Feed-splitting operating strategy of a reactive distillation column for energy-saving production of butyl propionate

In the study of designing a reactive distillation process for producing heavy esters, it is found that splitting one of the rate-determining feed to the different location of a reactive distillation column can lead to a significant saving in the total annual cost and a reduction of the operating cost. Using esterification reaction to produce butyl propionate as an illustration, the saving of total annual cost can be up to 10.4% and the reduction of operating cost can be up to 11.9% in comparison with the design without feed-splitting. For the feasibility of the feed split, overall control strategy of this design alternation has also been studied. It is found that both design and control are feasible in the case of this feed-splitting operating strategy. This result is useful in prior to undertake optimal design of process and control using the mathematical programming approaches.