Assessing the Accuracy of Selectivity as a Basis for Solvent Screening in Extractive Distillation Processes

An important parameter for consideration in the screening of solvents for an extractive distillation process is selectivity at infinite dilution. The higher the selectivity, the better the solvent. This paper assesses the accuracy of using selectivity as a basis for solvent screening in extractive distillation processes. Three types of binary mixtures that are usually separated by an extractive distillation process are chosen for investigation. Having determined the optimum solvent feed rate to be two times the feed rate of the binary mixture, the total annual costs of extractive distillation processes for each of the chosen mixtures and for various solvents are carried out. The solvents are ranked on the basis of the total annual cost (obtained by design and costing equations) for the extractive distillation processes, and this ranking order is compared with that of selectivity at infinite dilution as determined by the UNIFAC method. This matching of selectivity with total annual cost does not produce a very good correlation.