A fixed point methodology for the design of reactive distillation columns

Abstract

Reactive distillation (RD), one of the best-known examples of process intensification, has been received significant attention. Although the advantages of RD are well documented in the literature, the commercial applications of RD are still limited because of the rather complicated design methodology in multi-component reaction system. In this paper, a modified fixed point method for the design of reactive distillation column with the multi-component reactive system is developed and illustrated. The method is based on the theory of phase equilibrium, kinetic fixed points and element concept in the reactive distillation map. The proposed graphical presentation takes the effect of temperature on the separation and reaction into account, which helps in extrapolating the design details. Three example systems are employed to evaluate the modified fixed point methodology proposed. The results show that the methodology is feasible and computationally efficient even for the complex configurations and multi-component reaction systems.