MODELING AND SIMULATION OF CATALYTIC DISTILLATION FOR ESTERIFICATION OF ACETIC ACID WITH METHANOL USING ASPEN PLUS

Abstract

The present investigation pertains to a theoretical study of simulation of multicomponent catalytic distillation column. In this it was studied that the reaction and separation are in one column with 25 stages included reboiler and condenser for synthesis of methyl acetate by using ASPEN R A D F R A C column for two feed set up and also studied about the complex modelling concepts of reactive distillation by using catalyst. In present investigation, the rate kinetics has been assumed to be pseudo homogeneous model for simulation. Further, the comparison of this model has been done with the data of Popken, T, et al (2001). Finally the effect of design variables namely - reflux ratio, feed tray location, start of reactive section and end of reactive section, and thermodynamic models on composition of MeOAc profiles on column is studied. By using M E S H equations with the rate kinetic model equation for synthesis of methyl acetate, mathematical model has been developed. The developed model has been validated by comparing the composition profile in the liquid phase and variation of methanol conversion haying the reflux ratio with the experimental data of Popken et al (2001). Comparison shows the deviation of simulation results with the experimental results. Avg. maximum deviation is found to be 30% in composition profiles, and maximum v deviation is found to be 14 % in variation of methanol conversion with reflux ratio. In the above mentioned design variables, the reflux ratio, feed tray locations, end of reactive stage and thermodynamic model have most significant effect on the methanol conversion and methyl acetate composition in the distillate and the remaining column.