For the conceptual design of countercurrently operated reactive distillation columns, fast methods are needed to estimate potential top and bottom products. The possible column bottom product composition can be determined from the stable singular points of a batch reactive reboiler. In a similar manner the top product composition can be obtained from the stable singular points of a batch reacti...

Biodiesel is a fuel made from vegetable oils, animal fats and microbial oil (algae, bacteria and fungi). The raw materials are converted to biodiesel through a chemical reaction involving alcohol and catalyst. The purpose of the present work is to present an efficient process using reactive distillation columns applied to biodiesel production. Reactive distillation is the simultaneous implement...

The residue curve mapping technique (RCM) has been considered a powerful tool for the flow-sheet development and preliminary design of conventional multi-component separation processes. It does not only represent a good approximation to actual equilibrium behavior, but also it allows performing feasibility analysis of separation processes where non-ideal and azeotropic mixtures are involved. Ap...

1 Significance A method is proposed that either returns all solutions to steady-state models of distillation columns or proves infeasibility. No initial estimates are required. The computational effort grows linearly with the number of stages. Successful solution of a numerically challenging reactive distillation column with 7 steady-states show the robustness of the method. The authors do not ...