This work is aimed to provide a systematic design procedure to determine the process configuration, the relative position of the reactive zone, and separation sections. Instead of investigating real chemical systems, ideal chemical reaction systems with different relative volatility rankings will be studied. This provides a gradual transition as the reaction and separation properties change. The reaction considered is a reversible reaction, A + B ⇔︁ C + D, and this constitutes a quaternary system with 24 (4) possible relative volatility arrangements. These 24 systems can further be grouped into six categories according to the ranking of relative volatilities of reactants and products. The likely process configurations will be explored and design will be optimized based on the total annual cost (TAC). The results clearly indicate that the relative volatility rankings play a dominant role in the reactive distillation configuration and the TAC varies by a factor of ∼7 as we move from the most favorable case (reactants are intermediate keys) to the least favorable relative volatility ranking (products are intermediate keys). Finally, heuristics are given to correlate the relative volatility ranking to the TAC. © 2007 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2007

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract