Modeling and analysis of solid catalyzed reactive HiGee stripping

Abstract

Increasing emphasis on process intensification for enhancing industrial chemical processes opens up many promising opportunities for an integrated rather than sequential (the onion-model approach) process synthesis and design. The present article introduces the concept of solid catalyzed reactive HiGee stripper (SCRHS) where reaction and stripping are integrated in a solid catalytic rotating packed bed. SCRHS is modeled for an esterification reaction, and analyzed in detail. Rotation of reactive stripper offers several advantages such as faster mass-transfer and higher product concentration over conventional reactors. Intraparticle diffusion-based modeling, component-based effectiveness factor, and instantaneous selectivity provide several insights into the proposed integrated process. Obtained results are encouraging and show that SCRHS is a promising candidate for future esterification plants. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd.