A Novel Heat Integrated Dividing Wall Column Configuration for the Production of Pentane Blowing Agent from Light Naphtha

This study develops energy-efficient processes for producing pentane blowing agent (PBA) from light naphtha, addressing the challenge of valorizing C5–C6 fractions with limited utility. A novel heat-integrated dividing wall column (HI-DWC) configuration is designed, combining the advantages of the dividing wall column (DWC) with heat integration (HI). Five distillation configurations for producing PBA─double column (DC), DWC, heat integrated double column (HI-DC), HI-DWC, and heat exchanger network-heat integrated dividing wall column (HEN-HI-DWC)─are evaluated using multiobjective optimization. The results demonstrate that the HI-DWC configuration effectively eliminates the remixing effect of intermediate components, enabling complete HI and achieving energy-saving benefits that surpass those of individual process intensification methods. The HEN-HI-DWC configuration achieves the highest performance, reducing total operating cost by 55.5% and total annual cost by 20.8%, cutting CO2 emissions by 55.6% and improving thermodynamic efficiency by 129.5% compared to the DC configuration. This approach provides a sustainable and economically viable solution for light naphtha utilization.