To integrate or not to integrate? A systematic method to identify benefits of integrated reaction and separation processes

摘要

When unit operations are combined into multifunctional, integrated reactive separation processes, the impact they have on each other makes the development and the analysis of these apparatuses a challenging task. To simplify the investigation, a generic 'phase model' approach was developed that offers the opportunity to design distillative as well as nondistillative integrated processes fast and systematically. The approach presented in this paper is based on 'simple accessible data' as well as on general understanding of the processes involved. Available benefits are identified and realized. Further on, the applicability of the procedure is demonstrated using the examples of ethylene glycol synthesis and glucose-fructose isomerization.