Process Simulation and Design of Reactive Distillation Column

Abstract

This paper presents a systematic study on the homogeneously catalyzed reactive distillation (RD) process operated in both batch and continuous mode for the synthesis of ethyl acetate. In the first part, the fundamental model has been developed incorporating the reaction term within the model structure of the nonreactive distillation process. In case of batch rectifier, the process operation is simulated at the startup phase under total reflux condition for reaching the steady state. The open-loop process dynamics are also examined running the batch process at production phase under partial reflux condition.The concerned batch rectifier has the ability to provide high purity product. On the other hand, the continuous RD column exampled at the beginning of the second part produces relatively low quality product. In the present study, an attempt has been made to configure a feasible continuous column with improved product quality. In order to propose a RD setup, several simulation experiments have been performed for sensitivity analysis. An interesting phenomenon, the input multiplicity, is observed for both the batch as well as continuous column.