Dehydration of a Dilute Acetic Acid‐Water Mixture via Batch Heteroazeotropic Distillation

Abstract

Dehydration via batch heteroazeotropic distillation emerges as a promising technology for the recovery of acetic acid (HAc) from dilute aqueous solutions. In this preliminary work, this process was studied with the aid of Aspen Batch Modeler®, using an acetic acid aqueous solution as the model feed instead of wood vinegar from biorefineries and n‐butyl acetate as the azeotropic entrainer. The non‐random two liquids (NRTL)‐virial Hayden‐O'Connell model (HOC) model was chosen to calculate the thermodynamic properties. The response surface methodology with Box‐Behnken design was successfully applied to obtain optimum process conditions, providing a dehydrated HAc product from the pot with high purity and recovery.