Abstract
This paper proposes a concept of a process design for the separation and recovery of n-butanol from a five-component mixture, consisting of n-butanol, isobutanol, formaldehyde, water and methanol. The mixture is a common waste stream in the production of butylated amino resins; therefore, recovery of n-butanol is crucial to the efficiency of the process. The results show that up to 94% of the n-butanol present in the waste stream can be recovered. Under the studied conditions, 99.76% pure n-butanol can be obtained, while formaldehyde, water and methanol are present only in traces. The energy intensity of the process is estimated at 2.42 MJ/kg of purified n-butanol. The economic analysis of the process shows that the process is economically viable over a wide range of production capacities, as evidenced by high net present values and high return on investment values.
Highlights
Butyl alcohol (n-butanol) is an important industrial chemical used as a solvent [1], extracting agent [2], and as a reactant in the production of chemicals such as butyl acrylate [3] and butylated amino resins (BAR) [4]
Heat integration plays a key role in increasing energy efficiency and reducing operating costs in the process industry
The proposed concept of the process for recovery of n-butanol from n-butanol-reach waste streams originating in BAR production process was found to be efficient in terms of n-butanol recovery efficiency and energy intensity
Summary
Butyl alcohol (n-butanol) is an important industrial chemical used as a solvent [1], extracting agent [2], and as a reactant in the production of chemicals such as butyl acrylate [3] and butylated amino resins (BAR) [4]. Separation of n-butanol from n-butanol-water solution can be carried out by several methods Among others, these include extractive distillation [7] and heterogeneous azeotropic distillation using a two-column distillation system [8]. The removal of any of the components from aqueous solutions containing methanol and formaldehyde by either distillation [9] or more recently studied pervaporation [10] is an extremely difficult task. This is due to the complex chemical equilibria leading to the formation of higher molecular weight species such as methylene glycol, hemiformal, poly(oxymethylene)glycols and poly(oxymethylene) hemiformals [11].
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