Thermally integrated distillation systems and processes using the same

A thermally integrated distillation system for separating a ternary mixture comprising a light key component, a heavy key component, and at least one intermediate key component, wherein said mixture has a distillation boundary on a distillation region diagram that intersects a heterogeneous, minimum boiling binary azeotrope between said intermediate key component and said heavy key component that has a higher boiling point than the light key component, said system comprising:

• a first stripping zone configured to separate at least a portion of said mixture into a first vapor stream and a first product stream enriched in said heavy key component;
• a second stripping zone configured to separate at least a portion of said mixture into a second vapor stream and a second product stream enriched in said intermediate key component;
• a rectification zone configured to receive said first vapor stream and said second vapor stream and for separating said first vapor stream and said second vapor stream into a rectification liquid stream and an overhead product stream enriched in said light key component;
• and
• a decantation zone configured to receive said rectification liquid stream and for separating said rectification liquid stream into a first liquid phase enriched in said heavy key component and a second liquid phase enriched in said intermediate key component, wherein each of said first and said second liquid phases have compositions that fall within different distillation regions of said distillation region diagram, and
• wherein said first stripping zone is configured to receive one of said first liquid phase and said second liquid phase from said decantation zone and wherein said second stripping zone is configured to receive the other of said second liquid phase and said first liquid phase from said decantation zone.