Dynamic modeling of the isoamyl acetate reactive distillation process

The cost-effectiveness of reactive distillation (RD) processes makes them highly attractive for industrial applications. However, their preliminary design and subsequent scale-up and operation are challenging. Specifically, the response of RD system during fluctuations in process parameters is of paramount importance to ensure the stability of the whole process. As a result of carrying out simulations using Aspen Plus, it is shown that the RD process for isoamyl acetate production was much more economical than conventional reactor distillation configuration under optimized process conditions due to lower utilities consumption, higher conversion and smaller sizes of condenser and reboiler. Rigorous dynamic modeling of RD system was performed to evaluate its sensitivity to disturbances in critical process parameters; the product flow was quite sensitive to disturbances. Even more sensitive was product composition when the disturbance in heat duties of condenser or reboiler led to a temperature decrease. However, positive disturbance in alcohol feed is of particular concern, which clearly made the system unstable.