Maximum temperature limitations are encountered in distillation columns in which thermally sensitive materials are being separated. Fixing the temperature and composition of the bottoms product fixes the column base pressure and, hence, the condenser pressure. The distillate composition at this pressure sets the condenser temperature. In many systems, this temperature is lower than that attainable with cooling water, so expensive refrigeration must be used. Instead of using a single column with a refrigerated condenser, it is sometimes more economical to use two columns. In the first column, pressure is established to permit the use of cooling water (322 K reflux-drum temperature), and a portion of the light component is produced as the distillate stream. The maximum base temperature limitation is achieved by taking a bottoms stream that is a mixture of the light and heavy components. Then this stream is separated in a second column that uses a refrigerated condenser. The rest of the light component is produced as the distillate and the heavy component is produced as the bottoms. This paper presents a quantitative comparison of the two alternative flowsheets. Results show that the two-column process is more economical when two conditions exist: (1) there is a large difference in the normal boiling points between the light and heavy components, and (2) the composition of the feed stream has a significant amount of the light component.