ABSTRACT

Reactive distillation is particularly advantageous when the reactor product is a mixture of species that can form several azeotropes with each other. In some cases several catalyst zones can be included in the same reactive distillation column, allowing more than one reaction function. Reactive distillation technology has benefited greatly from the experience gained in its first industrial applications, from improved theoretical understanding and modeling capability, and from advances in catalyst and equipment technology. The biggest commercial application of reactive distillation has been in the production of ethers for blending into gasoline. One of the most important advantages of reactive distillation for ethers production is that the process does not require a high-purity feed of isoolefin. The modeling of reactive distillation necessarily must consider rates of reaction, useful insights into the limiting behavior of the process can be gained by considering the behavior of the system at equilibrium.