Design and control of extractive distillation for the separation of methyl acetate-methanol-water

The azeotrope of methyl acetate methanol and water was isolated using extractive distillation with water as entrainer. The pressure-swing extractive distillation (PSED) process and vapor side-stream distillation column (VSDC) with the rectifier process were designed to separate the methyl acetate, methanol and water mixture. It was revealed that the VSDC with the rectifier process had a reduction in energy consumption than the PSED process. Four control schemes of the two process were investigated: Double temperature control scheme (CS1), Q_R/F feedforward control of reboiler duty scheme for PESD (CS2), Q_R/F feedback control scheme for VSDC (CS3), the feedback control scheme of sensitive plate temperature of side-drawing distillation column to dominate the compressor shaft speed (CS4). Feed flow and composition disturbance were used to evaluate the dynamic performance. As a result, CS4 is a preferable choice for separation of methyl acetate-methanol-water mixture. A control scheme combining the operating parameters of dynamic equipment with the control indicators of static equipment was proposed in this paper. It means using the sensitive plate temperature of side-drawing column to control the compressor shaft speed. This is a new control scheme for extractive distillation.