Experimental studies of a continuous catalytic distillation column from startup to steady state for the production of methyl acetate

Esterification of acetic acid with methanol to produce methyl acetate and water has been studied in a continuous packed bed catalytic reactive distillation. The key challenge is the startup method of the experiments fora continuous reactive distillation as well as reactive zone height selection. In the present study, the effect of various operating conditions on the methyl acetate composition (mole fraction) is studied. Indion 180 ion-exchange resin solid catalyst is used in the reactive zone. The catalyst is immobilized by using a novel equivalent Katapak-S in the reactive section. Experiments were performed under different operating conditions to find the high purity methyl acetate product in the distillation. The experiments were performed for various conditions like total feed flow rate, reboiler temperature, reflux ratio, methanol to acetic acid mole ratio and catalyst loading with the time. The experiments were carried out till the system reaches to the steady state under different conditions. The maximum methyl acetate concentration is obtained at 80 degrees C reboiler temperature, 2.01 reflux ratio, 16.3 g/min flow rate, 60 g catalyst loading and 1 mol ratio of methanol to acetic acid. The highest purity of methyl acetate obtained under optimal condition is 95 % by mole.