Distillation columns are one of the main equipment used for the separation of chemical components in petrochemical process design. However, in spite of the efficient operation in wide range, and the advantage of data collection for equipment verification, the distillation columns are inherently known for high energy consumption and capital cost. Hence, the trade-off analysis needs to be done between investment cost and operation cost to develop the most economical distillation columns. This study was conducted using Aspen Plus, a popular process simulation program, in the pursuit of broad application by as many process engineers as possible. In this paper, design variables for optimization of distillation columns were defined to improve emphatically the design quality with reducing erratic practice of many engineers. In addition, by eliminating unnecessary reviewing step and establishing systematic and efficient procedures, the amount of time for design and human resources were minimized. Aspen Process Economic Analyzers (APEA) program was introduced in order to calculate the investment cost reliably, and the efficient systematic procedure for utilization of APEA was established.