How to Reduce Energy Consumption in Distillation

Distillation is one of the most energy-intensive separation processes used in petrochemical plants, yet not often researched. Recent advancements in membrane technology and adsorption materials offer opportunities for hybrid separation that uses less than half as much energy to achieve similar separation.

Energy reduction in crude distillation can improve economic benefits and make more efficient use of petroleum resources, and there are various methods available for saving energy at this stage, including improving equipment operation conditions and adjusting control parameters.

Reliance on too much reflux — Running your distillation column at below-target specifications uses more energy, so keep an eye on your energy data to see if you are expending too much on energy costs.

Failure to Optimize Feed Conditions — Reaching an optimal temperature profile requires an in-depth knowledge of thermal properties in a column system, but improper feed conditions may negatively impact product purity and yield.

An integrated method combining mechanism modeling and artificial intelligence is presented to accurately predict the energy efficiency of crude distillation. The process is simulated under four working conditions, and sample sets processed through SG filters to reduce noise before being sent through an LSTM training center for training an LSTM model which then serves to predict energy efficiency of atmospheric two-line products and vacuum two-line products.