Process intensification and energy saving of reactive distillation for production of ester compounds

Reactive distillation(RD) process is an innovative hybrid process combining reaction with distillation, which has recently come into sharp focus as a successful case of process intensification. Considered as the most representative case of process intensification, it has been applied for many productions, especially for production of ester compounds. However, such problems existing in the RD system for ester productions are still hard to solve,as the removal of the water which comes from the esterification, and the separation of the azeotropes of ester–alcohol(–water). Many methods have been studying on the process to solve the problems resulting in further intensification and energy saving. In this paper, azeotropic–reactive distillation or entrainer enhanced reactive distillation(ERD) process, reactive extractive distillation(RED) process, the method of co-production in RD process, pressure-swing reactive distillation(PSRD) process, reactive distillation–pervaporation coupled process(RD–PV), are introduced to solve the problems above, so the product(s) can be separated efficiently and the chemical equilibrium can be shifted. Dividing-wall column(DWC) structure and novel methods of loading catalyst are also introduced as the measures to intensify the process and save energy.     

Novel eco-efficient reactive distillation process for dimethyl carbonate production by indirect alcoholysis of urea

Dimethyl carbonate is an eco-friendly essential chemical that can be sustainably produced from CO₂,which is available from carbon capture activities or can even be captured from the air.The rapid increase in dimethyl carbonate demand is driven by the fast growth of polycarbonates,solvent,pharmaceutical,and lithium-ion battery industries.Dimethyl carbonate can be produced from CO₂through various chemical pathways,but the most convenient route reported is the indirect alcoholysis of urea.Previous research used techniques such as heat integration and reactive distillation to reduce the energy use and costs,but the use of an excess of methanol in the trans-esterification step led to an energy intensive extractive distillation required to break the dimethyl carbonate-methanol azeotrope.This work shows that the production of dimethyl carbonate by indirect alcoholysis of urea can be improved by using an excess of propylene carbonate(instead of an excess of methanol),a neat feat that we showed it requires only 2.64 kW·h·kg^-1 dimethyl carbonate in a reaction-separation-recycle process,and a reactive distillation column that effectively replaces two conventional distillation columns and the reactor for dimethyl carbonate synthesis.Therefore,less equipment is required,the methanol-dimethyl carbonate azeotrope does not need to be recycled,and the overall savings are higher.Moreover,we propose the use of a reactive distillation column in a heat integrated process to obtain high purity dimethyl carbonate(>99.8 wt-%).The energy requirement is reduced by heat integration to just 1.25 kW·h·kg^-1 dimethyl carbonate,which is about 52%lower than the reaction-separation-recycle process.To benefit from the energy savings,the dynamics and control of the process are provided for
10%changes in the nominal rate of 32 ktpy dimethyl carbonate,and for uncertainties in reaction kinetics.     

矿物均相酸催化剂催化甲醇和乙酸酯化反应动力学(英文)

In this work, esterification of acetic acid and methanol to synthesize methyl acetate in a batch stirred reactor is studied in the temperature range of 305.15–333.15 K. Sulfuric acid is used as the homogeneous catalyst with concentrations ranging from 0.0633 mol·L?1 to 0.3268 mol·L?1. The feed molar ratio of acetic acid to methanol is varied from 1:1 to 1:4. The influences of temperature, catalyst concentration and reactant concentration on the reaction rate are investigated. A second order kinetic rate equation is used to correlate the experimental data. The forward and backward reaction rate constants and activation energies are determined from the Arrhenius plot. The developed kinetic model is compared with the models in literature. The developed kinetic equation is useful for the simulation of reactive distillation column for the synthesis of methyl acetate.     

Design of reactive distillation processes for the production of butyl acrylate:Impact of bio-based raw materials☆

The chemical industry is nowadays predominantly using fossil raw materials, but the alternative use of bio-based resources is investigated to account for the foreseeable scarcity of fossil feedstocks. A main challenge of using bio-based feedstocks is the complexity of the impurity profile. For an economic production of bio-based chemicals, the use of intensified processes is inevitable and approaches are needed for the various process intensification techniques to identify their applicability to be used for the production of bio-based components. In the presented study, an approach is shown for the reactive distil ation (RD) technology to identify the most critical bio-based impurities and their impact on the reactive distillation process. The investigated case-study is the production of n-butyl acrylate from acrylic acid and n-butanol. Among al initially identified impurities, the key impurities, having the biggest impact on the product purity in the reactive distil ation process, are found. These impurities are then studied in more detail and an operating window depending on the impurity concentration is identified for the reactive distil ation column. Furthermore, an integrated design of upstream and downstream processes is facilitated, as the presented results can be used in the development of the fermentation processes for the produc-tion of the bio-based reactants by decreasing the concentration of the critical impurities.     

