OP-II-3

OP-II-2[4]. Similar temperature profiles can be obtained by modifying the feed location, thecommon rectifying stages and the liquid split ratio. Fig. 2 shows the temperature andcomposition profile for a feasible EBRDWC. From the simulation results it can beconcluded that the production of EA is possible in an EBRDWC with nearlystoichiometric amount of reactants in the feed (ethanol/acetic acid~1.08).For the case of NPP production, theEBRDWC configuration (Fig. 3) has acommon top rectifying section and acommon bottom stripping zone. In this case,PropionicWatermethyl tert butyl ether (~0.001 kg/h) is used acidas an entrainer to break the 1-propanolwater-NPPazeotrope and to internally1-propanolMTBErecycle 1-propanol and NPP. An activitybased kinetic model [5] and the UNIQUACNPPVLE model is used to conceptually designFig. 3: EBRDWC for NPP productionthe EBRDWC by operating the reactive sideof the divided wall without liquid reflux fromTable 1: EBRDWC configuration for NPPthe common top section. The effect of theBasis: 12 mol/hr of NPPdistributed propanol feed in the reactiveRD Side FractionatorTop common zone 5side of the divided wall and of the numberBottom common zone 15of common top rectifying stages has beenTotal stages 25 15Reactive stages15 (rectifying zone of RD)studied to realize a feasible EBRDWC Catalyst loading (kg) 0.3Mole ratio 1design (see Table 1). From these results, itBottoms rate (mol/h) 12is possible to produce NPP withvapor split ratio 0.25 0.75Reboiler duty (kW)0.96 kWstoichiometric amounts of reactants byperforming RD and azeotropic distillation in a single unit without affecting theperformance of either operation by an internal recycling of the reactant(s) and theentrainer.In the present work, it has been demonstrated that an EBRDWC is a novelintensified multifunctional reactor that allows for the production of industriallyimportant chemicals with stoichiometric amounts of the reactants by breaking theazeotrope between the reactant(s) and the product(s) to achieve an internal recyclingof the reactant(s).References[1]. Muller and Kenig, Ind. Eng. Chem. Res., 46 (2007), 3709-3719.[2]. Suman et al., Ind. Eng. Chem. Res., 48 (2009), 9461-9470.[3]. Tang et al., AIChE J., 51 (2005), 1683-1699.[4]. Kiss et al., Chem. Prod. and Proc. Mod., 4 (2009), Article 2.[5]. Duarte et al., Inz. Chem. Procesowa, 27 (2006), 273-286.101