IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/energy/v203y2020ics0360544220308951.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Rethinking energy use in distillation processes for a more sustainable chemical industry

Author

Listed:
  • Kiss, Anton A.
  • Smith, Robin

Abstract

The need for greater sustainability for the production of fuels and chemicals has spurred significant research to rethink energy use in the chemical industry, and eventually substitute fossil fuel sources by renewable sources. Nowadays, the chemical industry is responsible for about one third of the total energy used - and the associated CO2 emissions - in the industrial sector. Among the energy intensive operations, distillation alone is responsible for about 40% of the energy used in the chemical industry, but there is clearly much room for improvement. This paper aims to provide an informative perspective on the current energy use in the chemical industry, with a focus on distillation – the undisputed king of industrial separation processes – and potential improvements for a more sustainable future. There is clearly an increasing need and scope for advanced distillation technologies (e.g. reactive distillation, dividing-wall columns, thermal coupling, cyclic distillation, heat pump assisted distillation, and heat integrated distillation columns) that can significantly reduce the energy usage and the carbon footprint of modern chemical plants. However, these advanced distillation technologies must be considered, along with conventional distillation operations, in the context of the process as a whole. Based on the overview provided, several challenges and opportunities for research directions are highlighted towards rethinking the energy use in distillation processes, for a more sustainable chemical industry.

