Douglas G. Stewart

Innovative flowschemes using dividing wall columns

Abstract Over the last several years, UOP has been involved in the development of dividing wall column (DWC) technology. This has been a combined effort, drawing on resources from members in process design and development, engineering, control system design, technical services and operations, and tray design. This work has shown that innovative uses of DWCs (and the specialized DWC called the ‘split-shell column’) can lead to significant improvements in process flowschemes. Some examples of this will be described, including: 1) A process for distillate hydrocracking using a split shell column to efficiently remove a reaction byproduct from the process. 2) A generic multistage reaction/separation flowscheme with a single split shell column to provide the separation for all three reactor stages. 3) A detergents flowscheme that makes use of a ‘non-traditional’ DWC. In each case the DWC or split shell column is an integral part of the flowscheme, leading to savings in capital and operating costs, along with reductions in plot space and equipment count.