Design Of Reaction Distilltion Process For Transesterification Of N-Propanol And Methyl Acetate

N-propyl acetate, an organic solvent, has a special fruit flavor which has been widely used in chemical industry. Transesterification reaction which happens among methyl acetate and n-propanol produces n-propyl acetate and methanol. Transesterification reaction is the conventional method to produce n-propyl acetate, but this method has some shortcomings, such as: too much energy consumption, poor purity of production, high thermal duty of reboiler, massive cost in equipment investing, complexity and bad effect in separation process. According to above questions, this thesis has made improvements in two aspects,detail works as following:1. Using ionic liquid [EMIM][Ac] as extractant in the separation process of methyl acetate and methyl alcohol. Process of reaction distillation is designed in this thesis, NRTL model is used to calculating activity coefficient. Targeting total annual cost (TAC), several variables of catalytic distillation column are optimized. Based on meeting the industrial purity requirement of n-propyl acetate and methyl alcohol, the design reduces the cost in purchasing facilities and operation.2. Trying to design dividing-wall distillation column for in general reaction distillation process; Projecting three column model which is equal to reactive dividing-wall distillation column in thermodynamics.Purities of n-propyl acetate and methyl alcohol are satisfied by adapting respective operating parameters.After optimizing above technological process, this thesis makes comparison with conventional reactive distillation process. In the first plan, there is an obvious decrease in TAC, and in the second method, the purity of n-propyl acetate achieves the demand when operating variables in the dividing-wall distillation column are optimal values, moreover,the design can save a condensator.