A hybrid reactive distillation process with high selectivity pervaporation for butyl acetate production via transesterification

Abstract

A hybrid reactive distillation system with high selectivity pervaporation was examined to produce butyl acetate and methanol via transesterification of methyl acetate with butanol. High selectivity pervaporation was combined with reactive distillation to eliminate a hitherto required column for the separation of a methanol and methyl acetate azeotrope. The polyamide-6 membrane was used for this purpose because of its high selectivity for methanol while also allowing sufficient permeate flux. The high purity methyl acetate recovered in the retentate stream leads to high conversion in the reactive distillation column, which enhances the energy savings (up to 71%) of this process. The feasibility of the proposed hybrid processes and several alternative designs were evaluated by rigorous simulation and optimization using the Aspen Plus software package. The effects of several designs and operating variables were also investigated for the proposed design. The high potential of the hybrid reactive distillation and pervaporation system for butyl acetate production is very promising; it may not only reduce the total annual costs relative to conventional systems but may also provide an attractive strategy to address problems associated with methanol and methyl acetate azeotropes in the effluent generated in the polyvinyl alcohol industry.

Metabolic and Process Engineering of Clostridium beijerinckii for Butyl Acetate Production in One Step

“…The market demand for n-butyl acetate has grown in recent years, which has increased the price and profit margin. 12 Until today, the industrial production of n-butyl acetate mostly uses the traditional concentrated sulfuric acid-catalyzed esterification method. 13 Over the years, the potential of this method has been fully exploited.…”

“…As an important organic chemical, it is widely used as a food additive, an extractant, a coating agent, a pharmaceutical intermediate, and in other industries. The market demand for n -butyl acetate has grown in recent years, which has increased the price and profit margin …”

Pervaporative separation of methyl acetate–methanol azeotropic mixture using high‐performance polydimethylsiloxane/ceramic composite membrane

“…Sain et al used commercial a methanol‐selective cuprophane membrane to separate the methyl acetate–methanol mixture. Although a separation factor of up to 8.55 was obtained at 45°C, the flux was only 0.45 kg/(hr·m 2 ) at 5.9 wt.% methanol‐feed concentration, thus increasing the membrane cost and hindering its industrial application . Genduso et al reviewed eight methanol selective membranes that were previously reported in the classical literature.…”

A combination of low‐temperature reactive and extractive distillation for methoxy‐2‐propyl acetate synthesis and separation process: simulations and experiments

“…The results showed that the selectivity in the reactive distillation was 21% higher than that in the batch reactor. Moreover, the reactive distillation method could simultaneously achieve reaction and separation goals, which also reduced the investment and operating costs …”

“…Moreover, the reactive distillation method could simultaneously achieve reaction and separation goals, which also reduced the investment and operating costs. [18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25] In the MPA reaction and separation system, there existed three kinds of binary azeotropes, namely MP-H 2 O, 26 MP-HAC 27 and MPA-H 2 O 4 mixtures, which increased the difficulties of the reactive distillation operation. Therefore a combination of extractive and reactive distillation was developed to separate the generated H 2 O from the system.…”