Evolutionary Design of Optimum Distillation

Column Sequence
Ramin Bozorgmehry Boozarjomehry,1 Ali Pourahmadi Laleh1 * and William Y. Svrcek2
1. Department of Chemical & Petroleum Engineering, Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran
2. Department of Chemical & Petroleum Engineering, The University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, T2N 1N4, Canada

Synthesis of the optimum distillation column sequence (DCS), which incorporates a huge search space composed of both conventional and
complex arrangements, is a highly complicated combinatorial problem in the eld of chemical process design and optimisation. In this study, a
novel procedure for the synthesis of optimum DCS proposed by Boozarjomehry et al. [Boozarjomehry et al., 87, 477492 (2009)] is expanded to
include the complex distillation arrangements. The method is based on evolutionary algorithms, and the total annual cost (TAC) is the main criterion
used to screen alternatives. Efcient procedure has been proposed for encoding mechanism to include and classify various complex arrangements
together with conventional distillation columns. All columns existing in each DCS alternative are designed using the most recommended short-cut
methods to estimate the TAC of the DCS. Four standard benchmark case studies are carried out to clearly demonstrate the excellent performance
of the proposed method. The produced results for these problems indicate that the proposed method outperforms the other existing approaches
in terms of exibility, accuracy and comprehensiveness.

Keywords: process synthesis, distillation column sequence, optimisation, genetic algorithms

INTRODUCTION columns (sharp separations). Therefore, non-sharp separations as

well as thermally coupled congurations have been excluded from

T
he optimal synthesis of separation systems is one of the
most important problems in the eld of chemical process
synthesis. This well-known problem can be addressed as:
Given a feed stream of known conditions (i.e. composition, ow
rate, temperature and pressure), what is the best process that sep-
arates the desired products from the feed at minimum total annual
cost (TAC). In order to deal with this problem, various approaches
have been presented such as:
1. Parametric studies (Tedder and Rudd, 1978).
2. Evolutionary strategies (Stephanopoulos and Westerberg,
1976).
3. Conceptual approaches (Gadkari and Govind, 1988; Glinos
and Malone, 1989; Shah and Kokossis, 2001).
4. Statistical methods (Bezzina et al., 1989).
5. Algorithmic methods (Floquet et al., 1994; Garrard and Fraga,
1998).
As in the current work, some researches have employed genetic
algorithms (GA) in order to design distillation-based separation
processes. Wang et al. (1998) used an adjusted GA to synthesise
the optimum heat integrated distillation sequence. Their con-
sidered arrangements, however, consisted of simple distillation
their search area. Leboreiro and Acevedo (2004) have developed a
GA framework for optimising some separation processes. In their
work, commercial software has been used for simulation of the
predened separation alternatives, and capabilities of GA have
been shown while both heat integration and complex arrange-
ments are involved in the studied cases. However, this work has
mostly focused on obtaining the optimum column conditions,
such as the optimum number of trays and the best location of the
feed tray, in some predened separation sequences. Therefore, for
implementation of the approach for each case study, the promising
sequences of interest and their important optimisation variables
should be specied at rst. These preliminary preparations should
be made by some subjective engineering insights and judgments.
Consequently, it is evident that the proposed method is absolutely
Author to whom correspondence may be addressed.
E-mail address: apourahm@ucalgary.ca
Can. J. Chem. Eng. 90:956972, 2012
2011 Canadian Society for Chemical Engineering
DOI 10.1002/cjce.20589
Published online 6 June 2011 in Wiley Online Library
(wileyonlinelibrary.com).

