A diabatic distillation model is improved and the effects of the allocation of a heat-exchanger inventory on the diabatic-distillation performance are taken into account. Minimizing the entropy-production rate of the diabatic distillation column is taken as the optimization objective and the allocations of the heat-exchanger inventory on each tray in the diabatic distillation column are optimally redistributed under the condition of the fixed total heat-exchanger inventory. The optimal performance of the diabatic distillation column is obtained. The diabatic distillation model is meaningful for the design and optimization of diabatic distillation plant. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.