Synthesis And Design Of Reactive Distillation Columns Based On Genetic Algorithm

Compared to traditional distillation systems, reactive distillation technology which organically combines reaction and separation in the same equipment not only simplifies process flow to a large extent, but also saves investment and reduces energy consumption. Because of its significant advantages, reactive distillation column has become a research hotspot in the field of chemical industry, studies on this innovative technology have gradually covered steady modeling, steady-state optimization, dynamic design, dynamic control and so on, it also has been implemented in many reaction systems such as esterification, etherification, alkylation, etc. Most of industrial applications further strengthened strong advantages of this new technology on investment and energy consumption. Therefore, it makes sense to study on reactive distillation technology and industrialization.As the foundation of dynamic characteristic research and industrial implementation, synthesis and design is the most important part in the study of reactive distillation system. Until now, the research on synthesis and design of reactive distillation is still not comprehensive, thus a concise and effective method should be proposed as soon as possible to promote the practical application of reactive distillation technology.In this paper, based on previous studies, a more convenient method is proposed for synthesis and design of reactive distillation column:total annual cost was as the optimization objective, total number of trays, liquid holdups, number of stages in rectifying section, feed locations, and so on were as decision variables, genetic algorithm was applied for optimization calculation and searching the optimal point so as to achieve maximum economic benefits. During this time, MATLAB was used to code GA, Aspen Plus was for the purpose of simulating reactive distillation systems, on the basis of software integration technology we can realize the data exchange between MATLAB and Aspen Plus to complete synthesis and design of reactive distillation columns.In order to evaluate feasibility and practicality, this method was applied to three different reactive distillation systems which included a hypothetical quaternary reactive distillation system, ethyl acetate reactive distillation system and methyl acetate reactive distillation system. All of these three optimum structures were compared with initial systems respectively. The results show that optimum structures which need lower TAC can be obtained on the premise of attaining qualified products purity, in addition, this proposed approach is more convenient and need less run time, it can be a generalized method in synthesis and design of reactive distillation column.