Issues regarding improving the efficiency of distillation columns

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This post was last edited by hawk798 on 2016-9-12 at 10:26. I would like to ask the experts here: I have a packed distillation column that operates in batch mode, with each production cycle taking 30 days. It takes about 20 days for the product at the top of the column to reach the desired purity level; in other words, it takes 20 days to separate out the light components with lower boiling points. Is there any way to shorten this processing time? ? As a further addition, my distillation column currently has 5 sections; in the initial stage, the temperatures from bottom to top are 150, 147, 145, 142, and 140 respectively. At the beginning of the process, a high reflux ratio is used; the product concentration gradually increases. It takes about 18 days for the product concentration to reach the desired level. Product collection begins after that, and it takes around 10 days to collect all the product. Once that is done, the heavy components at the bottom of the reactor are removed, and the process starts over with the next batch. In the previous stage, the processing cycle was too long; reducing the reflux ratio could shorten this time, but significant losses would occur during that process. Before the product purity meets the required standards, about 1/3 of the products do not meet the specifications and are separated out. The overall yield of the product is approximately 60%. How can we shorten the processing time while still achieving a good yield? ? ? Is it possible to lower the temperature at the bottom of the reactor, or to reduce the insulation around the tower in order to increase the temperature difference?