Extractive Distillation Simulation in DWSIM | Ethanol–Benzene Separation using p-Xylene

In this video, we simulate an extractive distillation process using DWSIM to separate an ethanol–benzene azeotropic mixture with p-xylene as the solvent, including solvent recovery and recycle.

🔹 Problem Description
The feed to the extractive distillation column is an azeotropic mixture containing:
Ethanol: 50 mol %
Benzene: 50 mol %
Total flow rate: 100 kmol/h
Feed temperature: 298.15 K

Since ethanol and benzene form an azeotrope, they cannot be separated by conventional distillation. To enable separation, p-xylene is added as a high-boiling solvent, which alters the vapor–liquid equilibrium and allows ethanol to be recovered as the overhead product.

The process consists of:
An extractive distillation column (≈71 stages, reflux ratio ≈2.13), where ethanol is obtained as distillate
A solvent recovery column (≈21 stages, reflux ratio ≈6.14), where benzene is recovered as distillate and p-xylene as bottoms

A cooler and recycle loop for solvent recovery

This video focuses solely on how the complete flowsheet is implemented and solved in DWSIM, and on how to interpret the product compositions and flow rates reported by the simulator.

🔹 Software Used

DWSIM – Open-Source Process Simulator
👉 https://dwsim.org

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