| 956 | THE CANADIAN JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING | | VOLUME 90, AUGUST 2012 |
case-sensitive and also cannot effectively be extended for the
multi-component mixtures due to the huge number of separation
alternatives involved. A similar study with the same shortcom-
ings as associated with the work of Leboreiro and Acevedo (2004)
has been carried out by Calzon-McConville et al. (2006). They
have performed some optimisation case studies on fully or par-
tially thermally coupled arrangements and used a commercial
software package for simulation purposes. In their work, the
separation alternatives have been restricted to seven predened
sequences composed of simple columns and side-column arrange-
ments. Moreover, only optimisation of interconnecting ow rates
of side-column arrangements has been considered. Thus, the use
of some strong optimisation strategies, such as GA, has not been
necessary, and a much simpler method, that is, direct search, has
been used instead.
In this study, a novel method for synthesis of the optimum con-
ventional DCS based on the GA, proposed by Boozarjomehry et al.
(2009), is expanded to include the complex distillation arrange-
ments. GA, as a stochastic global optimisation technique, imitates
the process of natural selection (survival of the ttest) and evo-
lution (Holland, 1975; Goldberg, 1989). This method generates
new points in the search space by applying operators to current
points and moving toward more optimal regions in the search
space (Haupt and Haupt, 1998). The GA has the inherent ability
of simple representation to encode highly complicated structures
and uses simple transformations to improve such structures dur-
ing the optimisation of highly complex objective functions. Hence,
GA has been widely applied to combinatorial optimisation prob-
lems. In fact, the idea behind GA method can be utilised in various
ways, and in any way, the involved parameters should be set prop-
Figure 1. The new arrangements produced by relaxing the characteristics of simple distillation columns.
| VOLUME 90, AUGUST 2012 | |
erly to result in a plausible strategy for dealing with the problem
which is to be solved.
The rest of the study is organised as follows: The Complex
Arrangements Involved Section presents the complex distilla-
tion arrangements included in this study and the motivations
associated with them. The Problem Statement Section describes
important features of the under investigation problem and its
formulation. The Genetic Algorithm Implemented for Design of
Optimal DCS Section provides the implemented method for selec-
tion of the optimum DCS and consists of adjustments made to
the conventional GA in order to enhance its performance. The
performance of the proposed method is tested on four stan-
dard benchmark problems in the Results and Discussion Section.
Finally, the Conclusion Section provides the most signicant
achievements and conclusions of this study.
COMPLEX ARRANGEMENTS INVOLVED
The previous studies performed on the optimum design of DCS
are usually restricted to simple distillation columns which have
the following three main characteristics (Smith, 2005):
1. They have one feed stream and two product streams.
2. They use one reboiler and one condenser.
3. They perform sharp separations, that is, there is no com-
ponent between key components if the components in the
mixture are sorted according to their relative volatilities.
If the characteristics of simple distillation columns are viewed
as some restrictions, by relaxation of these restrictions some
new arrangements can be produced. These arrangements are
THE CANADIAN JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING | 957 |
divided into two main groups: (1) conventional columns with
non-sharp separations and (2) complex arrangements. The
most well-known complex congurations consist of side-stream
column, side-stripper and side-rectier arrangements, prefraction-
ator arrangement and Petlyuk column. Figure 1 represents all
the well-known non-simple congurations while separating a
ternary mixture.
Giridhar and Agrawal (2010) recommended that a good search
space aimed to nd the optimum DCS should be complete and
compact so that includes all potentially useful congurations
while excluding the congurations dominated by other more use-
ful congurations. These characteristics are taken into account in
the current work, and as a huge extension of previous studies,
all the promising complex arrangements as well as conventional
congurations (with both sharp and non-sharp separations) are
included while synthesising the optimum DCS. The involved
incentives and details are presented below.
As proposed by Doherty and Malone (2001) and conrmed
by the authors preceding work (Boozarjomehry et al., 2009),
although using non-sharp separations increases the number of
distillation columns in the sequence, it is possible that non-sharp
separations lead to more economical DCSs. Therefore, the non-
Figure 2. Transformation of complex arrangements into their thermodynamically equivalent conventional congurations.
| 958 | THE CANADIAN JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING | |
sharp separations are again taken into account while exploring
the feasible arrangements in this work.
The prefractionator arrangement, due to eliminating the mix-
ing losses of middle product and reducing the mixing losses of
different mixtures at the feed tray, has more thermodynamic ef-
ciency than simple column sequences for the same separation task
(Smith, 2005). Thermally coupled arrangements, that is, Petlyuk
and side-column arrangements are also satised with the ther-
modynamic benets mentioned for prefractionator arrangement.
Thermally coupled arrangements use thermal coupling to provide
some of the necessary heat transfer. In consequence, some of con-
densers or reboilers are replaced by thermal coupling. Although
these arrangements require less heat duties, more of the heat
transfer is accomplished at extreme levels. Then, depended on
the conditions, the use of thermally coupled arrangements may be
advantageous or disadvantageous. However, all of the thermally
coupled arrangements are promising for both operating and cap-
ital cost savings (Smith, 2005). Considering the above facts and
comments, all of the mentioned arrangements are added into the
search space of the optimisation problem.
Side-stream column arrangement is attractive when the feed
is dominated by the middle product (typically more than 50%)
VOLUME 90, AUGUST 2012 |
and one of the other products is present in only minor quanti-
ties, typically less than 5% (Smith, 2005). In view of the fact that
there are only three distillation sections in side-stream column,
pure products cannot be achieved. Furthermore, side-column
arrangements tend to side-stream column arrangements as the
number of trays and heat duty of reboiler (for side-stripper)
or condenser (for side-rectier) approach to zero. This condi-
tions is reached when the composition of feed approaches to
the mentioned particular range. In overall, since the side-column
arrangements have already been included, adding the side-stream
column arrangement to the search space is not necessary and is
neglected.
Boozarjomehry et al. (2009) have shown that as the number
of mixture components increases, the number of conventional
DCS alternatives grows very sharply. For instance, there are
approximately 1092 alternatives available for separation of a
10-component mixture by conventional DCS. Therefore, it is evi-
dent that by adding the signicant complex arrangements into
the search space, the combinatorial aspect of the problem is
intensied extremely, and there exists an astronomic number of
separation alternatives to be dealt with in the current study.
Note, these arrangements are constructed in complex form. Hence,
when economically evaluating, the position of each distillation
section (after design) must be considered on its actual complex
arrangement. The procedure for sizing conventional distillation
columns has been detailed in the preceding study (Boozarjomehry
et al., 2009).
GENETIC ALGORITHM IMPLEMENTED FOR
DESIGN OF OPTIMAL DCS
Figure 3 presents a block ow diagram of the steps required to
implement a GA. During the implementation, various methods
can be used in the selection of parents, crossover and mutation
steps. In this study, a natural GA with binary chromosome is used
to nd the optimum DCS. Among the ve major steps of natural
GA (i.e. encoding mechanism, tness evaluation, parent selection,

PROBLEM STATEMENT
In the optimisation problem of nding the best DCS, these vari-
ous separation alternatives should be compared against each other
based on a specic performance criterion. An appropriate perfor-
mance criterion to rank various DCSs is TAC. Both the annualised
capital costs and the operating costs are taken into account in the
TAC of a typical distillation column sequence (DCS), as repre-
sented by Equation (1):

NE

TAC = CCF Ccapi + Cop (1)

i=1

where, Ccapi is the installed capital cost, Cop is the total annual
operating cost, CCF is the capital charge factor which annualises
the capital cost and NE is the number of pieces of equipment (e.g.
columns, pumps, heaters, etc.) in the DCS. In this study, the CCF
is assumed to be 0.33/year as recommended by Douglas (1988);
and Doherty and Malone (2001).
The total installed cost of the DCS equipment, including
distillation columns, condensers, reboilers, reux drums and
intermediate heat exchangers, is determined using the correla-
tions developed by Guthrie (1974) and updated using the Marshal
and Swift Index.
The total annual operating cost of the DCS (Cop ) is mainly com-
posed of the utility and energy used for reboilers, condensers,
pumps, etc. The cooling water is used as cold utility and multiple
levels of steam are used as hot utilities. Furthermore, if a furnace
is used as the reboiler or intermediate heater, it is assumed that
the furnace is using natural gas as its fuel. In this study, the utility
costs are calculated using the correlations proposed by Doherty
and Malone (2001).
In order to calculate the cost of distillation columns a consistent
sizing procedure is required. For this purpose, the most recom-
mended short-cut method of WinnUnderwoodErbarMaddox
with some rational settings was used. In the case of com-
plex arrangements, these arrangements were transformed into
their thermodynamically equivalent congurations of conven-
tional columns as proposed by Carlberg and Westerberg (1989a,
1989b). Figure 2 shows two instances for such transformations. Figure 3. The typical steps of genetic algorithm.

