ECONOMIC COMPARISON OF REACTIVE DISTILLATION WITH A CONVENTIONAL PROCESS

ECONOMIC COMPARISON OF REACTIVE DISTILLATION WITH A CONVENTIONAL PROCESS 

This chapter presents detailed economic comparisons of two alternative flowsheets. In the first, a single reactive distillation is operated in neat mode. In the second, a conventional multiunit process with independent reaction and separation sections is designed. Both flowsheets are optimized in terms of their TACs, which reflect both energy and capital costs. 

Results show that reactive distillation is significantly less expensive (by a factor of up to 3) than the conventional process for all values of the chemical equilibrium constant. However, when the relative volatilities show strong temperature dependence, reactive distillation becomes more expensive because of the mismatch between the temperatures that are favorable for reaction and the temperatures that are favorable for vapor-liquid equilibiium. 

The reactive distillation process was described in Chapter 2, and the multiunit conventional process is described in this chapter. 

Reactive Distillation Design and Control. By William L. Luyben and Cheng-Ching Yu Copyright 2008 John Wiley Sons, Inc. 

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In the next three chapters we will explore various aspects of the ideal quaternary chemical system introduced in Chapter 1. This system has four components two reactants and two products. The effects of a number of kinetic, vapor-liquid equilibrium, and design parameters on steady-state design are explored in Chapter 2. Detailed economic comparisons of reactive distillation with conventional multiunit processes over a range of chemical equilibrium constants and relative volatilities are covered in Chapter 3. An economic comparison of neat versus excess-reactant reactive distillation designs is discussed in Chapter 4. 

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