Sustainable and efficient process design for wastewater recovery of cyclohexane/isopropyl alcohol azeotrope by extractive distillation based on multi-objective genetic algorithm optimization

Cyclohexane and isopropyl alcohol are widely used in the chemical and pharmaceutical industries. There is a strong industrial need for the refinement of cyclohexane and isopropyl alcohol. In this study, the recovery of cyclohexane and isopropyl alcohol from wastewater was carried out sustainably and efficiently by extractive distillation. The suitability of ethylene glycol as entrainer was determined by relative volatility analysis. The process was optimized via multi-objective optimization, and the extractive distillation process obtained optimal parameters and process scheme. Finally, a comprehensive analysis was conducted to evaluate the economic, environmental and exergy efficiency of different process schemes. The results show that the extractive distillation coupled pervaporation technology has a 14.07% lower total annual cost than extractive distillation, and the pervaporation technology reduces gas emissions by 15.65% compared to the extractive distillation. This work explores the recovery of cyclohexane and isopropyl alcohol from wastewater by different process schemes, which has certain guiding significance for the sustainable and efficient separation of ternary azeotrope.