Energy-efficient recovery of tetrahydrofuran and ethyl acetate by triple-column extractive distillation:entrainer design and process optimization

An energy-efficient triple-column extractive distillation process is developed for recovering tetrahydrofuran and ethyl acetate from industrial effluent.The process development follows a rigorous hierarchical design procedure that involves entrainer design,thermodynamic analysis,process design and optimization,and heat integration.The computer-aided molecular design method is firstly used to find promising entrainer candidates and the best one is determined via rigorous thermodynamic analysis.Subsequently,the direct and indirect triple-column extractive distillation processes are proposed in the conceptual design step.These two extractive distillation processes are then optimized by employing an improved genetic algorithm.Finally,heat integration is performed to further reduce the process energy consumption.The results indicate that the indirect extractive distillation process with heat integration shows the highest performance in terms of the process economics.     

SIMULATION OF DISTILLATION PROCESSES WITH REACTIONS IN SERIES

This paper introduces a mathematical model and advances an algorithm,that can be used for simu-lation of reactive distillation processes.This model takes into account the reactions in series,that occurwithin a distillation column and this algorithm is based upon the block tridiagonal matrix technique.In order to accomplish a computation of design and inspect whether or not different configuration of flowsbetween stages can increase the yields of intermediate products,a procedure for solving block tridiagonalmatrix equation with some off-tridiagonal submatrixes and/or submatrixes on the borders is modified.The saponification of propylene chlorophydrin is illustrated to verify the algorithm.It can be seen thatthe results are satisfactory.     

拟稳态模型用于间歇萃取精馏的数值模拟

Batch extractive distillation (BED) is a special method used in the distillation process by adding a solvent into the batch distillation column to alter the relative volatility of the components and improve the separation. A comprehensive design and simulation method is required due to the complexity of BED. In this study, a quasi-steady-state model for BED is proposed, the derivation and solution of the model are presented. This shortcut model can be used to simulate the composition and temperature of the reboiler, the top and other plates of the column in a batch extractive distillation operation. The calculated values are in good agreement with the experi-mental data. The results show that the quasi-steady-state model is a practical method because of some advantages such as high precision and fast calculation.     

Application of Brönsted acid ionic liquids as green catalyst in the synthesis of 2-propanol with reactive distillation

Five Br?nsted acidic ionic liquids (ILs) were prepared and characterized by FT-IR, 1H NMR and 13C NMR. Their cat-alytic activities for the synthesis of 2-propanol (IPOH) via transesterification of isopropyl acetate (IPAc) with methanol (MeOH) were investigated. Among al the tested ILs, [Ps-mim]HSO4 performed best and was used as catalyst for further studies. The reaction kinetics were carried out to correlate the parameters in a homogeneous second order kinetic model. It has been found that there is close agreement between the calculated and experi-mental values. The high-pressure batch reactive distillation experimental apparatus was set up in order to en-hance the conversion of IPAc. A high conversion of IPAc of 99.4%was obtained under the optimal reaction conditions. The catalyst [Ps-mim]HSO4 can be recycled easily by a rotary evaporator and reused without any fur-ther treatment. The catalyst had been repeatedly used for four times and no obvious changes in the structure of catalyst could be observed.     

Fe2(SO4)3/C催化餐饮废油脂中游离脂肪酸酯化反应的动力学

The esterification of free fatty acids(FFA) in waste cooking oil with methanol in the presence of Fe₂(SO₄)₃/C(ferric sulfate/active carbon) catalyst was studied.The effects of different temperature,methanol/FFA mole ratio and amount of catalyst on the conversion of FFA were investigated.The results demonstrated that under optimal esterification conditions the final acid value of the resultant system can be reduced to ～1(mg KOH)·g^-1,which met fully the requirements in post-treatment for efficient separation of glycerin and biodiesel.The kinetics of the esterification were also investigated under different temperatures.The results indicated that the rate-control step could be attributed to the surface reaction and the esterification processes can be well-depicted by the as-calculated kinetic formula in the range of the experimental conditions.     

以性质为基础的同时设计过程和分子的方法

In this work, property clustering techniques and group contribution methods are combined to enable simultaneous consideration of process performance requirements and molecular property constraints. Using this methodology, the process design problem is solved to identify the property targets corresponding to the desired process performance. A significant advantage of the developed methodology is that for problems that can be satisfactorily described by only three properties, the process and molecular design problems can be simultaneously solved visually on a ternary diagram, irrespective of how many molecular fragments are included in the search space. On the ternary cluster diagram, the target properties are represented as individual points if given as discrete values or as a region if given as intervals. The structure and identity of candidate components is then identified by combining or ＂mixing＂ molecular fragments until the resulting properties match the targets.     

