Reactive-distillation process for direct hydration of cyclohexene to produce cyclohexanol

Cyclohexanol is an important precursor in synthesizing intermediates of Nylons and also plasticizers. In this paper, a plantwide reactive-distillation process for the production of cyclohexanol by direct hydration of cyclohexene with water has been studied. Design with excess water is needed to economically increase conversion of cyclohexene to 99.9%. The optimal design of the proposed flowsheet also makes use of the natural liquid-liquid splitting of the binary cyclohexanol-water azeotrope. Realistic fresh cyclohexene feed with impurity of cyclohexane was also considered. This inert is designed to leave the system in the organic outlet stream of a decanter on top of the reactive-distillation column. The reboiler duty requirement of the proposed design flowsheet is compared with existing processes in open literature. It is found that significant energy savings can be realized by using this design.