| VOLUME 90, AUGUST 2012 | | THE CANADIAN JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING | 959 |
crossover and mutation) the rst two are problem dependant
while the last three are independent of the problem. However,
in some cases the performance of the algorithm depends heavily
on the interaction of these ve major steps. The present study
falls into this category, namely, this interaction results in a simple
method with excellent performance. A brief overview of the con-
stituting stages of GAs and their implementation was described
by Boozarjomehry et al. (2009).
Encoding Mechanism
The phenotypes in the optimum design of DCSs are the order
of separations and the type of distillation columns. The order of
separations can be completely captured and explained by deter-
mination of key components for each column. After determining
the key components, the type of distillation column is specied.
In the proposed method, as outlined in Figure 4, the key com-
ponents and the type of distillation columns are determined by
GA. Therefore, due to discrete nature of phenotypes, GA performs
efciently if the genotypes are represented by binary strings as
recommended by the schema theorem (Holland, 1975). Before
explaining the procedure of decoding chromosomes, two impor-
tant remarks are worth highlighting:
Remark 1. In general, for each integer variable, there is a valid
interval in which the variable can change. Each variable in its
corresponding interval can be represented by the least number
of bits that can enumerate various legitimate values of the vari-
Figure 4. The outline of encoding strategy.
| 960 | THE CANADIAN JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING | |
able. Hence, if there is n different values for a specic variable,
the length of the binary string representing this variable in the
chromosome is E{log2 (n)} + 1, where E(x) is a function whose
value is the greatest integer variable which is less than or equal
to x.
Remark 2. In order for GA to perform accurately, each chromo-
some must specify one and only one DCS, and each DCS must
be specied by one and only one chromosome. That is, a one-to-
one correspondence between chromosomes and DCSs should be
satised.
Taking into account the above considerations, the following pro-
cedure is proposed for decoding the chromosomes and specifying
the corresponding DCS.
According to the number of mixture components and conse-
quently, the number of alternatives for the light key component,
the relevant number of the rst bits of chromosome is decoded.
After determining light key component, the number of alterna-
tives for the heavy key component is known and by decoding the
relevant number of next bits, heavy key component is specied.
After determining the key components, there are two cases:
1. The key components are adjacent: In this case, the separa-
tion is accomplished through a simple distillation column
(sharp separation) apparently. Hence, decoding the next bits
of chromosome is not required.
2. The key components are not adjacent: In this case, the type
of distillation column must be determined by decoding the
VOLUME 90, AUGUST 2012 |
 next bits of chromosome, and various cases are involved. The
separation may be accomplished through a conventional dis-
tillation column or through a prefractionator arrangement or
a Petlyuk column or one of the various arrangements of side-
strippers and side-rectiers. These various congurations are
classied at rst. The prefractionator arrangement and Pet-
lyuk column, due to their similarity, are classied as Class
1. The conventional distillation column together with the
various arrangements of side-strippers and side-rectiers are
classied as Class 2. The reason why the conventional col-
umn is not classied separately is explained later.Since the
Class 2 contains much more arrangements compared with
the Class 1, the chance of selection from Class 2 is adjusted
to be three times more than the chance of selection from
Class 1. Thus, in order to specify the class of separation, two
bits of chromosome are decoded. If the result is 0, Class 1
is chosen and if the result is 1, 2 or 3, Class 2 is chosen.
If Class 2 is chosen, in order to satisfy the one-to-one cor-
respondence between chromosomes and DCSs, number 1 is
encoded in the two decoded bits. Instead of the applied 3/1
ratio, higher ratios such as 7/1 or 15/1 would also be con-
sidered by decoding 3 or 4 bits of chromosome. This would
seem reasonable, particularly for mixtures containing a large
number of components. However, the number of valuable
mixture components is usually less than 10, and the use of
3/1 ratio by decoding only 2 bits of chromosome is more
rational from a practical perspective. After determining the
separation class, the type of distillation column is specied
explicitly:
(a) Determining distillation column type from Class 1:
There are two alternatives. If the next bit is 0, the pre-
fractionator arrangement is used and if the next bit is
1, the Petlyuk column is used.
(b) Determining distillation column type from Class 2:
This case is more complicated than the previous one.
Primarily, it must be specied which of intermedi-
ate components are intermediate key components and
which of them are distributed components. There are
two extreme cases: if all the intermediate components
are determined as key components, the main frac-
tion of each of them will be separated through the
products of side-columns and if none of them are deter-
mined as intermediate key components, they will be
distributed between the distillate and bottom products
of a conventional column. The second extreme case is
corresponding to a conventional distillation column.
Therefore, if the conventional column were classied
separately at rst, this arrangement would be specied
by two different chromosome structures that is not rea-
sonable in view of Remark 2.For each of intermediate
components, one bit of chromosome is decoded. If the
result is 0, that component will be distributed between
the products and if the result is 1, the main fraction
of that component is separated through the product
of a side-stripper or a side-rectier (to be specied).
For each of intermediate key components, the type of
side-column is specied immediately. If the next bit is
0, the main fraction of considered component will be
separated through the product of a side-stripper. If the
next bit is 1, the main fraction of considered component
will be separated through the product of a side-rectier
and, also, for the heavier intermediate key components,
a side-rectier will be used necessarily (since a side-
| VOLUME 90, AUGUST 2012 | |
rectier has already been used for a lighter intermediate
key component).
The number of required chromosome bits for a n-component
mixture cannot be xed at rst, and proactive values (higher num-
bers) should be generally used to keep the method away from
shutdown because of chromosome bit shortage. Therefore, some
of the last bits of chromosomes are not usually used when speci-
fying corresponding DCSs. These remainder bits, having no effect
on the specied DCS, are called Trailing bits. In order for the GA
to perform efciently and robustly (Remark 2), all trailing bits are
set to 0. The procedure for decoding is explained by the following
Illustrations.
Illustration 1
Assume that when separating a ve-component mixture, the DCS
corresponding to the following chromosome is to be specied:
The main feed stream is consisted of ve components A, B, C,
D and E (sorted in descending manner according to their volatili-
ties). This stream is fed to the rst distillation conguration. There
are four alternatives for the light key of the rst distillation cong-
uration. Thus, the rst couple of the chromosome bits ([00]) are
decoded. The result is 0 and A is selected as light key component.
In consequence, there are four alternatives for heavy key compo-
nent and by decoding the second couple of the chromosome bits
([11]), component E is selected as heavy key component. Since
the key components are not adjacent, type of distillation column
is specied by decoding next chromosome bits. The third couple
of bits are decoded to specify the class of separation. The result is
3 and the type of distillation column is selected from the Class 2.
Considering Remark 2, number 1 is encoded in the two decoded
bits. Three components, B, C and D, enter the column as inter-
mediate components and thus, the destiny of each of them must
be determined. The next bit (corresponding to the 4th pickup) is
1, and, hence, B is an intermediate key component, and since the
5th pickup bit is 0, the main fraction of B is separated through the
product of a side-stripper. Similarly, since the 6th pickup bit is 1, C
is an intermediate key component, but the 7th bit pickup is 1 and
thus, the main fraction of C is separated through the product of
a side-rectier. Moreover, if the heavier intermediate components
(D) are chosen as intermediate key components (which is the case
here as the 8th pickup bit is 1), side-rectiers will be used neces-
sarily for these components. Assuming that the product purities of
the rst distillation conguration are acceptable, the reminder bits
are not decoded, and the DCS of interest is specied as shown in
Figure 5a. The updated structure of the considered chromosome
will be:
Illustration 2
As the second illustration, assume that when separating a four-
component mixture, it is desired to specify the DCS corresponding
THE CANADIAN JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING | 961 |
 Fitness Function
One of the main issues with the use of the GA is the tness function
selected to rank the chromosomes. In Problem Statement Section,
it was shown that the TAC can be used to compare the performance
of the DCS congurations. The best DCS arrangement is the one
with the lowest TAC. Hence, the tness function of GA should be
related to TAC in a reverse manner. Considering Equation (1), the
following equation is used as the tness function:
 


