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Reactive Distillation for Producing n-Butyl Acetate: Experiment and

Simulation

Article  in  Chinese Journal of Chemical Engineering · October 2012

DOI: 10.1016/S1004-9541(12)60426-1

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PROCESS SYSTEMS ENGINEERING AND PROCESS SAFETY
Chinese Journal of Chemical Engineering, 20(5) 980ü987 (2012)

Reactive Distillation for Producing n-Butyl Acetate: Experiment and

Simulation

TIAN Hui (ජ᡿)1, HUANG Zhixian (ܻᄦບ)2, QIU Ting (௎භ)2, WANG Xiaoda (ฆ໋Ӓ)2
and WU Yanxiang (๑ཀྵີ)2,*
1
College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Yantai University, Yantai 264005, China
2
College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou 350002, China

Abstract In this paper, a reactive distillation (RD) column was applied for synthesis n-butyl acetate from
n-butanol and acetic acid. The Langmuir-Hinshelwood-Hougen-Watson (LHHW) kinetic model and an equilibrium
stage model for separation were employed to study the RD process. The results obtained from the equilibrium stage
model agreed well with the experiments. The effects of operating variables on the n-butanol conversion and n-butyl
acetate purity were further investigated. The optimal column configuration for the production of n-butyl acetate was
designed with 5 rectifying stages, 8 reaction stages and 13 stripping stages by the simulation study. According to the
simulation results, n-butanol conversion and n-butyl acetate purity all reached greater than 96%.
Keywords reactive distillation, esterification, n-butyl acetate, simulation

1 INTRODUCTION with 26 theoretical stages. The high purity product

The conception of Reactive Distillation (RD) was
firstly reported by Backhaus in 1921 [1], and has re-
ceived more and more attentions, especially for the
equilibrium-limited reversible reactions. RD had be-
came an attractive unit operation due to the following
reasons: (1) enhancing conversion and selectivity for
equilibrium reaction, (2) breaking the composition of
azeotropic mixtures, (3) reducing the energy con-
sumption and the number of equipments [24].
n-Butyl acetate (n-BuAc) is one of the most com-
mon solvents, which is used in lacquer and coating
manufacture and other branches in large quantity. The
consumption of n-BuAc grows in the last decade be-
cause it is of low toxic and environment-friendly
compared with other esters [5]. n-BuAc is synthesized
through esterification by acetic acid (HAc) and
n-butanol (n-BuOH) with acid catalyst. Because the
reaction is reversible, the conversion of n-BuOH is lim-
ited by the chemical equilibrium. Removing the prod-
ucts during the reacting is beneficial for enhancing the
conversion. Thus, an integrated RD process is desirable.
The information about n-BuAc synthesis in a RD
column is plentiful in the literature. In China, Liao and
Tong [6] studied the synthesis of n-BuAc by RD using
the cation exchange resin as the catalyst primeval, and
the conversion of HAc could reach 94%. Meanwhile
the conversion of HAc and n-BuOH were all above
96% at the optimized condition in their study. Hanika
et al. [7] studied the n-BuAc synthesis through RD in a
packed column experimentally, and the computer simu-
lation was performed to evaluate the experimental data.
But three columns were used to obtain high purity
(>99%) n-BuAc product, and the RD column had 50
theoretical stages, while the n-BuAc product (>96%)
was obtained in this paper using one RD column only
(>99%) could be obtained by simple separation from
the raw product in this paper, which decreased the energy
obviously. Based on the computer simulation, Steini-
geweg and Gmehling [8] carried out the pilot plant test
to study the RD process for producing n-BuAc using
the strongly acidic ion exchange resin (Amberlyst-15)
as the catalyst, and both the thermodynamic and the
kinetic aspects of the system were investigated. While
they used the RD column with 30 theoretical stages,
the product purity could come to 96%. Gangadwala et
al. [9] explored various RD configurations for the pro-
duction of n-BuAc in order to eliminate the by-product
di-butyl ether, but they did not validate the model re-
sults experimentally. Jimenez and Costa-Lopez [10]
using methyl acetate and n-BuOH produced n-BuAc
and methanol, while three columns were used to ob-
tain high purity n-BuAc product, and the RD column
had 43 theoretical stages. Qiu et al. [11] investigated
the kinetic model of the esterification reaction by
n-BuOH and HAc catalyzed by Amberlyst 36 Wet, and
the Langmuir-Hinshelwood-Hougen-Watson (LHHW)
model was proposed to describe the reaction.
The aim of this study was to investigate the per-
formance of RD for the production of n-BuAc from
HAc and n-BuOH in more detail. Experimental stud-
ies were performed in our lab and simulation studies
were carried out using the ASPEN PLUS simulator.
Emphasis was placed on analyzing the effects of key
parameters such as the height of rectifying, reaction
and stripping sections, and also the feed location, on
the conversion of n-BuOH and n-BuAc purity.
2 EXPERIMENTAL MATERIAL AND THE ANAL-
YSIS METHORD
HAc (purity >99%, by mass) was supplied by

