The four-step copper-chlorine cycle is utilized for hydrogen production from water. Intermediate copper and chlorine compounds facilitate the process, while all other reactants are regenerated and recycled, forming a closed-loop system. Hydrolysis of CuCl₂, leading to the formation of Cu₂OCl₂ and dilute HCl, is a crucial step that uses a large excess of steam to ensure completion of reaction leading to the formation of dilute hydrochloric acid which needs to be recycled for the electrolysis reaction, requiring removal of the azeotrope between HCl and water. This study explores the utilization of pressure swing distillation (PSD) for concentrating HCl above azeotropic composition. Separation of the aqueous mixture of HCl and water using PSD is optimized using a sequential iterative optimization technique, focusing on process intensification. Integration of a simple heat-utilized FE-Process results in a reduction of TAC and energy cost (4.27% TAC and 7.20% energy cost) compared to the process without heat integration. A higher feed composition of HCl (8 mol %) leads to savings of ∼ 38.75% in TAC and a reduction of 53.06% in CO₂ emissions compared to a lower feed composition (2.53 mol % HCl). The heat-utilized FE-Process with a higher feed composition is more economically viable for the separation of HCl and water.

四步铜氯循环用于从水中生产氢气。中间体铜和氯化合物促进了该过程，而所有其他反应物都被再生和循环利用，形成闭环系统。CuCl ₂的水解，导致形成Cu ₂ OCl ₂和稀HCl，是一个关键步骤，需要使用大量过量的蒸汽来确保反应完成，从而形成需要回收用于电解的稀盐酸反应，需要除去HCl和水之间的共沸物。本研究探讨了利用变压蒸馏 (PSD) 将 HCl 浓缩至共沸组合物之上。使用 PSD 分离 HCl 和水的水性混合物，使用顺序迭代优化技术进行优化，重点是过程强化。与没有热集成的工艺相比，简单的热利用 FE 工艺的集成可降低 TAC 和能源成本（4.27% TAC 和 7.20% 能源成本）。与较低的进料成分（ 2.53 mol % HCl）相比，较高的 HCl 进料成分（8 mol %）可节省约 38.75% 的 TAC，并减少 53.06% 的 CO _2排放。进料成分较高的热利用 FE 工艺对于 HCl 和水的分离更加经济可行。