Experimental study and process simulation of n-butyl acetate produced by transesterification in a catalytic distillation column

The production of n-butyl acetate by transesterification of methyl acetate with n-butanol, catalyzed by acidic ion-exchange resin NKC-9, was experimentally investigated in a homemade catalytic distillation column with a diameter of 80 mm. A non-equilibrium stage model for describing the catalytic distillation process was established and solved with Newton-Homotopy method. The effect of feeding mode, reflux ratio, material molar ratio and number of reactive sections on the conversion of methyl acetate was investigated. The experimental results agree well with those obtained by the theoretical simulation calculations, indicating the accuracy and reliability of the non-equilibrium model. It can be concluded that the non-equilibrium model established in this paper can provide theoretical guidance for the further process design and optimization.