Simulation and design of a heat-integrated double-effect reactive distillation process for propylene glycol methyl ether production

doi:10.1016/j.cjche.2021.11.021

Chinese Journal of Chemical Engineering ›› 2022, Vol. 52 ›› Issue (12): 103-114.DOI: 10.1016/j.cjche.2021.11.021

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Simulation and design of a heat-integrated double-effect reactive distillation process for propylene glycol methyl ether production

Ran An^1,2, Shengxin Chen², Shun Hou¹, Yuting Zhu^2,3, Chunhu Li¹, Xinbao Zhu³, Ruixia Liu^2,4, Weizhong An¹

1. Department of Chemical Engineering, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266100, China;
2. Beijing Key Laboratory of Ionic Liquids Clean Process, CAS Key Laboratory of Green Process and Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Multiphase Complex Systems, Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China;
3. College of Chemical Engineering, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China;
4. School of Chemical Engineering, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China

Received:2021-08-13 Revised:2021-11-25 Online:2023-01-31 Published:2022-12-28
Contact: Ruixia Liu,E-mail:rxliu@ipe.ac.cn;Weizhong An,E-mail:awzhong@ouc.edu.cn
Supported by:
This work was supported by the National Nature Science Foundation of China (21878315 and 21808223), National Key Research and Development Program of China (2017YFA0206803), Innovation Academy for Green Manufacture, CAS, (IAGM2020C17), K. C. Wong Education Foundation (GJTD-2018-04). The authors are grateful for the assistance from teachers Hui Wu, Ling Wang and Na Zhou of Analysis and Test Center, Institution of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Simulation and design of a heat-integrated double-effect reactive distillation process for propylene glycol methyl ether production

Ran An^1,2, Shengxin Chen², Shun Hou¹, Yuting Zhu^2,3, Chunhu Li¹, Xinbao Zhu³, Ruixia Liu^2,4, Weizhong An¹

1. Department of Chemical Engineering, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266100, China;
2. Beijing Key Laboratory of Ionic Liquids Clean Process, CAS Key Laboratory of Green Process and Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Multiphase Complex Systems, Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China;
3. College of Chemical Engineering, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China;
4. School of Chemical Engineering, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China

通讯作者: Ruixia Liu,E-mail:rxliu@ipe.ac.cn;Weizhong An,E-mail:awzhong@ouc.edu.cn
基金资助:
This work was supported by the National Nature Science Foundation of China (21878315 and 21808223), National Key Research and Development Program of China (2017YFA0206803), Innovation Academy for Green Manufacture, CAS, (IAGM2020C17), K. C. Wong Education Foundation (GJTD-2018-04). The authors are grateful for the assistance from teachers Hui Wu, Ling Wang and Na Zhou of Analysis and Test Center, Institution of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Abstract

Abstract: A double-effect reactive distillation (DERD) process was proposed for the production of propylene glycol methyl ether from propylene oxide and methanol to overcome the shortcoming of low selectivity and high-energy consumption in the tubular plug-flow reactor. A single-column reactive distillation (RD) process was conducted under optimized operating conditions based on sensitivity analysis as a reference. The results demonstrated that the proposed DERD process is able to achieve more than 95% selectivity of the desired product. After that, a design approach of the DERD process with an objective of the minimum operating cost was proposed to achieve further energy savings in the RD process. The proposed DERD configuration can provide a large energy-savings by totally utilization of the overhead vapor steam in the high-pressure RD column. A comparison of the single-column RD process revealed that the proposed DERD process can reduce the operating cost and the total annual cost of 25.3% and 30.7%, respectively, even though the total capital cost of DERD process is larger than that of the RD process.

Key words: Propylene oxide, Reactive distillation, Heat integration, Propylene glycol monomethyl ether, Process simulation

摘要： A double-effect reactive distillation (DERD) process was proposed for the production of propylene glycol methyl ether from propylene oxide and methanol to overcome the shortcoming of low selectivity and high-energy consumption in the tubular plug-flow reactor. A single-column reactive distillation (RD) process was conducted under optimized operating conditions based on sensitivity analysis as a reference. The results demonstrated that the proposed DERD process is able to achieve more than 95% selectivity of the desired product. After that, a design approach of the DERD process with an objective of the minimum operating cost was proposed to achieve further energy savings in the RD process. The proposed DERD configuration can provide a large energy-savings by totally utilization of the overhead vapor steam in the high-pressure RD column. A comparison of the single-column RD process revealed that the proposed DERD process can reduce the operating cost and the total annual cost of 25.3% and 30.7%, respectively, even though the total capital cost of DERD process is larger than that of the RD process.

关键词: Propylene oxide, Reactive distillation, Heat integration, Propylene glycol monomethyl ether, Process simulation

Ran An, Shengxin Chen, Shun Hou, Yuting Zhu, Chunhu Li, Xinbao Zhu, Ruixia Liu, Weizhong An. Simulation and design of a heat-integrated double-effect reactive distillation process for propylene glycol methyl ether production[J]. Chinese Journal of Chemical Engineering, 2022, 52(12): 103-114.

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Simulation and design of a heat-integrated double-effect reactive distillation process for propylene glycol methyl ether production

Simulation and design of a heat-integrated double-effect reactive distillation process for propylene glycol methyl ether production

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