NE

f = CCF Ccapi + Cop (2)

i=1

Solution Methodology
The modied Genitor algorithm is used in this study. As described
by Boozarjomehry et al. (2009), this algorithm provides a superior
performance, in its accuracy and convergence, when compared to
the original Genitor algorithm (Whitley, 1989). In the modied
Genitor algorithm, the selection probability of ith individual from
the mating pool, Pi , is calculated using Equation (3):
  
E (
1+ 1+8n)
i 
Figure 5. The two specied DCSs for illustration of encoding
2 1 + 1 + 8n
Pi = i = 0, 1, 2 . . . E (3)
mechanism. n 2

where, n is the population size, E(x) is a function returning the

to the following chromosome: largest integer value which is smaller than x. Using Equation (3)
in the Genitor algorithm modies the distribution of available
individuals in the mating pool and leads to signicant advantages
(Boozarjomehry, 1997).
In addition to the above modication, supervised crossover and
mutation operators were used in the reproduction step to shift the
The main feed stream is consisted of four components A, B, C crossover and mutation points out of the trailing bits region in
and D. For the rst distillation conguration, there are three alter- case the crossover or mutation point lies in the region of trailing
natives for selection of the light key component. Thus, the rst bits (Boozarjomehry et al., 2009).
couple of the chromosome bits ([00]) are decoded. The result is
0 and A is selected as the light key component. In consequence, RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
there are three alternatives for the heavy key component and by
decoding the second couple of the chromosome bits ([11]), com- In order to illustrate the performance of the presented method,
ponent D is selected as the heavy key component. Since the key four standard benchmark case studies are carried out. The guide-
components are not adjacent, type of distillation column is spec- lines proposed by Haupt and Haupt (1998) have been used for
ied by decoding next chromosome bits. The third couple of bits specifying the GA parameters in these case studies.
are decoded to specify the class of separation. The result is 0 and
the type of distillation column is selected from the Class 1, that is,
a prefractionator arrangement or a Petlyuk column will be used. Table 1. Problem specications for Example 1
The next bit (corresponding to the 4th pickup) is 1, and the Pet-
lyuk column is hence selected. It is assumed that the purities of Components Mole fractions
the overhead and bottom products of Petlyuk column are accept-
able and the intermediate product stream is dominated by B and Propane 0.05
iso-Butane 0.15
C. Thus, excess purication of the overhead and bottom products
n-Butane 0.25
is not required, and a simple distillation column must be used
iso-Pentane 0.20
for separation of the intermediate product components. Conse- n-Pentane 0.35
quently, the last eight bits are not decoded and in order to obtain Feed ow rate 907.2 kmol/h
the updated structure of chromosome, number 0 is encoded in all Thermodynamic condition of feed Saturated liquid at 1750 kPa
the trailing bits:

Table 2. GA parameters used in optimisation of Example 1

Chromosome length = 36 bits Number of selected parents = 20

Population size = 50 Mutation rate = 20%
Figure 5b shows the corresponding DCS as specied above. Convergence criterion = 95% individual similarity

| 962 | THE CANADIAN JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING | | VOLUME 90, AUGUST 2012 |
 Example 1
The rst problem has widely been studied in the literature (e.g.
Malone et al., 1985; Gadkari and Govind, 1988; Glinos and Mal-
one, 1989; Porter and Momoh, 1991; Floquet et al., 1994; Jobson,
1997; Shah and Kokossis, 2001; Rong et al., 2001). The feed spec-
ications are presented in Table 1. The PengRobinson equation
of state was used as the thermodynamic model for vaporliquid
equilibrium calculations for this hydrocarbon mixture. The oper-
ating pressure was assumed to be in the range of 42000 kPa. Table
2 provides the parameters used in the GA to solve this problem.
Figure 6 shows the change in the average and best tness
by generations. The following chromosome which contains a
description of the optimum DCS was resulted:
Figure 6. The variations of the average tness and the best tness versus
succeeding generations for Example 1. [1001000000000000000000000000]

Figure 7. The two rival DCSs for Example 1. (a) The optimum DCS. (b) The suboptimal DCS.

