An extractive distillation process with two columns and a decanter was proposed to separate ternary toluene-methanol-water azeotropic mixtures in a previous study. Based on this process, six processes were established to explore further energy-efficient schemes to separate the ternary azeotropic system. The optimal parameters of the process were determined in terms of the minimum total annual cost (TAC). The processes with heat integration perform better than those with a side stream or thermal coupling in terms of energy savings andTACreduction. A process in which both the feed stream of the extractive distillation column and the entrainer recovery column are preheated by the entrainer recycle stream can reduce energy consumption by up to 27.69 % andTACby 21.36 %.