Innovative hybrid processes offer significant cost savings, particularly for azeotropic or close-boiling mixtures. Hybrid separation processes are characterized by the combination of two or more different unit operations, which contribute to the separation task by different physical separation principles. Despite of the inherent advantages of hybrid separation processes, they are not systematically exploited in industrial applications due to the complexity of the design and optimization of these highly integrated processes. In this work we study a hybrid distillation/melt crystallization process, using conventional and thermally coupled distillation sequences. The design and optimization were carried out using, as a design tool, a multi-objective genetic algorithm with restrictions coupled with the process simulator Aspen Plus (TM), for the evaluation of the objective function. The results show that this hybrid configuration with thermally coupled arrangements is a feasible option in terms of energy savings, capital investment and control properties. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.