Design and control of a reactive distillation column for the production of butyl acetate from dilute acetic acid

Abstract

Recovery of the dilute acetic acid becomes important issues due to economic and environmental awareness. The present research is focused on the application of a reactive distillation as a potential alternative method for dilute acetic acid recovery. The synthesis of butyl acetate, from esterification of dilute acetic acid with butanol in the reactive distillation is investigated with HYSYS commercial software. The model prediction by the HYSYS simulator is validated with experimental results reported in literature and a good agreement is observed. The effect of dilute acetic acid concentration on reactive distillation performances in terms of butyl acetate production is first studied. The influences of key operating variables on the performance of the reactive distillation are also evaluated in order to design the reactive distillation. Finally, the closed-loop control of a reactive distillation column is explored. Two alternative control structures are evaluated using 80 wt% acetic acid concentration for the production of butyl acetate. Disturbances in fresh feed flow rate and compositions are made to examine the rangeability of the control structures.