Novel Process for Butyl Acetate Production via Membrane Reactor: A Comparative Study with the Conventional and Reactive Distillation Processes

Butyl acetate (BuAc) is widely used as a solvent in many applications, mainly in the food and pharmaceutical industries. The conventional process for BuAc production is both capital and energy intensive. The purification process involves the separation of BuAc from the azeotropic mixture of water an...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Processes 2022-09, Vol.10 (9), p.1801
Main Authors: Al-Rabiah, Abdulrahman A, Alqahtani, Abdullah E, Al Darwish, Rayan K, Bin Naqyah, Abdulaziz S
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acetates
Acetic acid
Acids
Butanol
Butyl acetate
Capital costs
Carbon dioxide
Catalysts
Comparative analysis
Comparative studies
Cosmetics industry
Distillation
Distilled water
Economic analysis
Emissions
Equilibrium
Esterification
Food industry
Ion exchange resins
Mathematical models
Membrane reactors
Membranes
Organic acids
Pharmaceutical industry
Polyvinyl alcohol
Production processes
Return on investment
Software
Solvents
Zeolites
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Summary:Butyl acetate (BuAc) is widely used as a solvent in many applications, mainly in the food and pharmaceutical industries. The conventional process for BuAc production is both capital and energy intensive. The purification process involves the separation of BuAc from the azeotropic mixture of water and n-butanol, which is difficult to accomplish using a simple distillation unit. In this study, a membrane reactor (MR) for BuAc production via the esterification of n-butanol was investigated. The MR using the Amberlyst-15 catalyst was modeled and validated with previously reported experimental data, and a good agreement was achieved. The ultimate conversion of n-butanol using the MR was 92.0%, compared to 69.8% for the conventional reactor. This study is the first to propose an intensified MR-based process for butyl acetate production. The MR-based process was developed and rigorously simulated using Aspen Plus for an annual plant capacity of 92,500 metric tons of BuAc. The MR-based process is environmentally friendly regarding CO2 emissions, with a reduction of 80% compared to the conventional process. The economic analysis of the MR-based process shows a payback period of 2.7 years and a return on investment (ROI) of 23.1%. The MR-based process for BuAc production is a promising technology that provides similar key benefits as compared to the reactive distillation (RD) process.
ISSN:2227-9717
2227-9717
DOI:10.3390/pr10091801