The paper presents the use of a Mass Separation Agent (entrainer) in reactive distillation processes. This can help to overcome limitations due to distillation boundaries, and in the same time increase the degrees of freedom in design. The catalytic esterification of fatty acids with light alcohols C2-C4 is studied as application example. Because the alcohol and water distillate in top simultan...

Traditionally polyester production is done in a batch reactor equipped with a separation column for batch distillation. A promising alternative for the intensification of this process is reactive distillation. In this paper, a reactive distillation model is developed for the synthesis of an unsaturated polyester process. The simulation results are compared with the industrial batch reactor outp...

Reactive distillation Reactive Distillation (RD) is a combination of reaction and distillation in a single vessel owing to which it enjoys a number of specific advantages over conventional sequential approach of reaction followed by distillation or other separation techniques. Improved selectivity, increased conversion, better heat control, effective utilization of reaction heat, scope for diff...

The effects of feed locations to the control of reactive distillation are explored. In this work, ideal reactive distillation systems are used to illustrate the advantage of feed trays optimisations in control. Because the temperature and composition profiles are critical for an effective utilization of the reactive zone, the optimal feed locations are essential for improved performance. Quanti...

A reactive distillation plant is one of the most important and “delicate” functional components of a complex chemical plant. While its steady state modeling and simulation tend to become a standard today by using some well known dedicated software tools, only little is known about the dynamic simulation in the open literature. This paper presents the principles for a modern modeling approach wi...

Process intensification refers to technologies and strategies that enable simpler and more efficient processes compared to conventional processes. Some features of such intensified processes are less recycle streams, reduced need for waste handling and lower investment and operating costs compared to conventional processes. One way of doing this is by making two or more process steps simultaneo...

Anefficient algorithmisdeveloped for solving the systemofdifferential algebraic equations (DAE)describing the dynamics of a reactive distillation (RD) column using the equilibrium tray model. Unlike existing eceived in revised form 23 January 2009 ccepted 27 January 2009 vailable online 4 February 2009 eywords: eactive distillation algorithms, the rate of change of tray specific enthalpy is obt...

Two different alternatives for etherification of glycerol (G) with tert-butyl alcohol (TBA) are developed and analyzed. The conventional reaction separation recycle system uses a plug-flow reactor to perform the reaction in liquid phase, in the presence of a heterogeneous catalyst (Amberlyst 15). The separation of the products from reactants is achieved by two distillation columns where pure gl...