RESPONSE MODES OF A BINARY DISTILLATION COLUMN

The noninteracting dynamic response modes of a ten-plate binary distillation column have been investigated through analyses of several locally linearized representations of the process dynamics. Only a few of the modes decay slowly enough to be significant in determining dynamic response; moreover, most of these are strongly activated by typical column disturbances. The slowest mode involves primarily composition effects throughout the column rather than thermal or hydraulic effects. By contrast, the second slowest mode is identified simply with the thermal balance in the overhead accumulator. The nature of the modes determined in these studies suggests that relatively simple dynamic models for distillation columns may serve satisfactorily in many circumstances. © 1969, American Chemical Society. All rights reserved.