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Establishing a Baseline Methodology for HIDiC Design: Applications Across Key Industrial Separations

Pappas, Panagiotis LU and Naoumis, Stefanos LU (2026) MVKM05 20261
Department of Energy Sciences
Abstract
Distillation is the primary separation technique in the petrochemical industries, but it operates with extremely low thermodynamic efficiency. It represents the largest share of industrial energy consumption, making its decarbonization a global priority. While advanced process technologies, such as Mechanical Vapor Recompression (MVR) and the Heat-Integrated Distillation Column (HIDiC), offer a pathway to electrification, their commercial adoption remains limited. The primary barriers to implementation are excessive capital expenditures (CAPEX), system complexities, and a lack of scalable design methodologies. This thesis addresses this research gap by establishing a baseline methodology to evaluate the thermodynamic and techno-economic... (More)
Distillation is the primary separation technique in the petrochemical industries, but it operates with extremely low thermodynamic efficiency. It represents the largest share of industrial energy consumption, making its decarbonization a global priority. While advanced process technologies, such as Mechanical Vapor Recompression (MVR) and the Heat-Integrated Distillation Column (HIDiC), offer a pathway to electrification, their commercial adoption remains limited. The primary barriers to implementation are excessive capital expenditures (CAPEX), system complexities, and a lack of scalable design methodologies. This thesis addresses this research gap by establishing a baseline methodology to evaluate the thermodynamic and techno-economic feasibility of these technologies. The scope of the research is distributed across four progressively difficult and relevant industrial separations to test the limits and requirements of electrification. At the start the energy challenges of conventional distillation and the framework of MVR and HIDiC technologies are introduced. The Methodology chapter explains the modeling approach using Aspen Plus, inserts a separation difficulty index based on key thermodynamic parameters to justify the selection of cases, and sets the foundation for the techno-economic methods to assess them. Next, the energy results of the selected cases, Benzene-Toluene (an ideal benchmark), n-/iso-Butyraldehyde (close-boiling isomers), Ethanol/Water (a near-azeotropic mixture), and MTBE/Methanol (a high-pressure reactive system) are analyzed and in each case, a conventional baseline is developed and compared against MVR, Fully-HIDiC (F-HIDiC) , and Discrete-HIDiC (D-HIDiC) configurations. The Discussion introduces the economic analysis of each case and model, and suggestions are made for further optimization for these specific cases. The paper concludes with the techno-economic trade-offs of each technology, a selection for each case based on the thesis methodology and future steps that would make the configuration comparison even more accurate to provide a clear blueprint for future industrial deployment. (Less)
Popular Abstract
Imagine taking the most energy-hungry machine in the global chemical industry and completely
cutting its reliance on fossil fuels. New research reveals how we can remodel traditional
distillation columns to run entirely on green electricity, cutting energy consumption by up to
89%.
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Pappas, Panagiotis LU and Naoumis, Stefanos LU
supervisor
organization
course
MVKM05 20261
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
Conventional Distillation, HIDiC, MVR, Aspen Plus, Techno-Economic Analysis, Energy Efficiency, Industrial Separation Processes, Industrial Decarbonization.
report number
ISRN LUTMDN/TMHP-26/5695-SE
ISSN
0282-1990
language
English
id
9242011
date added to LUP
2026-06-29 08:45:02
date last changed
2026-06-29 08:45:02
@misc{9242011,
  abstract     = {{Distillation is the primary separation technique in the petrochemical industries, but it operates with extremely low thermodynamic efficiency. It represents the largest share of industrial energy consumption, making its decarbonization a global priority. While advanced process technologies, such as Mechanical Vapor Recompression (MVR) and the Heat-Integrated Distillation Column (HIDiC), offer a pathway to electrification, their commercial adoption remains limited. The primary barriers to implementation are excessive capital expenditures (CAPEX), system complexities, and a lack of scalable design methodologies. This thesis addresses this research gap by establishing a baseline methodology to evaluate the thermodynamic and techno-economic feasibility of these technologies. The scope of the research is distributed across four progressively difficult and relevant industrial separations to test the limits and requirements of electrification. At the start the energy challenges of conventional distillation and the framework of MVR and HIDiC technologies are introduced. The Methodology chapter explains the modeling approach using Aspen Plus, inserts a separation difficulty index based on key thermodynamic parameters to justify the selection of cases, and sets the foundation for the techno-economic methods to assess them. Next, the energy results of the selected cases, Benzene-Toluene (an ideal benchmark), n-/iso-Butyraldehyde (close-boiling isomers), Ethanol/Water (a near-azeotropic mixture), and MTBE/Methanol (a high-pressure reactive system) are analyzed and in each case, a conventional baseline is developed and compared against MVR, Fully-HIDiC (F-HIDiC) , and Discrete-HIDiC (D-HIDiC) configurations. The Discussion introduces the economic analysis of each case and model, and suggestions are made for further optimization for these specific cases. The paper concludes with the techno-economic trade-offs of each technology, a selection for each case based on the thesis methodology and future steps that would make the configuration comparison even more accurate to provide a clear blueprint for future industrial deployment.}},
  author       = {{Pappas, Panagiotis and Naoumis, Stefanos}},
  issn         = {{0282-1990}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Establishing a Baseline Methodology for HIDiC Design: Applications Across Key Industrial Separations}},
  year         = {{2026}},
}