Suggested Citation

  • Kiss, Anton A. & Smith, Robin, 2020. "Rethinking energy use in distillation processes for a more sustainable chemical industry," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 203(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:203:y:2020:i:c:s0360544220308951
    DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2020.117788
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544220308951
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.energy.2020.117788?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Blahušiak, M. & Kiss, A.A. & Kersten, S.R.A. & Schuur, B., 2016. "Quick assessment of binary distillation efficiency using a heat engine perspective," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 116(P1), pages 20-31.
    2. Kiss, Anton A. & Flores Landaeta, Servando J. & Infante Ferreira, Carlos A., 2012. "Towards energy efficient distillation technologies – Making the right choice," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 47(1), pages 531-542.
    3. Gudjonsdottir, V. & Infante Ferreira, C.A. & Rexwinkel, Glenn & Kiss, Anton A., 2017. "Enhanced performance of wet compression-resorption heat pumps by using NH3-CO2-H2O as working fluid," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 531-542.
    4. David S. Sholl & Ryan P. Lively, 2016. "Seven chemical separations to change the world," Nature, Nature, vol. 532(7600), pages 435-437, April.
    5. Oluleye, Gbemi & Jobson, Megan & Smith, Robin, 2015. "A hierarchical approach for evaluating and selecting waste heat utilization opportunities," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 90(P1), pages 5-23.
    6. Fu, Chao & Gundersen, Truls, 2013. "Recuperative vapor recompression heat pumps in cryogenic air separation processes," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 708-718.
    7. Oluleye, Gbemi & Smith, Robin & Jobson, Megan, 2016. "Modelling and screening heat pump options for the exploitation of low grade waste heat in process sites," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 169(C), pages 267-286.
    8. Yang, Ao & Sun, Shirui & Eslamimanesh, Ali & Wei, Shun'an & Shen, Weifeng, 2019. "Energy-saving investigation for diethyl carbonate synthesis through the reactive dividing wall column combining the vapor recompression heat pump or different pressure thermally coupled technique," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 172(C), pages 320-332.
    9. Long, Nguyen Van Duc & Lee, Moonyong, 2015. "A hybrid technology combining heat pump and thermally coupled distillation sequence for retrofit and debottlenecking," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 103-110.
    10. van de Bor, D.M. & Infante Ferreira, C.A. & Kiss, Anton A., 2015. "Low grade waste heat recovery using heat pumps and power cycles," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 864-873.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Guedes do Nascimento, Leomário & Costa Monteiro, Luciane Pimentel & de Cássia Colman Simões, Rita & Prata, Diego Martinez, 2023. "Eco-efficiency analysis and intensification of the biodiesel production process through vapor recompression strategy," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 275(C).
    2. Xu, Liang & Liu, Yangyang & Bai, Wenshuai & Tan, Zhaoyang & Xue, Wei, 2022. "Design and control of energy-saving double side-stream extractive distillation for the benzene/isopropanol/water separation," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 239(PA).
    3. Dmitry A. Sladkovskiy & Dmitry Yu. Murzin, 2022. "Integrated Power Systems for Oil Refinery and Petrochemical Processes," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(17), pages 1-20, September.
    4. Wang, Lili & Zhao, Jun & Teng, Junfeng & Dong, Shilong & Wang, Yinglong & Xiang, Shuguang & Sun, Xiaoyan, 2022. "Study on an energy-saving process for separation ethylene elycol mixture through heat-pump, heat-integration and ORC driven by waste-heat," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 243(C).
    5. Wiranarongkorn, Kunlanan & Im-orb, Karittha & Panpranot, Joongjai & Maréchal, François & Arpornwichanop, Amornchai, 2021. "Exergy and exergoeconomic analyses of sustainable furfural production via reactive distillation," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 226(C).
    6. Marina, A. & Spoelstra, S. & Zondag, H.A. & Wemmers, A.K., 2021. "An estimation of the European industrial heat pump market potential," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    7. Hu, Yusha & Man, Yi, 2023. "Energy consumption and carbon emissions forecasting for industrial processes: Status, challenges and perspectives," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 182(C).
    8. Cui, Chengtian & Qi, Meng & Zhang, Xiaodong & Sun, Jinsheng & Li, Qing & Kiss, Anton A. & Wong, David Shan-Hill & Masuku, Cornelius M. & Lee, Moonyong, 2024. "Electrification of distillation for decarbonization: An overview and perspective," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 199(C).
    9. Letitia Petrescu & Codruta-Maria Cormos, 2022. "Classical and Process Intensification Methods for Acetic Acid Concentration: Technical and Environmental Assessment," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(21), pages 1-23, October.
    10. Na Xu & Mifen Cui & Zhuxiu Zhang & Jihai Tang & Xu Qiao, 2022. "Quest for the Co-Pyrolysis Behavior of Rice Husk and Cresol Distillation Residue: Interaction, Gas Evolution and Kinetics," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-13, March.
    11. Seferlis, Panos & Varbanov, Petar Sabev & Papadopoulos, Athanasios I. & Chin, Hon Huin & Klemeš, Jiří Jaromír, 2021. "Sustainable design, integration, and operation for energy high-performance process systems," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 224(C).
    12. Eyvazi-Abhari, Nargess & Khalili-Garakani, Amirhossein & Kasiri, Norollah, 2023. "Reaction/distillation matrix algorithm development to cover sequences containing reactive HIDiC: Validation in optimized process of dimethyl carbonate production," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 276(C).
    13. Elias Vieren & Toon Demeester & Wim Beyne & Chiara Magni & Hamed Abedini & Cordin Arpagaus & Stefan Bertsch & Alessia Arteconi & Michel De Paepe & Steven Lecompte, 2023. "The Potential of Vapor Compression Heat Pumps Supplying Process Heat between 100 and 200 °C in the Chemical Industry," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(18), pages 1-28, September.
    14. Albuquerque, Allan Almeida & Ng, Flora T.T. & Danielski, Leandro & Stragevitch, Luiz, 2022. "Reactive separation processes applied to biodiesel production from residual oils and fats: Design, optimization and techno-economic assessment of routes using solid catalysts," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 240(C).
