Synthesis and hydrolysis of methyl acetate by reactive distillation using structured catalytic packings:: Experiments and simulation

Reactive distillation experiments have been performed for the synthesis and hydrolysis of methyl acetate using the structured catalytic packing Katapak-S with an acidic ion-exchange resin (Amberlyst 15) as the heterogeneous catalyst. Three different setups were used: one-feed and two-feed setups for the methyl acetate synthesis and another two-feed setup for the hydrolysis reaction. The influence of several variables, such as reaction kinetics, separation efficiency, residence time distribution, and heat loss, on the simulation results has been studied. Most important is the use of an adequate reaction kinetics, that is, an adsorption-based kinetic model that takes into account the selective swelling of the polymeric catalyst. Only using this model can the synthesis as well as the hydrolysis experiments be simulated within experimental accuracy. With pseudohomogeneous kinetics, only the experiments performed for the synthesis of methyl acetate can be modeled. An equilibrium-stage model is capable of describing the experiments in the packed column when the reaction kinetics, separation efficiency, and heat loss of the column are taken into account.