A Systematic Review of the Literature on Steady-State Reactive Distillation Modeling and Simulation: Challenges and Opportunities

Abstract

Reactive distillation has already been extensively studied, many applications have been evaluated by simulation and laboratory experiments, and many modifications in the configuration of the column are being proposed, such as the reactive dividing wall column. The steady state plays a key role because it is required to operate a process steadily at the optimal point, and it is necessary to use control strategies to keep the operation at this point. Thus, this chapter presents a systematic literature review, about the modeling and simulation of reactive distillation in steady state presenting some bibliometric results. It also presented some content related to the variations in the configurations of a reactive distillation column, mathematical modeling of the process, and computational simulation. Lately, simulation studies reported in the literature about this subject have mainly used sequential modular simulators like Aspen Plus. But, the solution process of the model’s equations still can be improved. Some opportunities are pointed out, like the use of heuristic algorithms for the solutions of the mathematical equations, better initial guess algorithm for the unknowns, and the use of a more generic scheme for representation of the mathematical model of a reactive distillation stage.