An optimal steady-state design of methyl acetate reactive distillation column

The steady state economic optimization to obtain the most economical design of a double feed ideal reactive distillation (RD) column is demonstrated. Methyl acetate production process was investigated to find an optimum number of rectifying trays, reactive tray and stripping tray and also the optimum location for two feed trays that minimize the total annual cost (TAC). Once the column configuration is specified, we are left with 2 degrees of freedom where reflux ratio and reboiler duty are used to meet the specifications (xMeAc= 97 mol% , xH2O= 97 mol%). After the dominant design variables are identified, a systematic design procedure can be devised for the column. The simulation was carried out using Aspen Plus with the RadFrac module provided with Fortran subroutines for the reaction rate.