The heterogeneous advantage: biodiesel by catalytic reactive distillation

The incentives for using biodiesel as renewable fuel and the difficulties associated with its production are outlined. The pros and cons of manufacturing biodiesel via fatty acid esterification using solid acid catalysts are investigated. Finding a suitable catalyst that is active, selective, and stable under the process conditions is the major challenge. The most promising candidates were found to be the sulfated metal oxides that can be used to develop a sustainable esterification process based on catalytic reactive distillation.     

Simulation of continuous packed bed reactive distillation column for the esterification process using activity based kinetic model

A mathematical model for the continuous packed bed reactive distillation process of esterification of acetic acid with methanol is developed. The kinetic rate equation, which plays a major role for the performance of reactive distillation and it is the part of model, is required for the liquid phase reversible esterification reaction. The mineral sulphuric acid is used as the catalyst. The kinetic experiments are carried out under different temperatures in the range of 305.15 to 333.15 K and catalyst concentrations in the range of 0.1267 mole H⁺/lit to 0.6537 mole H⁺/lit. From that experimental data the kinetic model is developed and the same is used for the simulation of reactive distillation process. Equilibrium stage model, in which the vapour and the liquid leaving a stage are assumed to be in equilibrium with each other, has been used for the simulation of reactive distillation process by incorporating our kinetic model. Conversion of acetic acid as function of reflux ratio and reboiler ratio has been predicted. The liquid composition and temperature profiles versus stage number have been also predicted. Finally, the optimum operating conditions obtained from the simulation results for high pure methyl acetate by reactive distillation process.     

An integrated reactive distillation process for biodiesel production

An integrated reactive distillation process for biodiesel production is proposed. The reactive separation process consists of two coupled reactive distillation columns (RDCs) considering the kinetically controlled reactions of esterification of the fatty acids (FFA) and the transesterification of glycerides with methanol, respectively. The conceptual design of the reactive distillation columns was performed through the construction of reactive residue curve maps in terms of elements. The design of the esterification reactive distillation column consisted of one reactive zone loaded with Amberlyst 15 catalyst and for the transesterification reactive column two reactive zones loaded with MgO were used. Intensive simulation of the integrated reactive process considering the complex kinetic expressions and the PC-SAFT EOS was performed using the computational environment of Aspen Plus. The final integrated RD process was able to handle more than 1% wt of fatty acid contents in the vegetable oil. However, results showed that the amount of fatty acids in the vegetable oil feed plays a key role on the performance (energy cost, catalyst load, methanol flow rate) of the integrated esterification–transesterification reactive distillation process.     

侧反应器反应精馏方法生产醋酸甲酯的模拟

采用强酸性阳离子交换树脂催化醋酸与甲醇反应精馏生成醋酸甲酯,可避免硫酸作为催化剂的不足。但该非均相催化反应受平衡限制,且达到平衡时间较长,采用传统反应精馏塔难以提供足够反应空间。文中设计侧反应器与精馏塔耦合新工艺,采用Aspen Plus软件模拟研究了侧反应器数量、位置,原料进料位置,回流比,醇酸比等对反应精馏过程的影响。结果表明,当装置具有7个侧反应器,反应器间隔4块板,在优化的操作条件下,醋酸甲酯质量分数可达99.1%。     

Optimal design of mixed acid esterification and isopropanol dehydration systems via incorporation of dividing-wall columns

This study explores the design of a reactive distillation system and that of a heterogeneous azeotropic system by incorporating dividing-wall column (DWC). The first system involves the esterification of mixed acid (acetic acid and propionic acid) with methanol. Simulation studies are carried out for conventional reactive distillation sequence as well as for reactive dividing-wall distillation system. Both systems are optimized by an iterative optimization procedure. Optimal design results show that the reactive dividing-wall system saves steam consumption by 45.2% and reduces total annual costs (TAC) by 34.5%. The second case investigated is a heterogeneous azeotropic distillation system involving dehydration of crude isopropyl alcohol with cyclohexane as entrainer. Two optimal separation systems are generated, including one with a single-dividing wall column and one with a double-dividing wall column. In comparison with an energy-efficient azeotropic distillation sequence containing two stripping columns by Chang et al. (2012) [1], simulation results show that the former two systems can cut steam usage further by 6.0%. The two systems save about 5.4–6.1% in terms of TAC. DWCs prove to be superior to the convention distillation systems with respect to both cost and energy efficiency.     