Table 3. The important characteristics of the columns of Figure 7a for Example 1

Parameter Column 1 Column 2 Column 3 Column 4

P (kPa) 530 724 154 1361

Rmin 1.40 6.45 9.59 4.64
Nmin 15.2 41.5 42.8 17.3
R 1.82 9.03 14.4 6.03
N 30 81 83 37
Ttop ( C) 45.3 45.6 40.6 40.5
Tbot ( C) 91.8 65.4 49.1 80.6
Qcond (kJ/h) 2.235 107 3.219 107 6.735 107 0.4414 107
Qreboil (kJ/h) 2.378 107 3.231 107 6.738 107 0.4530 107
D (kmol/h) 408.0 181.9 182.3 45.8
W (kmol/h) 499.2 226.1 316.8 136.1
Eov (%) 68.5 75 71 73
Height (m) 30.8 69.8 75.2 35
Diameter (m) 2.72 2.92 4.76 1.30
TAC ($/year) 0.673 106 0.912 106 1.308 106 0.264 106

Component A B C D E

Ultimate product purity (%) 98.52 99.00 99.30 98.51 99.71

| VOLUME 90, AUGUST 2012 | | THE CANADIAN JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING | 963 |
 Figure 7a presents the schematic of the DCS corresponding to
the optimum chromosome. The important characteristics of the
columns and the purity of the ultimate products are presented in
Table 3. The TAC corresponding to this DCS is 3.159 106 $/year.
This DCS has also been reported as the optimum simple DCS
by most other researchers (Malone et al., 1985; Gadkari and
Govind, 1988; Glinos and Malone, 1989; Porter and Momoh, 1991;
Rong et al., 2001). However, there is a slightly different congu-
ration (shown in Figure 7b) reported as the optimum by some
of the researchers (Floquet et al., 1994; Jobson, 1997; Shah and
Kokossis, 2001). The major difference between these two DCS
arrangements is caused by the second and fourth columns whose
most important characteristics are summarised in Table 4. The
TAC of the DCS shown in Figure 7b is 3.192 106 $/year. Although
the difference is only some 1.0%, the DCS shown in Figure 7a is
better than the one shown in Figure 7b. This minor difference has
also been conrmed in other studies (Malone et al., 1985; Gadkari
and Govind, 1988).
Shah and Kokossis (2001) after specifying the DCS of Figure 7b
as the best simple DCS, reported some complex DCSs as better
congurations (Figure 8). In their study, a conceptual formu-
lation, based on thermodynamic and engineering insights, was
developed for synthesis of the optimum DCS, and conceptual loss
was used as a criterion for comparison of various DCSs.
According to the values of conceptual losses assigned to vari-
ous DCSs in Figure 8, the design (I) was reported as the optimum
DCS, and designs (II) and (III) were reported as suboptimal ones.
But, in fact, neither these designs nor the other complex DCSs are

Figure 8. The best congurations for separating the mixture of Example 1 as reported by Shah and Kokossis (2001).

| 964 | THE CANADIAN JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING | | VOLUME 90, AUGUST 2012 |
 more economical than the best simple DCS which was introduced
Table 4. The most important characteristics of columns 2 and 4 of as the optimum conguration for separating this light hydrocar-
Figure 7b for Example 1
bon mixture. The most important characteristics of the columns
of Figure 8 are presented in Table 5. The TACs of the designs (I),
Parameter Column 2 Column 4
(II) and (III) are 4.096 106 , 3.371 106 and 5.331 106 $/year,
P (kPa) 1361 530 respectively. Hence, these designs are not more economical than
Rmin 9.00 8.12 the best simple DCS represented in Figure 7a. In fact, none of
R 12.6 11.4 the complex DCSs are preferable for this case. As explained by
N 37 78 Rong et al. (2001), for this light hydrocarbon mixture, the oper-
Ttop ( C) 40.5 40.2 ating pressures of complex congurations are generally much
Tbot ( C) 88.7 52.8 higher than those of conventional DCSs. This fact results in a
Qcond (kJ/h) 0.8535 107 3.078 107 signicant decrease in the relative volatilities and a signicant
Qreboil (kJ/h) 0.8735 107 3.081 107
increase in the operating temperatures. Thus, the values of Rmin ,
Eov (%) 74 74
Height (m) 34.4 68
N, and, hence, capital and operating costs of reboilers, condensers
Diameter (m) 1.84 2.88 and distillation towers are increased. Therefore, for this example,
TAC ($/year) 0.408 106 0.802 106 the use of complex arrangements has no economic advantage.

