07-11-2014

World’s first practical use of innovative energy saving distillation system

Toyo Engineering Corporation has been awarded a contract to commercialize an energy-saving distillation system, called SUPERHIDIC®, that was patented in 2011. The contract is for a distillation column in a methyl ethyl ketone (MEK) production plant to be constructed by Maruzen Petrochemical Co. Ltd.

The distillation operation that is generally used in oil refineries and petrochemical plants is a thermal energy intensive process, where the bottom of distillation towers is heated using a reboiler and, at the same time, overhead gas is cooled using a condenser. To save energy in the distillation operation, a range of technologies has been proposed to date. Since the concept of Heat Integrated Distillation Column (HIDiC) was announced in the 1970s as a process promising ultimate energy-saving performance, HIDiC has been studied worldwide; however, practical application of the process has not yet taken place.

Advancing the concept of HIDiC and applying well proven distillation and heat-transfer technologies, TOYO has developed SUPERHIDIC®, a distillation system that produces high economic efficiency while retaining the maintainability of normal distillation columns. SUPERHIDIC® enables 40%-60% energy savings in many cases within the distillation process by providing optimal internal heat exchange.

Taking this opportunity to carry out commercialization, TOYO will strive to expand the application of SUPERHIDIC® to various distillation columns, thus helping reduce energy usage in oil refineries and petrochemical plants.

Energy saving: If the energy consumption of an ordinary distillation column for a reboiler equals 100, the energy consumption of SUPERHIDIC® is 40 for the compressor (converted to primary energy) and 10 for the reboiler, totaling approx. 50. This means SUPERHIDIC® creates energy savings of approximately 50%.