Steady state and dynamic simulationof a hybrid reactive separation process

摘要

Modelling and simulation of hybrid reactive separation system in steady state and in dynamicregime was carried out. The investigated hybrid process consisted of a reactive distillation columnand a pervaporation membrane located in the distillate stream to remove water from the process.Heterogeneously catalysed esterification of propionic acid with propan-l-ol to propyl propionateand water was chosen as the model chemical reaction. Esterification reactions are a typical exampleof equilibrium-limited reactions producing water as a by-product. Using just a pervaporation mem-brane brings the biggest benefit in increasing the yield of one of the reactants due to the removal ofwater. To study reactive separation processes, a model of the hybrid system in steady state and indynamic regime was developed. Steady state behaviour of the model was studied for different hy-brid system configurations. The effect of catalyst amount doubling was also investigated. Dynamicbehaviour of the system during the step changes of propionic acid feed flow rate and during themembrane module failure was investigated. For this reason, the conversion of propionic acid, purityof the product stream, mole fraction of water, and the temperature in three different parts of thereactive distillation column were monitored.