Received 2011-06-07, accepted 2012-03-14.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: wuyx@fzu.edu.cn
 Chin. J. Chem. Eng., Vol. 20, No. 5, October 2012 981

Shenbo Chemical CO., and n-BuOH (>99.8%) was ters K are expressed as
supplied by Merck. The catalyst used in the present K a exp(b / RT ) (3)
experiment was cation exchange resin Amberlyst 36
Wet, produced by Rohm and Haas, and the parameters All the parameters of the LHHW kinetic model
were given in Table 1. were taken from the Ref. [11] for the esterification
catalyzed by Amberlyst 36 Wet ion-exchange resin.
The average relative error was less than 2%, and the
Table 1 Physical properties of Amberlyst 36 Wet
kinetic parameters were given in Table 2.
physical form opaque beads
ionic form as shipped hydrogen Table 2 Parameters of the LHHW kinetic model
concentration of acid sites ı1.95 mol·L 1 for n-BuAc reaction system [11]
ı5.4 mol·kg1 Parameter a/kmol·kg1·s1 b/J·mol1
moisture holding capacity 51% to 57% (H+ form) ka 1.23×103 1.96×103
shipping mass 800 g·L1 (50 lbs·ft3) kf 1.45×10 4
6.45×103
fines content <0.425 mm: 0.5% max Ks,HAc 6.44×101 5.41×103
coarse beads >1.180 mm: 4.0% max Ks,BuOH 2.84×10 7
4.80×104
2 1
surface area 33 m ·g Ks,BuAc 2.86×103 2.47×104
average pore diameter 24 nm K s,H2O 3.88×10 4
2.92×104
maximum operating temperature 150°C (300 °F)

