Estimation of still trajectory for batch reactive distillation systems

Abstract

This work addresses a new method for estimating the liquid still composition trajectory of batch reactive distillation systems based on material balance and reaction equilibrium data. The still trajectory information is essential to determining whether pure products are-reachable from this still pot trajectory when several distillation boundaries are present, initial feed compositions can vary, and the number of components exceeds our visualization capability. For a given feed to product flow ratio with constant feed charge and product compositions, the still pot composition trajectory is mathematically confined to the intersection between the reaction equilibrium manifold and a "material balance plane" that is the union of stoichiometric lines and material balance rays connecting still and product compositions. Starting from this estimated still pot trajectory, we can easily extend feasibility studies of various batch reactive distillation configurations even for multireaction systems.