Investigations on the synthesis of methyl acetate in a heterogeneous reactive distillation process

The production of methyl acetate in a reactive distillation process - prior art for 15 years - is often used as an example to study the basic phenomena of reactive distillation. The present paper deals with a theoretical and experimental analysis of methyl acetate synthesis in a reactive distillation column. A design method based on the interpretation of reactive distillation line diagrams is used to identify the main process parameters and to provide a foundation for experimental investigation. The significant influence of the reflux ratio on the conversion in the column is shown by mini plant experiments using supported ion exchanger in the form of Raschig rings as a heterogeneous catalyst. These experiments demonstrate the catalytic quality of this packing material. To simulate the reactive distillation column with a simple stage-to-stage method, the separation efficiency of the catalytic rings is investigated. Comparison of experimental and simulation results reveals that a simple model based on the assumption of simultaneous chemical and phase equilibrium describes the experimental data quite well over a wide range of reflux ratios. Furthermore, simulation results show that the conversion depends less on the number of reactive stages than on the use of two feed stages.