Energy-saving investigation of vacuum reactive distillation for the production of ethyl acetate

Ganesh N. Patil; Nirmala Gnanasundaram

doi:10.1515/cppm-2021-0060

Article

Energy-saving investigation of vacuum reactive distillation for the production of ethyl acetate

Ganesh N. Patil and Nirmala Gnanasundaram

Published/Copyright: January 5, 2022

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From the journal Chemical Product and Process Modeling Volume 18 Issue 1

Abstract

Ethyl acetate (EtAc) reactive distillation (RD) configurations often use atmospheric pressure, and this operating pressure can be reduced further to conserve energy based on the condenser cooling water temperature. Using the Aspen Plus simulator, two proposed configurations, RD column with stripper and pressure swing reactive distillation (PSRD), were simulated at lower operating pressure. The impact of RD column operating pressure on total energy usage and total annual cost (TAC) was studied. All design parameters were optimized using sequential iterative optimization procedures and sensitivity analysis to minimize the energy cost while maintaining the required product purity at 99.99%. The simulation results showed that the RD column with a stripper is better than PSRD with a saving of 23.17% in TAC and 31.53% in the specific cost of EtAc per kg. Compared to literature results, the proposed configurations have lower reboiler duty requirements and lower cost per kg of EtAc.

Keywords: Aspen Plus simulation; esterification; ethyl acetate (EtAc); pressure swing reactive distillation (PSRD); process intensification; reactive distillation (RD)

Corresponding author: Nirmala Gnanasundaram, School of Chemical Engineering, VIT University, Vellore, Tamil Nadu 632014, India, E-mail: gsnirmala@vit.ac.in

Acknowledgement

The authors thankfully acknowledge the support provided by the Vellore Institute of Technology, India and the College of Engineering, National University of Science and Technology, Oman.

Author contributions: All the authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this submitted manuscript and approved submission.
Research funding: This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
Conflict of interest statement: The authors declare no conflicts of interest regarding this article.

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Supplementary Material

The online version of this article offers supplementary material (https://doi.org/10.1515/cppm-2021-0060).

Received: 2021-09-30

Accepted: 2021-12-24

Published Online: 2022-01-05

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Supplementary Material

Articles in the same Issue

https://doi.org/10.1515/cppm-2021-0060

Keywords for this article

Aspen Plus simulation; esterification; ethyl acetate (EtAc); pressure swing reactive distillation (PSRD); process intensification; reactive distillation (RD)