Distillation column with reactive pump arounds: an alternative to reactive distillation

The hardware design of reactive distillation (RD) columns pose severe challenges with respect to the choice and design of the hardware; the requirements of reaction (i.e. high liquid or catalyst holdup) is not in consonance with the requirement of separation (high interfacial area). In this paper, w...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Chemical engineering and processing 2004, Vol.43 (3), p.435-445
Main Authors: Baur, R., Krishna, R.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Applied sciences
Catalysis
Catalytic reactions
Chemical engineering
Chemistry
Column hardware
Distillation
Equilibrium stage model
Exact sciences and technology
Flooding
General and physical chemistry
Hydrodynamics
Mass transfer
Methyl acetate
Pump-arounds
Reactive distillation
Reactors
Side-reactors
Theory of reactions, general kinetics. Catalysis. Nomenclature, chemical documentation, computer chemistry
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The hardware design of reactive distillation (RD) columns pose severe challenges with respect to the choice and design of the hardware; the requirements of reaction (i.e. high liquid or catalyst holdup) is not in consonance with the requirement of separation (high interfacial area). In this paper, we examine an alternative to the RD concept, namely a distillation column networked with a number of side (external) reactors. If each distillation stage is linked to a side reactor, the performance of the RD column is matched exactly. From a practical point of view, it is desirable to reduce the number of side reactors to below, say, six. The precise location of the chosen number of side reactors and the manner in which the liquid draw-offs and reactor effluent re-entry to the distillation column needs to be chosen carefully. We have developed an algorithm to determine an optimum configuration of the side-reactor concept in order to maximise conversion. For the case study of methyl acetate production, we see that it is possible to match the conversion level of an RD column by appropriate choice of the number of side reactors and the pump around ratio. The higher the conversion target the larger the number of side reactors and pump around ratios. For modest conversion levels, say
ISSN:0255-2701
1873-3204
DOI:10.1016/S0255-2701(03)00128-4