Influences of Uncertainties in Thermodynamic Models on Pareto-optimized Dividing Wall Columns for Ideal Mixtures

TL;DR

This paper investigates how uncertainties in thermodynamic models affect the performance of Pareto-optimized dividing wall columns for ideal mixtures, highlighting critical properties and design considerations.

Contribution

It is the first study to systematically analyze the impact of thermodynamic uncertainties on Pareto-optimized DWCs with varying stages and mixtures.

Findings

Thermodynamic uncertainties significantly influence separation performance.

Critical properties vary with mixture and stage number.

Design adjustments can mitigate uncertainty effects.

Abstract

This article examines the effect of individual and combined uncertainties in thermodynamic models on the performance of simulated, steady-state Pareto-optimized Dividing Wall Columns. It is a follow-up of the previous work analogously treating deviations in process variables. Such deviations and uncertainties that may even be unknown during the design process can significantly influence the separation result. However, other than process variables, uncertainties in thermodynamics are usually not systematically considered during design. For the first time, the effects of uncertain thermodynamic properties on Pareto-optimized DWCs with different numbers of stages and for different mixtures are presented and compared qualitatively and quantitatively. Depending on the number of stages and mixture characteristics, particularly critical properties are identified. On the one hand, this provides information on aspects requiring special attention prior to design, and on the other hand, it also indicates in which section of the DWC a stage supplement might be most beneficial.