Patent ID: 8182654

Claim:
A process of separating a less volatile component in a mixture comprising: passing the mixture to a feed section of a distillation column having the feed section, a stripping section and a rectifying section, wherein the stripping section has an outlet for drawing off a bottoms stream, and the rectifying section has a first outlet for drawing off an overhead vapor stream and a second outlet for a side vapor stream; passing a portion of the overhead vapor stream to a condenser, thereby creating a overhead condensed stream; passing a portion of the bottoms stream to a first reboiler, thereby creating a bottoms vapor stream; passing a portion of the bottoms stream to a second reboiler, where in the second reboiler is a heat exchanger with a liquid side and a vapor side, thereby creating a second bottoms vapor stream; drawing of the side vapor stream from a first vertical position of the distillation column and passing the side vapor stream to a heat pump compressor thereby creating a compressed side vapor stream; passing the compressed side vapor stream to the vapor side of the second reboiler, thereby creating a cooled compressed side return stream; passing the cooled compressed side return stream to a second vertical position of the distillation column, below the first vertical position; and passing the bottoms vapor stream and the second bottoms vapor stream to the bottom of the stripping section.