The "neat" operation of the two-reactant reactive distillation column has Oetter steady-state economics, while It presents a challenge for design, optimization, and control of the process. Based on the optimal econo...The "neat" operation of the two-reactant reactive distillation column has Oetter steady-state economics, while It presents a challenge for design, optimization, and control of the process. Based on the optimal economic design, the dual-composition control structure and dual-temperature control structure are designed respectively for the benzene chlorine consecutive reactive distillation process. The effectiveness and robustness are analyzed comparably for the disturbance resistance in terms of changes of production rate and feed composition. Results show that dual-temperature control with propose selection of tray temperatures and the optimal profile of the set point can provide better transient process performance than the composition control structure.展开更多
In this study, a reactive distillation column in which chemical reaction and separation occur simultaneously is applied for the synthesis of tert-amyl ethyl ether (TAEE) from ethanol (EtOH) and tert-amyl alcohol ...In this study, a reactive distillation column in which chemical reaction and separation occur simultaneously is applied for the synthesis of tert-amyl ethyl ether (TAEE) from ethanol (EtOH) and tert-amyl alcohol (TAA). Pervaporation, an efficient membrane separation technique, is integrated with the reactive distillation for enhancing the efficiency of TAEE production. A user-defined Fortran subroutine of a pervaporation unit is developed, allowing the design and simulation of the hybrid process of reactive distillation and pervaporation in Aspen Plus simulator. The performance of such a hybrid process is analyzed and the results indicate that the integration of the reactive distillation with the pervaporation increases the conversion of TAA and the purity of TAEE product, compared with the conventional reactive distillation.展开更多
Reactive distillation could be utilized to produce cyclohexanol through the cyclohexene hydration. By means of highly active zeolite catalyst HZSM-5, the kinetic-thermodynamic analysis of this reactive distillation ha...Reactive distillation could be utilized to produce cyclohexanol through the cyclohexene hydration. By means of highly active zeolite catalyst HZSM-5, the kinetic-thermodynamic analysis of this reactive distillation has been carried out to get the characteristics of the reactive distillation. Results from kinetic and thermodynamic analysis indicate that the optimal pressure of this reactive distillation process should be set to higher pressure such as 0.3 or 0.4 MPa. To avoid the recovery of cyclohexanol at the top of the column, an unreactive section should be allocated at the upper column. In addition, the inert component benzene is more unfavorable to the reactive distillation process in comparison with the inert cyclohexane.展开更多
This work aims to investigate the intrinsic kinetics of thermal dimerization of C_5 fraction in the reactive distillation process. Experiments are conducted in an 1000-m L stainless steel autoclave under some selected...This work aims to investigate the intrinsic kinetics of thermal dimerization of C_5 fraction in the reactive distillation process. Experiments are conducted in an 1000-m L stainless steel autoclave under some selected design conditions. By means of the weighted least squares method, the intrinsic kinetics of thermal dimerization of C_5 fraction is established, and the corresponding pre-exponential factor as well as the activation energy are determined. For example, the pre-exponential factor A is equal to 4.39×105 and the activation energy E4 a is equal to 6.58×10J/mol for the cyclopentadiene dimerization reaction. The comparison between the experimental and calculated results shows that the kinetics model derived in this work is accurate and reliable, which can be used in the design of reactive distillation columns.展开更多
A process for the production of glycerol carbonate(GC) is proposed with the transesterification of glycerol(GL)and dimethyl carbonate(DMC) with CaO as catalyst by reactive distillation and extractive distillation. The...A process for the production of glycerol carbonate(GC) is proposed with the transesterification of glycerol(GL)and dimethyl carbonate(DMC) with CaO as catalyst by reactive distillation and extractive distillation. The performance of solvents in separating DMC-methanol azeotrope and the effects of operation parameters on the reactive distillation process are investigated experimentally. The results indicate that both the GL conversion and GC yield increase with the DMC/GL molar ratio, reflux ratio, final temperature of tower bottom, and CaO/GL molar ratio and decrease as the recycle number of CaO increases. The calcium concentration in the residual reaction mixture also decreases remarkably as the DMC/GL molar ratio increases. At DMC/GL molar ratio 4.0, reflux ratio 1.0, final temperature of tower bottom 358 K, and CaO/GL molar ratio 0.05, both the GL conversion and GC yield can reach above 99.0%, and the mass concentration of calcium in the product is less than 0.08%.展开更多
