Articles & Issues
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- Conflict of Interest
- In relation to this article, we declare that there is no conflict of interest.
- Publication history
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Received September 23, 2025
Revised February 23, 2026
Accepted April 5, 2026
Available online July 25, 2026
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This is an Open-Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/bync/3.0) which permits
unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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Separation of Methanol-Carbon Tetrachloride Azeotropes: Process Optimization and Comparative Assessment of Energy-Efficient Strategies
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11814-026-00718-y
Abstract
The separation of methanol-carbon tetrachloride azeotropes presents significant challenges. Three strategies were evaluated:
extractive distillation (ED) with p-cresol as the optimal entrainer, pressure-swing distillation (PSD) at 0.4/5 atm, and
azeotropic distillation (AD) using water. The separation sequence and operating parameters are optimized via different
sequential iterative procedures, aiming to minimize the total annual cost (TAC). Two energy-saving technologies, namely
heat-pump technology and heat-integration technology, were evaluated. The comprehensive economic and environmental
assessment showed that the heat-pump AD process was optimal, with TAC reduced by 67.6% compared to ED and by
53.2% compared to PSD, and CO₂ emissions reduced by 49.0% compared to ED and by 41.7% compared to PSD.
