• • The TCED-IDC process achieved a 41.2% reduction in total annualized cost (TAC) and a 50.4% reduction in CO2 emissions compared to the conventional three-column extractive distillation (TCED), demonstrating significant economic and environmental benefits for industrial wastewater treatment.
• • Thermodynamic efficiency (η) was improved by 102% relative to TCED, indicating superior energy utilization and reduced irreversibility, which is critical for sustainable process design.
• • Ethylene glycol was identified as the optimal extractant based on vapor-liquid equilibrium analysis, achieving product purities of ≥99.9 wt% and extractant recycle purity of ≥99.99 wt%, ensuring high separation performance and solvent recovery.
• • The TCED-IDC configuration also outperformed the four-column pre-concentration extractive distillation (FCED) with a 10.5% lower TAC, 13.5% lower CO2 emissions, and 12.1% higher thermodynamic efficiency, highlighting the advantage of process intensification via thermal coupling.