Isooctane is a promising gasoline additive that could be produced by dimerization of isobutene(IB) with subsequent hydrogenation.In this work,the dimerization of IB has been carried out in a batch reactor over a tempe...Isooctane is a promising gasoline additive that could be produced by dimerization of isobutene(IB) with subsequent hydrogenation.In this work,the dimerization of IB has been carried out in a batch reactor over a temperature range of 338-383 K in the presence of laboratory prepared Ni/Al_2O_3 as a catalyst and n-pentane as solvent.The influence of various parameters such as temperature,catalyst loading and initial concentration of IB was examined.A Langmuir-Hinshelwood kinetic model of IB dimerization was established and the parameters were estimated on the basis of the measured data.The feasibility of oligomerization of IB based on the reactive distillation was simulated in ASPEN PLUS using the kinetics developed.The simulation results showed that the catalyst of Ni/Al_2O_3 had higher selectivity to diisobutene(DIB) and slightly lower conversion of IB than ion exchange resin in the absence of polar substances.展开更多
Butyl-levulinate has been identified as a promising fuel candidate with high oxygen content. Its com- bustion in diesel engines yields very low soot and NOx emissions. It can be produced by the esterification of butan...Butyl-levulinate has been identified as a promising fuel candidate with high oxygen content. Its com- bustion in diesel engines yields very low soot and NOx emissions. It can be produced by the esterification of butanol and levulinic acid, which themselves are platform chemicals in a biorenewables-based chemical supply chain. Since the equilibrium of esterification limits the conversion in a conventional reactor, reactive distillation can be applied to overcome this limitation. The presence of the high-boiling catalyst sulfuric acid requires a further separation step downstream of the reactive distillation column to recover the catalyst for recycle. Optimal design specifications and an optimal operating point are determined using rigorous flowsheet optimization. The challenging optimization problem is solved by a favorable initialization strategy and continuous reformulation. The design identified has the potential to produce a renewable transportation fuel at reasonable cost.展开更多
The reactive distillation process for producing high purity monosilane via trichlorosilane redistribution reaction was simulated. Rigorous RadFrac block was employed in Aspen Plus simulation package. Accurate results ...The reactive distillation process for producing high purity monosilane via trichlorosilane redistribution reaction was simulated. Rigorous RadFrac block was employed in Aspen Plus simulation package. Accurate results could be given when the chemical kinetics was taken into account in the equilibrium stage model. A single column process was used for the verification of previous studies. The results showed that 99.9% purity monosilane could be achieved in the reactive distillation. A pumparound block was employed to reduce the condenser duty with inexpen-sive coolant. The effects of operating pressure, feed stage location, liquid holdup per stage and pumparound location were also investigated. The energy consumption was limited, but the refrigerant temperature was too low, which is the fatal disadvantage. Therefore, a double columns process was developed to increase the condenser tem-perature. The simulation results demonstrated that a reasonable temperature could be achieved by varying the recycle stream location.展开更多
The chemical industry is nowadays predominantly using fossil raw materials,but the alternative use of bio-based resources is investigated to account for the foreseeable scarcity of fossil feedstocks.A main challenge o...The chemical industry is nowadays predominantly using fossil raw materials,but the alternative use of bio-based resources is investigated to account for the foreseeable scarcity of fossil feedstocks.A main challenge of using biobased feedstocks is the complexity of the impurity profile.For an economic production of bio-based chemicals,the use of intensified processes is inevitable and approaches are needed for the various process intensification techniques to identify their applicability to be used for the production of bio-based components.In the presented study,an approach is shown for the reactive distillation(RD) technology to identify the most critical bio-based impurities and their impact on the reactive distillation process.The investigated case-study is the production of n-butyl acrylate from acrylic acid and n-butanol.Among all initially identified impurities,the key impurities,having the biggest impact on the product purity in the reactive distillation process,are found.These impurities are then studied in more detail and an operating window depending on the impurity concentration is identified for the reactive distillation column.Furthermore,an integrated design of upstream and downstream processes is facilitated,as the presented results can be used in the development of the fermentation processes for the production of the bio-based reactants by decreasing the concentration of the critical impurities.展开更多
