Press-swing distillation process simulation for separation of methanol and acetone

Methanol and acetone can form a minimum azeotrope,so it can not be separated by conventional distillation. Press-swing distillation was adopted to separate methanol and acetone and was simulated in this study. The influences of operation factors,such as stage number,reflux ratio,operating pressure,material feed location and feed temperature were analyzed. The vacuum tower operation parameters were as follows:operating pressure 40 kPa,stage number 37,reflux ratio 2.4,feed location 26 and material feed temperature 25 ℃. The atmospheric tower operation parameters were as follows:stage number 30,reflux ratio 4.2,feed location 23. High-purity separation could be realized. The purity of methanol could reach 99.0% and acetone could reach 99.7%. Comparison of extractive distillation and press-swing distillation was made. Press-swing distillation could get high purity products. Press-swing distillation could save energy by 13.4% as compared with extractive distillation.