Heat extraction issue in atmospheric and vacuum distillation
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How can heat extraction along the midline of an atmospheric pressure tower be distributed to achieve optimality? What is the most reasonable ratio for top condensation, top circulation, primary circulation, and secondary circulation?
To put it simply, for your question, all parameters need to be taken into account; having the optimal value for just one parameter does not mean it’s the best overall. To put it more complicatedly, there are too many factors to consider: device load, device capacity, quality-related aspects, energy-saving considerations, and so on!
Are there any experience value ratios that can be used as a reference, such as 3:3:4 or 4:6?
Here, empirical values are not reliable; instead, it is necessary to base decisions on the actual conditions of the device. You also need to adapt the concept of experience to suit yourself; otherwise, it will harm you and lead to the denial of certain things.
It is necessary to balance things based on the actual operating conditions of the tower and the quality of the products from each side stream; each installation is different, and variations occur as well due to differences in raw materials.
Could you determine the optimal heat extraction based on the level coefficients of the temperature points at each midline?
Once one has actually operated a vacuum distillation column smoothly in a DCS system, and once one has learned to make adjustments based on product quality analysis data, it becomes natural to find the operating parameters suitable for the raw materials being processed at that time – and that is what’s best. Of course, if you are interested, you can delve further into the relationship between level coefficients and practical operations; theory needs to be verified and refined through practice.