4 REACTIVE DISTILLATION EXPERIMENT

Both titration and gas chromatography were used
for the analysis of the reaction mixtures. The gas
chromatograph (Varian CP-3900, USA) equipped with
a hydrogen flame detector. A CP-8907 column was
used with nitrogen as the carrier gas at a flow rate of
1 ml·min1. Injector and detector temperature were
523.15 K and 573.15 K, respectively. The water in or-
ganic phase was measured by means of the Karl-Fischer
instrument. The concentration of free HAc was deter-
mined through titrating with standard 0.1 mol·L1 so-
dium hydroxide solution, and phenolphthalein was
used as the indicator.
3 KINETIC MODEL
In this work, the Langmuir-Hinshelwood- Hougen-
Watson (LHHW) kinetic model was used to describe
the reaction occurring in the RD column. The reaction
of synthesis n-BuAc from HAc and n-BuOH in the
reactive zone can be written as follows:
ZZX H 2 O  n - BuAc
HAc  n - BuOH YZZ
The rate of reaction for the LHHW model can be
written as follows:
rBuOH M cat K f K s,HAc K s,BuOH u
AND SIMULATION
4.1 Experimental setup
A RD column containing solid catalyst was used
for the synthesis of n-BuAc. The strong cation ex-
change resin (Amberlyst 36 Wet) was used as the
catalyst. The experimental setup was given in Fig. 1.
The setup included a RD column with internal diame-
ter of 32 mm in addition to a fixed-bed reactor with
internal diameter of 20 mm with the height of 600 mm
for fulfilling part of the load of reaction. The rectify-
ing section and the stripping section of the RD column
were packed with bulk  packing (2.5 mm) while
catalyst-bundles containing cation exchange resin
catalyst were packed in the middle of the column as
the reaction zones [12]. The height of the rectifying
section, the reaction section, and the stripping section
were 550 mm, 1050 mm, and 600 mm, respectively. In
order to describe the RD column separation efficiency
quantitatively, the number of theoretical stages (TS) of
(1) RD column was estimated by using the Fenske
method through separating a mixture of ethanol and
isopropyl alcohol [13]. The results indicated that the
separation efficiencies of rectifying section, reactive
section, and stripping section were equivalent to 8, 6,
and 9 theoretical stages, respectively. The temperature
 CHAcCBuOH  CBuAcCH O / Ka  u
2
1  Ks,HAc CHAc  Ks,BuOH CBuOH 
was measured at eight points in the column while the
samples were taken from top, bottom and along the
column (as shown in Fig. 1). The theoretical stages
were numbered from the top of the column to the
K s,BuAc  K s,H O CH O 
2
2 2
(2)
where r is the reaction rate (mol·s1); Ci is the concen-
tration (mol·L1); Mcat is the catalyst mass (g); Kf is
the reaction rate constant (mol·g1·s1); Ks and Ka are
chemical reaction equilibrium constant and adsorption
equilibrium constant, respectively. All of the parame-
column bottom (reboiler), and the relationship be-
tween sampling and the number of theoretical stage
were shown in Table 3.
During the production of n-BuAc by this setup,
the equimolar n-BuOH-HAc mixture was fed to the
first reactor which was packed with ion exchange resin.
The temperature in the fixed-bed was maintained at
982 Chin. J. Chem. Eng., Vol. 20, No. 5, October 2012

Figure 1 Reactive distillation experimental setup

Table 3 The relationship of sampling and thermometers
location with number of theoretical stage
Sampling Number of
Thermometers location
point theoretical stage
a T2 3
b T3 5 RD. To simplify the calculation, the low pressure drop
c T4 10
d T5 12
e T6 18
f T7 22
358.15K. The effluent from the fixed-bed reactor,
which almost achieves the chemical equilibrium, en-
tered the RD column above the reactive zone. n-BuAc,
whose boiling point was the highest in this system,
was withdrawn from the bottom of the column. The
overhead distillate was mainly n-BuOH, HAc, water,
and a small amount of n-BuAc. The overhead vapor
was condensed and cooled to liquid at room tempera-
ture at first and then introduced to a decanter for phase
separation. While the organic phase was completely
refluxed back to the column, the aqueous phase which
might still contain small amount of the organic com-
pounds (i.e., n-BuAc, unreacted n-BuOH and HAc)
was withdrawn from the system.
4.2 Modeling and simulation
The RD was a complex process, which contains
not only the mass transfer process but also the separa-
tion and reaction processes. In this paper, simulation
of the synthesis of n-BuAc in a RD column was car-
ried out by using Aspen Plus 11.1. The equilibrium
stage model is often applied with great success for the
simulation of RD column [14]. Therefore, the RADFRAC
module, based on the rigorous equilibrium stage model
containing the mass balance, phase equilibrium, summa-
tion and energy balance (MESH) equations, was used to
describe the multistage vapor-liquid separation in the
along the column (about 2 kPa) was neglected accord-
ing to some researches [15, 16], for the whole equip-
ment was supposed to operate at atmospheric pressure.
The selection of the physical property method
was very important due to the highly non-ideal nature
of the quaternary system, and the phase equilibrium of
this system was complex because of the existence of
azeotropes. Because of the non-ideal vapor-liquid
equilibrium (VLE) and possible vapor-liquid-liquid
equilibrium (VLLE) for the quaternary system, the
UNIQUAC activity coefficient model was adopted [9],
and the model equation came from the Aspen Plus
user manual 11.1. The Hayden-O’Conell model with
association parameters was used to account for the
dimerization and trimerization of HAc in the vapor
phase [17]. The Aspen Plus built-in association parame-
ters were used to compute the fugacity coefficients.
The binary interaction parameters of the UNIQUAC
model came from the built-in Aspen Plus Databanks
and Ref. [17]. The azeotropes for the four components
system [HAc-(n-BuOH)-(n-BuAc)-H2O] calculated at
the atmospheric pressure were listed in Table 3. From
Table 4, the calculated azeotropic composition and
temperature were compared with the literature values,
and the maximal error was less than 1%, showing the
selection of the thermodynamic model was reliable.
Since the available built-in reaction kinetic model
in Aspen Plus 11.1 was power law and defined on the
basis of mass or mole fraction, the reaction kinetics
model for n-BuAc system based on LHHW [Eq. (2)]
 Chin. J. Chem. Eng., Vol. 20, No. 5, October 2012 983