基金Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(61203020,21276126)Jiangsu Province Natural Science Foundation(BK2011795)National Key Technology Research and Development Program of the Ministry of Science and Technology of China(2011BAE18B01)
文摘The "neat" operation of the two-reactant reactive distillation column has Oetter steady-state economics, while It presents a challenge for design, optimization, and control of the process. Based on the optimal economic design, the dual-composition control structure and dual-temperature control structure are designed respectively for the benzene chlorine consecutive reactive distillation process. The effectiveness and robustness are analyzed comparably for the disturbance resistance in terms of changes of production rate and feed composition. Results show that dual-temperature control with propose selection of tray temperatures and the optimal profile of the set point can provide better transient process performance than the composition control structure.
文摘In this study, a reactive distillation column in which chemical reaction and separation occur simultaneously is applied for the synthesis of tert-amyl ethyl ether (TAEE) from ethanol (EtOH) and tert-amyl alcohol (TAA). Pervaporation, an efficient membrane separation technique, is integrated with the reactive distillation for enhancing the efficiency of TAEE production. A user-defined Fortran subroutine of a pervaporation unit is developed, allowing the design and simulation of the hybrid process of reactive distillation and pervaporation in Aspen Plus simulator. The performance of such a hybrid process is analyzed and the results indicate that the integration of the reactive distillation with the pervaporation increases the conversion of TAA and the purity of TAEE product, compared with the conventional reactive distillation.
文摘Reactive distillation could be utilized to produce cyclohexanol through the cyclohexene hydration. By means of highly active zeolite catalyst HZSM-5, the kinetic-thermodynamic analysis of this reactive distillation has been carried out to get the characteristics of the reactive distillation. Results from kinetic and thermodynamic analysis indicate that the optimal pressure of this reactive distillation process should be set to higher pressure such as 0.3 or 0.4 MPa. To avoid the recovery of cyclohexanol at the top of the column, an unreactive section should be allocated at the upper column. In addition, the inert component benzene is more unfavorable to the reactive distillation process in comparison with the inert cyclohexane.
文摘This work aims to investigate the intrinsic kinetics of thermal dimerization of C_5 fraction in the reactive distillation process. Experiments are conducted in an 1000-m L stainless steel autoclave under some selected design conditions. By means of the weighted least squares method, the intrinsic kinetics of thermal dimerization of C_5 fraction is established, and the corresponding pre-exponential factor as well as the activation energy are determined. For example, the pre-exponential factor A is equal to 4.39×105 and the activation energy E4 a is equal to 6.58×10J/mol for the cyclopentadiene dimerization reaction. The comparison between the experimental and calculated results shows that the kinetics model derived in this work is accurate and reliable, which can be used in the design of reactive distillation columns.
基金Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(21106050)Specialized Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education(20100142120066)
文摘A process for the production of glycerol carbonate(GC) is proposed with the transesterification of glycerol(GL)and dimethyl carbonate(DMC) with CaO as catalyst by reactive distillation and extractive distillation. The performance of solvents in separating DMC-methanol azeotrope and the effects of operation parameters on the reactive distillation process are investigated experimentally. The results indicate that both the GL conversion and GC yield increase with the DMC/GL molar ratio, reflux ratio, final temperature of tower bottom, and CaO/GL molar ratio and decrease as the recycle number of CaO increases. The calcium concentration in the residual reaction mixture also decreases remarkably as the DMC/GL molar ratio increases. At DMC/GL molar ratio 4.0, reflux ratio 1.0, final temperature of tower bottom 358 K, and CaO/GL molar ratio 0.05, both the GL conversion and GC yield can reach above 99.0%, and the mass concentration of calcium in the product is less than 0.08%.
基金Supported by the State key Development Program for Basic Research of China(2012CB720502)the National High Technology Research and Development(2012AA040306)+1 种基金the National Natural Science Foundation of China(21076074)the Shanghai Pujiang Talents Program(10PJ1402400)
文摘Isooctane is a promising gasoline additive that could be produced by dimerization of isobutene(IB) with subsequent hydrogenation.In this work,the dimerization of IB has been carried out in a batch reactor over a temperature range of 338-383 K in the presence of laboratory prepared Ni/Al_2O_3 as a catalyst and n-pentane as solvent.The influence of various parameters such as temperature,catalyst loading and initial concentration of IB was examined.A Langmuir-Hinshelwood kinetic model of IB dimerization was established and the parameters were estimated on the basis of the measured data.The feasibility of oligomerization of IB based on the reactive distillation was simulated in ASPEN PLUS using the kinetics developed.The simulation results showed that the catalyst of Ni/Al_2O_3 had higher selectivity to diisobutene(DIB) and slightly lower conversion of IB than ion exchange resin in the absence of polar substances.
基金funded by the Excellence Initiative of the German federal and state governments to promote science and research at German universities
文摘Butyl-levulinate has been identified as a promising fuel candidate with high oxygen content. Its com- bustion in diesel engines yields very low soot and NOx emissions. It can be produced by the esterification of butanol and levulinic acid, which themselves are platform chemicals in a biorenewables-based chemical supply chain. Since the equilibrium of esterification limits the conversion in a conventional reactor, reactive distillation can be applied to overcome this limitation. The presence of the high-boiling catalyst sulfuric acid requires a further separation step downstream of the reactive distillation column to recover the catalyst for recycle. Optimal design specifications and an optimal operating point are determined using rigorous flowsheet optimization. The challenging optimization problem is solved by a favorable initialization strategy and continuous reformulation. The design identified has the potential to produce a renewable transportation fuel at reasonable cost.
文摘The reactive distillation process for producing high purity monosilane via trichlorosilane redistribution reaction was simulated. Rigorous RadFrac block was employed in Aspen Plus simulation package. Accurate results could be given when the chemical kinetics was taken into account in the equilibrium stage model. A single column process was used for the verification of previous studies. The results showed that 99.9% purity monosilane could be achieved in the reactive distillation. A pumparound block was employed to reduce the condenser duty with inexpen-sive coolant. The effects of operating pressure, feed stage location, liquid holdup per stage and pumparound location were also investigated. The energy consumption was limited, but the refrigerant temperature was too low, which is the fatal disadvantage. Therefore, a double columns process was developed to increase the condenser tem-perature. The simulation results demonstrated that a reasonable temperature could be achieved by varying the recycle stream location.
基金funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement no.241718,Eurobioref
文摘The chemical industry is nowadays predominantly using fossil raw materials,but the alternative use of bio-based resources is investigated to account for the foreseeable scarcity of fossil feedstocks.A main challenge of using biobased feedstocks is the complexity of the impurity profile.For an economic production of bio-based chemicals,the use of intensified processes is inevitable and approaches are needed for the various process intensification techniques to identify their applicability to be used for the production of bio-based components.In the presented study,an approach is shown for the reactive distillation(RD) technology to identify the most critical bio-based impurities and their impact on the reactive distillation process.The investigated case-study is the production of n-butyl acrylate from acrylic acid and n-butanol.Among all initially identified impurities,the key impurities,having the biggest impact on the product purity in the reactive distillation process,are found.These impurities are then studied in more detail and an operating window depending on the impurity concentration is identified for the reactive distillation column.Furthermore,an integrated design of upstream and downstream processes is facilitated,as the presented results can be used in the development of the fermentation processes for the production of the bio-based reactants by decreasing the concentration of the critical impurities.