Table 5. Important characteristics of columns of Figure 8

Parameter Column 1 Column 2 Column 3 Column 4

Design (I)
P (kPa) 530 1361 1361 154
Rmin 1.40 59.00 9.59
R 1.82 82.60 14.39
N 30 125 33 83
Ttop ( C) 45.3 40.5 40.6
Tbot ( C) 91.8 94.1 80.6 49.1
Qcond (kJ/h) 2.235 107 5.246 107 6.735 107
Qreboil (kJ/h) 2.378 107 3.449 107 1.819 107 6.738 107
D (kmol/h) 408.0 45.8 182.3
W (kmol/h) 499.2 226.1 136.1 316.8
Eov (%) 68.5 77.3 73.6 70.9
Height (m) 30.8 102.2 29.4 75.2
Diameter (m) 2.72 3.59 2.39 4.76
TAC ($/year) 0.673 106 1.741 106 0.373 106 1.308 106
Design (II)
P (kPa) 724 724 1361 154
Rmin 11.17 4.64 9.59
R 16.75 6.03 14.39
N 72 45 37 83
Ttop ( C) 45.6 40.5 40.6
Tbot ( C) 105.7 65.4 80.6 49.1
Qcond (kJ/h) 5.696 107 0.441 107 6.735 107
Qreboil (kJ/h) 2.215 107 3.635 107 0.453 107 6.738 107
D (kmol/h) 181.9 45.8 182.3
W (kmol/h) 499.2 226.1 136.1 316.8
Eov (%) 73.0 74.9 73.6 70.9
Height (m) 64.4 39.0 35.0 75.2
Diameter (m) 3.67 3.02 1.30 4.76
TAC ($/year) 1.308 106 0.480 106 0.264 106 1.319 106
Design (III)
P (kPa) 530 530 1361 1361
Rmin 1.40 11.57 59.00
R 1.82 17.35 82.60
N 106 58 125 33
Ttop ( C) 45.3 86.5 40.5
Tbot ( C) 95.1 94.1 80.6
Qcond (kJ/h) 2.235 107 7.047 107 5.246 107
Qreboil (kJ/h) 9.426 107 3.449 107 1.819 107
D (kmol/h) 408.0 182.3 45.8
W (kmol/h) 316.8 226.1 136.1
Eov (%) 73.6 75.7 77.3 73.6
Height (m) 91.4 49.2 102.2 29.4
Diameter (m) 5.14 4.34 3.59 2.39
TAC ($/year) 2.277 106 0.940 106 1.741 106 0.373 106

| VOLUME 90, AUGUST 2012 | | THE CANADIAN JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING | 965 |
Rong et al. (2001) economically evaluated 13 thermally coupled
DCSs (composed of some side-column arrangements) and the 14
simple DCSs. In their study, also, the simple DCS shown in Fig-
ure 7a was reported as the best case among the considered cases.
Thus, it can be concluded that the method developed by Shah and
Kokossis (2001) is not efcient for synthesising the optimum DCS
from an economic perspective.

Example 2
To study the effect of corrosive nature of components on the pro-
duced optimum DCS, it was assumed that the rst component of
the mixture used in the previous example would be corrosive. The
corrosive nature of the rst component forced the method to use
more corrosion-resisting material of construction (e.g. stainless Figure 9. The variations of the average tness and the best tness versus
steel) for those columns in which the concentration of this com- succeeding generations for Example 2.
ponent was not negligible. Therefore, higher capital costs were
calculated for those DCSs in which the corrosive component
passed through more columns.
The GA parameters for this case were set as Example 1. Figure 9
shows the trend of the average and best tness. The optimum
chromosome produced by the GA is in the following:

[0001010100000000000000000000]

The TAC for the optimum DCS conguration is 3.652

106 $/year. Figure 10 and Table 6 provide the DCS arrangement
and important characteristics corresponding to the optimum geno-
type.
As shown, in this example, a conventional DCS with a
non-sharp separation was reported as the optimum. Note, the
optimality of a conventional DCS with non-sharp separations is
in contrast with the common perceptions. None of the complex
DCSs or the simple ones are better than the presented DCS. The
reason why complex arrangements are not present in the optimum
DCS can be explained as per Example 1. Furthermore, the results
of economic evaluation for all the simple DCSs indicated that the
Figure 10. The optimum DCS for Example 2.
TAC of the best simple DCS (i.e. [A/BCDE, BC/DE, B/C, D/E]) is

Table 6. The important characteristics of the columns of Figure 10 for Example 2

Parameter Column 1 Column 2 Column 3 Column 4 Column 5

P (kPa) 1070 1372 429 530 154

Rmin 6.06 1.72 1.65 9.32 9.59
Nmin 12.2 16.8 14.4 38.0 42.8
R 7.89 2.23 2.15 13.0 14.4
N 27 33 29 81 83
Ttop ( C) 49.0 40.2 41.2 40.2 40.6
Tbot ( C) 102.4 81.1 82.9 52.8 49.1
Qcond (kJ/h) 1.043 107 0.1984 107 2.077 107 2.810 107 6.735 107
Qreboil (kJ/h) 1.103 107 0.2038 107 2.173 107 2.813 107 6.738 107
D (kmol/h) 73.8 45.4 334.2 109.3 182.3
W (kmol/h) 833.4 28.8 499.2 224.9 316.8
Eov (%) 71 73.5 67.8 73.9 70.9
Height (m) 27.2 31.4 30.2 70.4 75.2
Diameter (m) 2.12 0.83 2.65 2.75 4.76
TAC ($/year) 0.732 106 0.277 106 0.581 106 0.757 106 1.305 106

Component A B (column 2) B (column 4) C D E

Ultimate product purity (%) 99.69 95.30 98.76 99.35 98.51 99.71

| 966 | THE CANADIAN JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING | | VOLUME 90, AUGUST 2012 |
 Table 7. Problem specications for Example 3

Components Mole fractions

Ethanol 0.25
iso-Propanol 0.15
n-Propanol 0.35
iso-Butanol 0.10
n-Butanol 0.15
Feed ow rate 500.4 kmol/h
Thermodynamic condition of feed Saturated liquid at 101.325 kPa

Table 8. GA parameters used in optimisation of Example 3

Figure 11. The variations of the average tness and the best tness
Chromosome length = 36 bits Number of selected parents = 24
versus succeeding generations for Example 3.
Population size = 50 Mutation rate = 15%
Convergence criterion = 95% individual similarity