Table 4 The compositions and temperatures of the azeotropes at atmospheric pressure

Data from Ref. [17] Calculated results
Azeotrope n-BuOH n-BuAc H2 O T n-BuOH n-BuAc H2O T
/% (by mass) /% (by mass) /% (by mass) /K /% (by mass) /% (by mass) /% (by mass) /K
(n-BuAc)-H2O 0.00 27.66 72.34 364.34 0.00 28.22 71.78 364.07
(n-BuOH)-H2O 57.50 0.00 42.50 366.11 53.77 0.00 46.23 366.91
(n-BuOH)-(n-BuAc) 70.74 29.96 0.00 389.30 69.96 30.04 0.00 390.00
(n-BuOH)-HAc 51.61 0.00 0.00 395.84 51.73 0.00 0.00 396.38
(n-BuOH)-(n-BuAc)-H2O 8.95 20.41 70.64 363.81 4.82 24.01 71.16 363.98
(n-BuOH)-(n-BuAc)-HAc 20.00 34.00 0.00 394.45 21.27 29.49 0.00 395.08

Table 5 The detailed specification of the BuAc RD column in simulation

Total no. Rectifying Reactive Stripping Feed Catalyst loading Mole feed ratio of HAc Space velocity of
of stages section section section stage per stage/g to n-BuOH n-BuOH/m3·h1·m3
24 18 stage 914 stage 1524 stage 9th stage 27.5 (914 stages) 1Ή1 0.2348

(a) Space velocity: 0.2348 m3·h1·m3 (b) Space velocity: 0.4375 m3·h1·m3
Figure 2 Temperature profile in the RD column
simulation;Ƶexperimental

was incorporated into the process simulator using an
additional subroutine written in FORTRAN, and the
different catalyst concentrations and the efficiency of
the catalyst-bundle [18] in the RD column were con-
sidered. The simulation was run and fitted to the
available experimental data by adjusting the Murphree
stage efficiency (from 0.5 to 0.8), and the value of
which is reasonable [15].
According to the experimental setup, the theo-
retical stages were numbered from the column to the
column bottom (reboiler). The process parameters of
the experiment and the specification of the RD column
for process simulation were listed in Table 5.
4.3 Model validation
In order to check whether the model was suitable
for simulating the RD column, the model was used to
predict the temperature distribution and vapor composi-
tion along the RD column, and the predictions were
compared with the experimental data obtained in the
present study. The temperature and concentration profiles
obtained from the experiment and simulation results
were shown in Figs. 2 and 3. The experimental values
were all came from the average value of three experi-
ments and the relative errors were all less than 2.0%.
Figure 2 demonstrated the calculated temperature
profile was similar to the experimental values and the
maximum relative error was 1.1%, which was accept-
able. From Fig. 3, it can be seen that the vapor com-
positions in 6 sampling points were in good agreement
with the simulation results. The errors mainly came
from the equilibrium stage model not accounting for
transport phenomena. The conversion of n-BuOH as
defined as
984 Chin. J. Chem. Eng., Vol. 20, No. 5, October 2012

(a) Space velocity: 0.2348 m3·h1·m3 (b) Space velocity: 0.4375 m3·h1·m3
Figure 3 Experimental and predicted concentration profiles in the sampling location
Ʒ BuOH experimental; BuOH simulation; ƹ BuAc experimental; Ƶ H2O experimental; H2O simulation; BuAc
simulation; HAc experimental

n-BuOH conversion

(4)

was calculated to compare the performance of the RD.

