Simulation and Optimization of Acetic Acid Distillation Process Based on Aspen Plus

Heat pump distillation and multi-effect distillation are energy-saving technologies often used in the chemical industry. The operating parameters such as the number of trays,the feed position and the reflux ratio in the conventional acetic acid rectification operation have been optimized by using Aspen Plus software to simulate and analyze the distillation process of the acetic acid-water mixed system,and the best operating parameters have been obtained under the requirements of separation and certain production tasks. The applications of conventional distillation, heat pump distillation and double-effect distillation in the acetic acid-water separation operation have been simulated respectively,then the energy consumption of the three distillation methods have been compared. The results show that,compared with conventional distillation,the energy consumption of separation and purification of acetic acid in the acetic acid-water system by heat pump distillation technology can be reduced by 74. 09%,and TAC can be decreased by 11. 99%; exploiting double-effect distillation technology has able to reduce energy consumption by 19. 82%,whereas TAC has increased by 1. 6%. In contrast,heat pump distillation has obvious advantages in terms of energy conservation.