3.817 106 $/year, which is 4.53% more than the optimum cost
(Boozarjomehry et al., 2009).
Example 3
A mixture of alcohols whose characteristics are shown in Table
7 was studied as the third benchmark problem. The operating
pressure range was between 4 and 2000 kPa. Table 8 provides the
GA parameters used to solve this problem.
Figure 11 shows the trends in the average and best tness and
Figure 12 presents a schematic of the generated optimum DCS.
The chromosome corresponding to the optimum DCS was the
following:
[0101000000000000000000000000]
Table 9 presents the important parameters of the columns in
the DCS. The TAC for the optimum DCS is 4.102 106 $/year.
According to the preceding study (Boozarjomehry et al., 2009),
the best conventional DCS for the present problem is [AB/CDE,
A/B, C/DE, D/E] with estimated TAC of 4.193 106 $/year, which
is 2.2% more than the optimum cost proposed here.
As the rst analysis, the prefractionator arrangement in Fig-
ure 12 was replaced by a Petlyuk column. With this replacement,
the TAC for DCS was increased to be 4.216 106 $/year (2.8%
more than the optimum cost). The columns 3 and 4 from the two
sequences are the same but the economic parameters of columns
1 and 2 were changed such that the cost of the discussed DCS
became higher than that of the optimum scenario. The most
important characteristics of these two columns which form a Pet-
lyuk arrangement are presented in Table 10. As Table 10 indicates,
the TAC of the rst column of Petlyuk arrangement is less than
that of the prefractionator arrangement. However, due to the huge
increase in the reux ratio of the second column, the diameter of
column and heat duties of condenser and reboiler increase. Con-
sequently, the TAC for Petlyuk arrangement becomes higher than
that for the prefractionator arrangement.
In the study performed by Rong et al. (2001), the TAC for one
of the complex congurations (Figure 13) was reported to be
less than that of all the simple DCSs and the other considered

Table 9. The important characteristics of the columns of Figure 12 for Example 3

Parameter Column 1 Column 2 Column 3 Column 4

P (kPa) 101 101 101 101

Rmin 0.92 1.25 8.95 5.71
Nmin 18.8 44.6 65.2 29.7
R 1.10 2.16 13.42 7.99
N 39 81 126 56
Nfeed 20 16 & 57 70 26
Ttop ( C) 84.3 79.8 78.2 107.9
Tbot ( C) 104.1 113.4 82.2 117.8
Qcond (kJ/h) 2.034 107 2.425 107 6.959 107 1.773 107
Qreboil (kJ/h) 2.068 107 2.441 107 6.960 107 1.775 107
D (kmol/h) 248.7 200.0 124.8 50.5
M (kmol/h) 174.9
W (kmol/h) 251.7 125.5 75.2 74.9
Eov (%) 47.9 54.5 61.0 58.1
Height (m) 53.6 92.0 128.6 62.6
Diameter (m) 2.14 2.44 3.82 2.08
TAC ($/year) 0.617 106 0.975 106 1.858 106 0.652 106

Component A B C D E

Ultimate product purity (%) 99.70 98.84 99.60 98.00 99.67

| VOLUME 90, AUGUST 2012 | | THE CANADIAN JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING | 967 |
 Table 12. Problem specications for Example 4

Components Mole fractions

n-Heptane 0.10
n-Octane 0.10
n-Nonane 0.10
n-Decane 0.10
n-Undecane 0.10
n-Dodecane 0.10
n-Tridecane 0.10
n-Tetradecane 0.10
n-Pentadecane 0.10
n-Hexadecane 0.10
Feed ow rate 1000.0 kmol/h
Thermodynamic condition of feed Saturated liquid at 101.325 kPa

Figure 12. The optimum DCS for Example 3.

Table 10. The most important characteristics of the discussed Petlyuk

arrangement in Example 3

Parameter Column 1 Column 2

P (kPa) 101 101

Rmin 2.27
R 4.25
N 39 80
Ttop ( C) 84.3 79.8
Tbot ( C) 104.1 113.4
Qcond (kJ/h) 4.035 107
Qreboil (kJ/h) 4.085 107
Eov (%) 47.9 54.5
Height (m) 54.2 90.8
Diameter (m) 2.14 3.14 Figure 13. The favourable DCS for Example 3 reported by Rong et al.
TAC ($/year) 0.343 106 1.363 106 (2001).

Table 11. Important characteristics of the favourable DCS of Rong et al. (2001) for Example 3

Parameter Column 1 Column 2 Column 3 Column 4

P (kPa) 101 101 101 101

Rmin 11.94 2.28 2.52
R 17.90 2.96 3.28
N 171 60 30 27
Nfeed 92 1 30 27
Ttop ( C) 78.2 97.2 107.9
Tbot ( C) 117.8 82.3
Qcond (kJ/h) 9.124 107 2.717 107 0.8474 107
Qreboil (kJ/h) 6.666 107 6.074 107
D (kmol/h) 124.8 174.0 50.8
W (kmol/h) 74.9 75.8
Eov (%) 58.1 60.9 56.4 58.1
Height (m) 182.6 61.8 35.4 31.2
Diameter (m) 3.97 3.60 2.33 1.40
TAC ($/year) 2.831 106 0.957 106 0.358 106 0.178 106

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Table 13. GA parameters used in optimisation of Example 4
Chromosome length = 80 bits Number of selected parents = 96
Population size = 160 Mutation rate = 10%
Convergence criterion = 95% individual similarity
Figure 14. The variations of the average tness and the best tness
versus succeeding generations for Example 4.
12 complex ones. Table 11 presents the most important charac-
teristics of columns of this sequence. The TAC for this DCS is
4.325 106 $/year (5.4% more than the optimum case). Although
this sequence is more economical than most of congurations
consisted of side-columns and simple columns, the DCS shown
in Figure 12 is better than it. Note, Rong et al. (2001) did not
include many of complex arrangements such as prefractionator
and Petlyuk congurations in their study.
Example 4
As the last example, a large-scale multi-component mixture was
studied to verify the scalability of the proposed method. The
problem was originally studied by Floquet et al. (1994). They
Figure 15. The optimum DCS for Example 4.
| VOLUME 90, AUGUST 2012 | |
developed a simulated annealing-based method in order to solve
the problem. Floquet et al. (1994) assumed only a specic recov-
ery of key components; hence desired purity levels of products
were not necessarily satised. This is, however, in contrast with
practice that the objective of a DCS is to produce the products with
the specied purities. Moreover, the search area of Floquet et al.
(1994) was restricted to simple columns and columns with one
side stream. The current GA method, on the other hand, accounts
for the required realistic objective (i.e. high purity products), and
the search area is much broader than that of Floquet et al. (1994).
Hence, the result obtained in this study cannot be compared with
that obtained in the original study of Floquet et al. (1994). How-
ever, as noted above, the scalability of the GA-based method would
be demonstrated while dealing with this severely combinatorial
problem.
Table 12 provides the mixture characteristics. The parameters
used in the GA to solve this problem are presented in Table 13.
Figure 14 clearly shows the excellent convergence through only
nine generations. Note, due to the large search space dimension, a
large population size was selected. Eighty-bit chromosomes were
used for this 10-component mixture and the chromosome corre-
sponding to the optimum case was:
[1101011000001010110100010000. . .00]
Figure 15 shows the schematic of the optimum DCS, while Table
14 contains the signicant column parameters. The TAC for this
DCS is 13.084 106 $/year.
Some sensitivity analyses performed on the optimum DCS are
outlined in the following:
The use of side-rectier instead of Column 2 (side-stripper)
increases the TAC up to 14.437 106 $/year.
The use of 4 extra side-stripper in Column 1 instead
of Columns5, 6, 8, 9 and 10, increases the TAC up to
20.174 106 $/year.
THE CANADIAN JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING | 969 |
|
970
|
Table 14. The important characteristics of the columns of Figure 15 for Example 4