    15. Wang, Qianlin & Han, Jiaqi & Chen, Feng & Hu, Su & Yun, Cheng & Dou, Zhan & Yan, Tingjun & Yang, Guoan, 2024. "Modeling risk characterization networks for chemical processes based on multi-variate data," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 293(C).
    16. Varbanov, Petar Sabev & Wang, Bohong & Ocłoń, Paweł & Radziszewska-Zielina, Elżbieta & Ma, Ting & Klemeš, Jiří Jaromír & Jia, Xuexiu, 2023. "Efficiency measures for energy supply and use aiming for a clean circular economy," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 283(C).
    17. Son, Hyunsoo & Kim, Miae & Kim, Jin-Kuk, 2022. "Sustainable process integration of electrification technologies with industrial energy systems," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 239(PB).
    18. Galusnyak, Stefan Cristian & Petrescu, Letitia & Cormos, Calin-Cristian, 2022. "Classical vs. reactive distillation technologies for biodiesel production: An environmental comparison using LCA methodology," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 192(C), pages 289-299.
    19. Kim, Jung-Hun & Jung, Sungyup & Lee, Taewoo & Tsang, Yiu Fai & Kwon, Eilhann E., 2024. "Thermo-chemical disposal of plastic waste from end-of-life vehicles (ELVs) using CO2," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 290(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Cui, Chengtian & Qi, Meng & Zhang, Xiaodong & Sun, Jinsheng & Li, Qing & Kiss, Anton A. & Wong, David Shan-Hill & Masuku, Cornelius M. & Lee, Moonyong, 2024. "Electrification of distillation for decarbonization: An overview and perspective," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 199(C).
    2. Oluleye, Gbemi & Jiang, Ning & Smith, Robin & Jobson, Megan, 2017. "A novel screening framework for waste heat utilization technologies," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 367-381.
    3. Gudjonsdottir, V. & Infante Ferreira, C.A. & Rexwinkel, Glenn & Kiss, Anton A., 2017. "Enhanced performance of wet compression-resorption heat pumps by using NH3-CO2-H2O as working fluid," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 531-542.
    4. Bohlayer, Markus & Zöttl, Gregor, 2018. "Low-grade waste heat integration in distributed energy generation systems - An economic optimization approach," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 327-343.
    5. Singh Gaur, Ankita & Fitiwi, Desta & Curtis, John, 2019. "Heat pumps and their role in decarbonising heating Sector: a comprehensive review," Papers WP627, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).
    6. Klemeš, Jiří Jaromír & Varbanov, Petar Sabev & Walmsley, Timothy G. & Jia, Xuexiu, 2018. "New directions in the implementation of Pinch Methodology (PM)," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 439-468.
    7. Cui, Chengtian & Li, Xingang & Guo, Dongrong & Sun, Jinsheng, 2017. "Towards energy efficient styrene distillation scheme: From grassroots design to retrofit," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 193-205.
    8. Liu, Siyao & Cui, Chengtian & He, Jie & Sun, Jinsheng, 2018. "Feasibility assessment of a novel refrigeration FCC gas plant driven by self waste heat," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 356-366.
    9. Limei Gai & Petar Sabev Varbanov & Timothy Gordon Walmsley & Jiří Jaromír Klemeš, 2020. "Critical Analysis of Process Integration Options for Joule-Cycle and Conventional Heat Pumps," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-25, February.
    10. Tilia Dahou & Patrick Dutournié & Lionel Limousy & Simona Bennici & Nicolas Perea, 2019. "Recovery of Low-Grade Heat (Heat Waste) from a Cogeneration Unit for Woodchips Drying: Energy and Economic Analyses," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-17, February.
    11. Oluleye, Gbemi & Smith, Robin, 2016. "A mixed integer linear programming model for integrating thermodynamic cycles for waste heat exploitation in process sites," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 178(C), pages 434-453.
    12. Zeyu Liu & Youshi Lan & Jianfeng Jia & Yiyun Geng & Xiaobin Dai & Litang Yan & Tongyang Hu & Jing Chen & Krzysztof Matyjaszewski & Gang Ye, 2022. "Multi-scale computer-aided design and photo-controlled macromolecular synthesis boosting uranium harvesting from seawater," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-12, December.
    13. Yang, Sheng & Liang, Jianeng & Yang, Siyu & Qian, Yu, 2016. "A novel cascade refrigeration process using waste heat and its application to coal-to-SNG," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 115(P1), pages 486-497.
    14. Chen, Hao & Zhang, Yao Jun & He, Pan Yang & Li, Chan Juan, 2019. "Synthesis, characterization and modification of monolithic ZSM-5 from geopolymer for CO2 capture: Experiments and DFT calculations," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 422-430.
    15. Jin, Bo & Zhao, Haibo & Zheng, Chuguang & Liang, Zhiwu, 2018. "Control optimization to achieve energy-efficient operation of the air separation unit in oxy-fuel combustion power plants," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 152(C), pages 313-321.
    16. Jingqi Wang & Jiapeng Liu & Hongshuai Wang & Musen Zhou & Guolin Ke & Linfeng Zhang & Jianzhong Wu & Zhifeng Gao & Diannan Lu, 2024. "A comprehensive transformer-based approach for high-accuracy gas adsorption predictions in metal-organic frameworks," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-14, December.
    17. Modla, G. & Lang, P., 2013. "Heat pump systems with mechanical compression for batch distillation," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 403-417.
    18. Najafi, Gholamhassan & Ghobadian, Barat & Yusaf, Talal & Safieddin Ardebili, Seyed Mohammad & Mamat, Rizalman, 2015. "Optimization of performance and exhaust emission parameters of a SI (spark ignition) engine with gasoline–ethanol blended fuels using response surface methodology," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 90(P2), pages 1815-1829.
    19. Bingbing Yuan & Yuhang Zhang & Pengfei Qi & Dongxiao Yang & Ping Hu & Siheng Zhao & Kaili Zhang & Xiaozhuan Zhang & Meng You & Jiabao Cui & Juhui Jiang & Xiangdong Lou & Q. Jason Niu, 2024. "Self-assembled dendrimer polyamide nanofilms with enhanced effective pore area for ion separation," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-12, December.
    20. Marina, A. & Spoelstra, S. & Zondag, H.A. & Wemmers, A.K., 2021. "An estimation of the European industrial heat pump market potential," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:203:y:2020:i:c:s0360544220308951. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/energy .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.