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Techtiv™ & Techtiv™ Solace | advanced BTX extraction solvents

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Explore Sulzer’s Techtiv™ and next-generation Techtiv™ Solace solvents for BTX extraction and aromatics purification. Unlock superior BTX recovery and purity, reduce energy consumption, and increase incremental capacity with drop-in solutions that upgrade your existing units, with no shutdowns or major modifications needed.

Backed by Sulzer expertise and decades of R&D, our advanced solvents enhance throughput, cut operational costs, and help achieve decarbonization goals by lowering utility usage and carbon emissions.

Higher BTX recovery & purity

Maximize the yield and quality of valuable aromatics with superior solvent selectivity

Lower energy consumption

Reduce steam, cooling, and power use for lower costs and a smaller carbon footprint

Increased incremental capacity

Unlock extra throughput without major equipment changes or plant downtime

Main benefits

Higher aromatics recovery & purity Recover more valuable BTX aromatics or significantly increase product purity

Energy & emissions reduction Lower steam, electricity, and cooling water consumption, reducing operational costs and carbon footprint

Maximized asset performance Unlock incremental capacity using your existing equipment and infrastructure

Cost efficiency Achieve upgrades with no capital investment, equipment modification, or revamp needed

Operational continuity Implement solvent upgrade without unit downtime or turnaround

Key characteristics

Drop-in compatibility: Fully compatible with existing liquid-liquid extraction (LLE) and extractive distillation (ED) assets

Online implementation: Add co-solvents while the unit is operating; no shutdown required

Sulfolane reuse: Utilize sulfolane from current inventory, reducing waste and additional procurement cost

Flexible performance goals: Solution can be tailored to maximize recovery, purity, or capacity depending on plant objectives

Safe & proven technology: Non-toxic, non-reactive, thermally stable solvent backed by decades of Sulzer process expertise

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Our technical specialists are ready to help you find the optimal distillation solution for your specific application

Charlie-Chou_Work

Charlie Chou

Global licensing director

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  • GT‑DWC is a unique distillation technique called dividing wall column, that produces three or more purified products in a single tower that otherwise in conventional way is done by 2-3 columns in series.

    A vertical wall splits typically the mid‑section into two functional zones so the column can pre‑fractionate the feed on one side while the other side refines the middle cut (heart‑cut) from the top and the bottom cuts. Compared with a conventional in-series distillation columns, this integrated column reduces investment by half of the equipment count, and its internal arrangement reduces remixing that lower the utility consumption as well.

    When comparing with the normal column with a side draw, GT-DWC produces the heart‑cut where it is most concentrated with contamination from top & bottom products, and achieves the same (or better) product specs as by the multi-column system.

  • A two‑column sequence inevitably wastes duty by splitting and then remixing components between shells, causing thermal inefficiency that drives up utility consumptions for reboiling and condensing. GT‑DWC® consolidates that work inside one shell, so the separation is done once without such thermal inefficiency, with one reboiler and one condenser. That means fewer separation efficiency losses, lower internal flows, and smaller overall duty. Where applicable, GT-DWC typically provide 20-30% energy saving comparing with two-column system with the same or better product separation quality.

  • Yes. GT‑DWC is often a revamp enabler because it replaces two columns with one shell, freeing plot space and reducing energy consumption. It can also be applied for revamping an existing column with sidedraw to greatly improve the middle heartcut purity/quality that benefit its value and downstream units. Sulzer high-efficiency tower internals and proprietary DWC design are key to guarantee the success of the revamp. Dynamic simulation is used to validate start‑up/shutdown procedures as well as the feed variation to prove controllability within your existing utility envelope.

  • Sulzer supplies the full set of trays or structured packings, along with distributors, collectors, and when needed, custom wall hardware. The internals are engineered to maintain pressure balance and uniform liquid/vapor distribution on both sides of the wall—this is critical to prevent maldistribution, channeling, or cross‑leakage that can degrade efficiency. Selection (trays vs. packing) depends on capacity, turndown, fouling tendency, and pressure drop targets; our design team sizes distributors/redistributors and sealing elements to keep performance stable across the operating range.

  • Yes. A single shell creates a clean condenser ↔ reboiler pairing that a heat pump can bridge: the overhead releases heat while condensing; VoltaSplit™ lifts that heat to the reboiler temperature replacing a large share of steam with electricity and reusing condenser heat that would otherwise be rejected.

  • GT‑DWC excels when there is a meaningful middle cut (heart‑cut) to recover, and when the alternative would be a two‑column arrangement. Typical examples include aromatics heart‑cuts, naphtha splitter, reformate splitter, iso/normal-separation column, and light/medium hydrocarbon fractionations where three product slates are needed. As a rule of thumb, if your feed has a clear light, middle, and heavy region—and the middle product purity/yield matters—GT‑DWC is a strong candidate.

  • We pair a standard temperature/reflux control structure with additional loops to maintain vapor/liquid splits around the dividing wall. It ensures high controllability, and robust operation even facing the feed variation. Dynamic simulation is used to test disturbances (feed swings, utility changes) and to finalize startup/shutdown sequences before commissioning.

Industries we support

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Chemicals

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Petrochemicals

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Refining

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Gas Processing and Fuel Management

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