Change of product composition with Rl and Rv for case 2: (a) XDB; (b) XSB; (c) XBB.

0.9 benzene 1.0 distillate

toluene sidestream C
0.8 xylene bottom
0.9

0.7 B
D
B 0.8
0.6 C
Rv

A
Rv

0.7 A
0.5

0.4 0.6

0.3 0.5

0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6

0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8
Rl
Rl
Figure 8. Intersection of three specified curves of product com-
Figure 9. Intersection of three specified curves of product com-
position for case 1.
position for case 2.

orous criterions or rules should be developed in order to help

to select the best candidate from the multiple solutions, which Symbols used
will be studied in future and introduced in the next paper.
Subscripts
BB fraction of benzene in bottom product
Acknowledgment
BX fraction of o-xylene in bottom product
DB fraction of benzene in distillate product
This work was supported by the National Natural Science
SB fraction of benzene in side product
Foundation of China (No. 21376240).
ST fraction of toluene in side product
The authors have declared no conflict of interest.

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 Research Article 523

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