Development of a Novel Basket Impeller Dualflow Tray Catalytic Distillation Reactor

A new catalytic distillation column which combines the superior gas-to-liquid mass transfer attributes of a dualflow tray with the higher reaction rates found in a rotating basket slurry reactor has been investigated in this study to improve conversion and yield for thermodynamically limited reaction systems possessing product-inhibited kinetics using tert-butyl alcohol dehydration over Amberlyst 15 as model reaction. Optimal conditions for nonreactive separation efficiency were also the most favorable for catalytic distillation. Compared to conventional fixed bed catalytic distillation, the new basket impeller column offered a 70% yield improvement in TBA dehydration. Moreover, unlike the common nonrotating catalytic distillation reactor, the spinning basket impeller column can handle reactions characterized by both low equilibrium constant and low Damkohler number.