MODELING AND SIMULATION OF A DIVIDING WALL COLUMN FOR FRACTIONATION OF FATTY ACID IN OLEOCHEMICAL INDUSTRIES

Abstract

The dividing wall column (DWC) is particularly useful for separating multi-component mixtures into their pure fractions within one column shell and has attracted many researchers and companies for various applications. In the oleochemical industries, it is observed, that the fractionation of fatty acid commonly uses conventional two stage distillation columns. In this research, DWC was studied for a more efficient fractionation of fatty acid mixtures. A unique four column configuration model was used to represent the four sections in DWC. Using Aspen Plus as computer aided process engineering tool, a rigorous steady state simulation was performed. The results show that a more logical and realistic model for describing the process operation was obtained, compared to a common more two or three-column approach. In addition, some technical aspects were also highlighted to comprehend the design and operational configuration of DWC.