Effects of operation variables on the recovery of lactic acid in a batch distillation process with chemical reactions

In this study, the feasibility of recovery of lactic acid by batch reactive distillation using cation exchange resin as a catalyst was investigated. For the recovery of lactic acid, two reactions, esterification and hydrolysis, are involved and hence, an apparatus with two distillation columns was developed and operated in a batch mode to ensure enough residence time in the reboiler and column. The effects of operation variables such as catalyst loading, reactant mole ratio, feed concentration, type of alcohols and partial condenser temperature on the yield were studied. In this study, the reaction products of the esterification (methyl lactate and water) were distilled to the hydrolysis part to be recovered into pure lactic acid. The yield of lactic acid increased as catalyst loading in the esterification part increased and reactant mole ratio and feed lactic acid concentration decreased. Methanol as a reactant gave higher yield than any other alcohols. The yield of recovered lactic acid was as high as 90%. The yield of lactic acid was closely related to the boiling temperature of the reaction mixture in the esterification part     

Analysis of reactive distillation using the esterification of acetic acid as an example

The uncatalyzed esterification of acetic acid is described in the literature as a typical example of reactive distillation. Many rigorous models were validated using this esterification as an example. Process proposals for the production of pure ethyl acetate from ethanol and acetic acid have been determined using short-cut methods with the assumption of chemical equilibrium only. In this publication, the limitations of this esterification are clarified, using a rigorous model that was developed. The reasons why reactive distillation appears to be unfavorable for this esterification are explained. It is, however, theoretically possible to obtain ethyl acetate in high purity with different variants of the process. Different process variants are examined in this work. Construction variables that are important for the design of reactive columns, such as the number of reactive separation stages and the holdup in the column, are analyzed. Furthermore, the influence of variables dependent on the component system, such as the phase equilibrium of the reactive system and the reaction kinetics on the conversion in the column, are described. It can be shown that the short-cut methods published so far for reactive distillation, which assume chemical equilibrium, are inadequate.     

Esterification of fatty acids in a thermally coupled reactive distillation column by the two-step supercritical methanol method

Biodiesel fuel has been shown as a clean energy alternative to petroleum diesel. Conventional biodiesel production involves the use of catalyst, which implies high energy consumptions for the separation of both the catalyst and the by-products of the reaction, including those of the undesirable reaction of saponification. Recently, a process involving the use of short-chain alcohols at supercritical conditions has been proposed (Saka-Dadan process); one of the main advantages of that process is that it avoids the need for a catalyst as well as the occurrence of the saponification reaction. However, although the process requires less pieces of equipment than the conventional one, its energy requirements are still high, making biodiesel fuel more expensive than petroleum diesel. This work proposes the use of reactive distillation and thermally coupled reactive distillation configurations to produce biodiesel fuel by the supercritical methanol method. First-order kinetics is used to represent the esterification reaction, obtaining high conversions in a single shell. Both of the configurations proposed reduce energy requirements when compared to the conventional (Saka-Dadan) process. Calculations were also performed to estimate CO₂ emissions, thermodynamic efficiency and cost. The thermally coupled reactive distillation configuration shows to be the best alternative in terms of energy consumption, CO₂ emissions and thermodynamic efficiency. Further, cost estimations also show that the use of a thermally coupled scheme considerably reduces both utilities and capital costs.     

C_4和醋酸合成醋酸仲丁酯的动力学

为了给醋酸仲丁酯的工业生产提供动力学支持,研究了醋酸和丁烯在液相中直接酯化合成醋酸仲丁酯的本征动力学。在间歇搅拌釜式反应器中,以阳离子交换树脂为催化剂,采用MTBE后续工段中除去异丁烯后的C4混合组分和醋酸发生酯化加成反应生成醋酸仲丁酯。在消除内外扩散的影响下考察了催化剂用量、反应温度对反应速率的影响。得到其酯化反应正反应速率常数及活化能分别为65.23 L/(mol.min)和325.17 J/mol;其酯化反应负反应速率常数及活化能分别为0.239 L/(mol.min)和900.47 J/mol。得到了合成醋酸仲丁酯的反应动力学方程,为反应精馏的模拟优化提供了基础数据。     

Design and optimization of reactive distillation: a review

Reactive distillation process, a representative process intensification technology, has been widely applied in the chemical industry. However, due to the strong interaction between reaction and separation, the extension of reactive distillation technology is restricted by the difficulties in process analysis and design. To overcome this problem, the design and optimization of reactive distillation have been widely studied and illustrated for plenty of reactive mixtures over the past three decades. These design and optimization methods of the reactive distillation process are classified into three categories: graphical, optimization-based, and evolutionary/heuristic methods. The primary objective of this article is to provide an up-to-date review of the existing design and optimization methods. Desired and output information, advantages and limitations of each method are stated, the modification and development for original methodologies are also reviewed. Perspectives on future research on the design and optimization of reactive distillation method are proposed for further research.