Application of Thermoacoustic Heat Pumps to Distillation Columns

Heat pumping technologies are one of the main energy saving method used in bulk distillation columns. Espacially in petrochemical industry different configuration of heat pumps have been suggested and applied. Nowadays, thermoacoustic heat pumps (TAHP) have been suggested as an alternative to the widely used compression heat pumps (CHP). In this regard, application of thermoacoustic heat pumps to the distillation columns was studied along with their effiency and economic. In order to eveluate use of THAP in diffrent temperatures and temperature slopes, it was applied to three different distillation columns. Thanks to this applications the acustic energy, electrical energy demand and the area requirement were identified. Based on the results obtained from the application of TAHP, the operating cost of TAHP and the cooling-heating costs were compared with the most common conventional heat pump (compression heat pump). The economic analysis was carried out according to energy demand of THAP