Parameter Column 1 Column 2 Column 3 Column 4 Column 5 Column 6 Column 7 Column 8 Column 9 Column 10

P (kPa) 101 101 101 101 101 101 101 101 101 101
Rmin 17.81 4.84 1.46 5.67 2.17 1.25 1.93
R 24.93 6.29 1.89 7.94 2.82 1.62 2.78

THE CANADIAN JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING

N 117 17 3 21 52 36 68 34 37 85

|
Nfeed 87 1 1 1 20 18 34 17 19 22 & 59
Ttop ( C) 98.7 204.8 140.2 270.4 125.8 180.6 173.7
Tbot ( C) 277.1 255.6 220.9 158.9 235.4 190.5 284.8 150.5 206.2 215.3
Qcond (kJ/h) 8.2834 107 1.3959 107 2.1325 107 4.5371 107 1.3211 107 1.3817 107 1.4198 107
Qreboil (kJ/h) 3.3465 107 1.6336 107 0.3577 107 5.0587 107 1.4269 107 2.3364 107 4.5466 107 1.3373 107 1.4152 107 1.4355 107
D (kmol/h) 100.0 41.5 198.1 100.0 99.5 128.0 94.7
M (kmol/h) 87.7
W (kmol/h) 200.0 100.0 140.6 459.4 99.1 261.3 100.0 98.6 133.3 79.0
Eov (%) 59.4 60.7 30.0 61.8 66.7 64.3 68.7 64.2 59.7 66.4
Height (m) 122.6 19.2 8.4 22.8 51.2 38.0 63.8 36.2 41.6 81.2
Diameter (m) 5.78 2.82 1.30 3.73 2.60 3.26 4.86 2.43 2.58 2.69
TAC ($/year) 3.525 106 0.832 106 0.159 106 1.214 106 0.936 106 1.040 106 2.939 106 0.572 106 0.779 106 1.088 106

Component A B C D E F G H I J

Ultimate product purity (%) 99.50 99.00 99.02 99.31 98.99 99.03 99.39 99.00 99.00 99.50

|
VOLUME 90, AUGUST 2012
|
 The use of 7 side-rectier in Column 1 instead of Columns 2, be taken into account while seeking the optimum distillation
3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 and 10, increases the TAC up to 16.181 106 $/ conguration.
year.
Replacement of the prefractionator arrangement (Columns 9
and 10) with a Petlyuk column increases the TAC up to NOMENCLATURE
13.096 106 $/year. Ccap total installed capital cost ($)
Replacement of the prefractionator arrangement (Columns 9 CCF capital charge factor
and 10) with a side-stripper arrangement increases the TAC up Cop total annual operating cost ($/year)
to 13.405 106 $/year. D distillate product ow rate (kmol/h)
Replacement of the prefractionator arrangement (Columns 9 Diameter diameter of column (m)
and 10) with a side-rectier arrangement increases the TAC up E(x) the greatest integer which is less than or equal to x
to 13.343 106 $/year. Eov overall column efciency (%)
The use of conventional columns for separation of this mixture f tness function
is much more expensive. For instance, the TAC for direct and Height height of column (m)
indirect simple DCS are 17.609 106 and 21.751 106 $/year, M intermediate product ow rate (kmol/h)
respectively, which are 34.6% and 66.2% more than the N number of theoretical trays
optimum cost. The preceding study of Boozarjomehry et al. Nfeed feed stage number accounting from top
(2009) indicated that the TAC of the best conventional DCS is Nmin minimum number of theoretical trays
15.696 106 $/year. This value is 20.0% higher than the opti- P operating pressure of column (kPa)
mum cost presented in this study. Pi probability of selection for ith individual from mating
pool
It is nally worth highlighting the fact that as a signicant
Qcond heat duty of condenser (kJ/h)
characteristic of the proposed method, GA has exerted its intel-
Qreboil heat duty of reboiler (kJ/h)
ligence to nd the optimum DCS surrounded by a gigantic
R operating reux ratio
number of similar but non-optimum DCS alternatives in the last
Rmin minimum reux ratio
example.
TAC total annual cost ($/year)
Tbot column bottom temperature ( C)
Ttop column top temperature ( C)
CONCLUSIONS W bottom product ow rate (kmol/h)
A novel method, based on the GA, has been presented for the
optimum design of DCSs for the separation of multi-component
mixtures. In this work, distillation columns are not restricted to Subscripts
simple columns, and the search space expands to include the bot bottom of column
conventional distillation columns and complex columns such as cap capital
prefractionator arrangement, Petlyuk column, and various cong- cond condenser
urations of side-strippers and side-rectiers. Except for azeotropic op operating
mixtures, the method can be used for both ideal and non-ideal ov overall
mixtures since a wide variety of thermodynamic models has reboil reboiler
been incorporated into the software package. Moreover, economic top top of column
effects of equipment material of construction and all necessary
unit operations, such as preheating and precooling, are taken into
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| 972 | THE CANADIAN JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING | | VOLUME 90, AUGUST 2012 |