A reactive distillation system with double reactive sections for the esterification of ethylene glycol with acetic acid

In this paper,a reactive distillation system with double reactive sections is proposed. The novel reactive distillation system is applied for two-step consecutive esterification of ethylene glycol and acetic acid with a stoichiometric mole ratio in the presence of Amberlyst 36. By analyzing the steady state performance of the system,the possibility of saving energy was explored. The system was optimized by minimizing the total annual cost( TAC) and then compared with a conventional reactive distillation,which consists of a rectifying section,a reactive section and a stripping section. Simulation results demonstrate that a reactive distillation system with double reactive section has better steady-state performance and also reduces TAC by 23. 58%. The increase in design freedom degree contributes to a coordinated effect between the two step reactions,thus improving reaction efficiency and separation efficiency.