15 - Acrylic Monomers

Abstract

This chapter considers the design, plantwide control and economic evaluation of several processes for higher acrylates production, using solid catalysts. First, three reaction-separation-recycle (RSR) process alternatives for 2-ethylhexylacrylate are considered. Each employs a fixed bed reactor with Amberlyst 70 as catalyst and standard separation equipment. The alternative using distillation as first separation step has better economic indicators due to better use of the raw materials, compared to alternatives where a simple flash or a decanter are used. The reactive distillation (RD) technology allows great reduction of the capital and operating costs. Then, the production of n-butyl acrylate is addressed. In this case, the low relative volatility of acrylic acid and n-butyl acrylate clearly favors RD over conventional RSR processes. Dynamic simulations show that, in all cases, the control structure can achieve large throughput changes, and copes well with the contamination with water of both fresh reactants.