Design and Analysis of Internally Heat-Integrated Reactive Distillation Processes

Process intensification is aimed at integrating different processes in design to reduce utility consumption and capital investment, as well as at achieving environmental and safety benefits. Internally heat-integrated distillation and reactive distillation are representative examples of such design technology. In this study, the performance of internally heat-integrated reactive distillation, a novel technology combining both internally heat-integrated distillation and reactive distillation, is investigated for three ideal reactive distillation processes with a reaction zone located at top, middle, and bottom, respectively, of a reactive distillation column. The influences of reaction thermal effect (i.e., exothermic or endothermic reaction), relative volatilities between components, and chemical equilibrium constants on total annualized cost (TAC) are examined. Simulation results demonstrate that the internally heat-integrated reactive distillation can provide better economic benefit than conventional reactive distillation if the reaction zone can be properly placed in the high-pressure section or in both high- and low-pressure sections. The most TAC reduction from the implementation of internal heat integration can be obtained for the reactive distillation column with the reaction zone located at column top.