Design and Control of a Reactive-Distillation Process for Glycerol Utilization to Produce Triacetin

Due to increasing of biodiesel production in recent years, the utilization of its byproduct, glycerol, into high-value chemicals becomes more important. The esterification reaction of glycerol with acetic acid to produce triacetin is one such application. Triacetin is used mainly as a plasticizer and a gelatinizing agent in polymers, explosives and also as an additive in tobacco, pharmaceutical compounds, and cosmetics. In this study, reactive-distillation process is proposed to produce triacetin with high conversion and selectivity. Total annual cost (TAC) is minimized to obtain the optimal design flowsheet. Finally, the control strategy for this system is devised to properly reject disturbances from two feed streams