Experimental and simulation results at different
space velocity and HAc concentration were listed in
Figs. 4 and 5. The experimental values were all came
from the average value of three experiments and the
relative errors were all less than 1.0%. From Fig. 4,
n-BuOH conversion reduced gradually along with the
space velocity increase because of the limit of the re-
active section capacity. n-BuOH conversion reduced
gradually along with the reducing of the HAc concen-
tration. It was evident that the experimental data agreed
very well with the results of the numerical model, and
the equilibrium stage model could describe well the
RD column profiles.
Figure 5 Experimental and simulation results at different
HAc concentration
ƹexperimental; simulation
5 DISCUSSION
Due to the constraints and limitations in the ex-
perimental study, some of the important RD design
parameters could not be studied experimentally. The
important design variables considered include the num-
ber of rectifying, reaction and stripping stages and the
feed stage location. So a series of analysis were con-
ducted to determine the effects of the design variables
on conversion of n-BuOH and the purity of n-BuAc.
The conditions of the base case simulation study were
the same as shown in Table 5. From the base case, a
series of sensitivity studies were performed to study
the RD column performances.

5.1 Number of reaction stages

Figure 4 Experimental and simulation results at different Increasing the number of reaction stages was not
space velocity always a better option because that will affect the
ƹexperimental; simulation column separation performance, thereby changing
 Chin. J. Chem. Eng., Vol. 20, No. 5, October 2012 985

compositions in the reactive zone. For equilibrium

limited systems, increasing the number of reaction
stages will lead to the enhancement of temperature and
concentration which would favor the reversion reac-
tion, causing the product decomposition [19, 20]. Fig. 6
shows the influence of the number of reaction stages
on the RD column performance. All other design and
operating variables such as the number of rectifying,
stripping stages and feed conditions were kept at the
values of the standard condition and the mixture
which was close to chemical equilibrium being from
the fixed-bed reactor is still fed at the top of the reaction
section. The simulated results shown that by using Figure 7 Effects of rectifying stages on n-BuOH conver-
more reaction stages both the conversion of n-BuOH sion and n-BuAc purity
and the purity of n-BuAc were increased, and the heat ƻn-BuAc purity;Ƶn-BuOH conversion;Ʒheat duty
duty of the reboiler also increased. This was to be ex-
pected as the reactive zone in the column could be
analogous to the series of reactors. The number of could be concluded that the contribution of the in-
reactors in the series increased as the height of the crease of rectifying stages to the column performance
reactive zone increased and therefore that provided became progressively small and therefore the number
sufficient residence time for higher conversion. The of rectifying stages of 5 was used as the column con-
number of reaction stages of 8 was used as one of the figurations for the following simulations.
column configurations for the following simulations.
5.3 Number of stripping stages

In the RD, the number of stripping stages should

be adjusted to achieve a satisfactory separation. The
main function of the stripping section was to maintain
favorable reaction conditions by removing n-BuAc
from the reactive zone, purifying the n-BuAc product
in the residue, and minimizing the loss of n-BuOH in
the product of n-BuAc. It could be seen from Fig. 8
that the n-BuOH conversion, n-BuAc purity and the
heat duty of the reboiler increased as the number of
stripping stages was increasing from 2 to 15 stages.
Increasing the number of stripping stages decreased
Figure 6 Effects of reaction stages on n-BuOH conversion the concentration of n-BuAc in the reaction zone,
and n-BuAc purity shifting the equilibrium of the etherification forward
ƻn-BuAc purity;Ƶn-BuOH conversion;Ʒheat duty
n-BuAc. Therefore, the optimum configuration was 13
stripping stages.
5.2 Number of rectifying stages

