As in continuous distillation systems, the design of batch distillation begins with the selection of a sequence of separations. This paper considers the usual case where the column processes multicom-ponent mixtures with the recycle of intermediate cuts. It is proved that this cyclic operation does converge to a “steady state” balance. This permits to model batch distillation with recycle as a function of the steady state variables, i.e. without the need of successive simulations to obtain the steady state. Furthermore, we use simplified analytical models which permit a quick approximation to the optimal design of a given sequence, thus aiding the designer in the screening of alternative separation sequences, to preselect one, or a small set of good sequences.