The rectification section of the RD column for

n-BuAc synthesis should remove light components
from the reaction zone, and recycle the unreacted re-
actants back to the reaction section in the RD column.
The effects of the number of the rectifying stages on
the purity of n-BuAc, the conversion of n-BuOH and
the heat duty of the reboiler were demonstrated in Fig. 7.
It was found that the purity of n-BuAc, the conversion
of n-BuOH and the heat duty of the reboiler increased
slightly with the increase of the number of rectification
stages from 2 to 11 stages. This could be explained by
the fact that with the increase of the rectifying stages, Figure 8 Effects of stripping stages on n-BuOH conver-
water and the lightest component were more removed sion and n-BuAc purity
ƻn-BuAc purity;Ƶn-BuOH conversion;Ʒheat duty
from the reaction section, decreasing the concentration
of water in the reaction zone. This caused the equilibrium
of reaction (1) to shift forward and thus, the conversion 5.4 Feed stage location
of n-BuOH and the purity of n-BuAc became higher,
both reached at 96.5% and 96.4%, respectively. It The RD column could be treated as a tubular reactor
986 Chin. J. Chem. Eng., Vol. 20, No. 5, October 2012
Table 6 Compare of the experiment and simulation value of n-BuOH conversion and n-BuAc purity
n-BuOH conversion
Number
Experiment
1# 0.9581
2# 0.9636
3 1 3
results of Section 4.3 with 0.2348 m ·h ·m 0.9432
different space velocity 0.4375 m3·h1·m3 0.9426
cascaded with separation units, while the reactive zone
of a RD column could be viewed as a cascade-type
two-phase reactor with the reaction temperature deter-
mined from the bubble-point temperature of the tray
liquid phase composition. The composition and tem-
perature profiles could affect the performance of the
reactive zone, and the feed tray location appear to be
one of the most important variables for these profiles
redistribution [21, 22]. The right choice for feed location
ensured high concentrations of reactants in the reactive
zone. Fig. 9 presented the effects of the feed location
on n-BuOH conversion, n-BuAc purity and the heat
duty of the reboiler. It was found that feeding equilib-
rium reaction mixture at the 5th TS offered the highest
conversion of n-BuOH (96.83%) and the highest purity
of n-BuAc (96.71%).
Figure 9 Effects of feed stage on n-BuOH conversion and
n-BuAc purity
ƻn-BuAc purity;Ƶn-BuOH conversion;Ʒheat duty
5.5 Optimization
According to the simulation results, the RD ex-
perimental setup was changed to 5 rectifying stages, 8
reaction stages and 13 stripping stages based on the
experimental setup, and the location of the feed stage
was the 6th stage. Therefore, the experiment 1#, 2# and
simulation results are obtained as shown in Table 6.
n-BuOH conversion and n-BuAc purity are all greater
than 96%, all greater than the results of Refs. [6, 7].
6 CONCLUSIONS
Experimental setup was performed in order to
develop a reliable framework for simulating RD that
Relative n-BuAc purity/mass fraction Relative
Simulation error/% Experiment Simulation error/%
0.9628 0.47 0.9675 0.9653 0.23
0.9628 0.09 0.9601 0.9653 0.54
0.9588 1.65 0.9723 0.9673 0.52
0.9583 1.66 0.9615 0.9671 0.58
was capable of modeling the n-BuAc synthesis rela-
tively accurately. The simulation results shown that
the experimental data agreed with the simulation results
well. The equilibrium stage model could describe the
column profiles quantitatively. The effects of some
important process parameters were investigated with
the aid of simulation studies and the optimal parameters
were obtained: the optimal design variables for the RD
were 5 rectifying stages, 8 reaction stages and 13
stripping stages, and the best feed location was the 6th
theoretical stages. According to the simulation results,
the RD column was changed to 5 rectifying stages, 8
reaction stages and 13 stripping stages based on the
experimental setup. n-BuOH conversion and n-BuAc
purity were all greater than 96% at this condition.
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