Production Of Methanol And Ethyl Acetate By Reactive And Extractive Distillation Using Ionic Liquids As Entrainer And Catalyst

The reactive and extractive distillation process using ionic liquids as entrainer andcatalyst (RED-IL) has the advantages of reactive distillation and extractive distillation,and it is a new reaction-separation integration process. The transesterification ofmethyl acetate with ethanol in RED-IL was studied. The effects of ionic liquids onvapor-liquid equilibrium (VLE) of methanol+methyl acetate and ethanol+ethylacetate were investigated. The reaction kinetics of the transesterification reactioncatalyzed by ionic liquid (IL) was studied, furthermore, the process of RED-IL wassimulated.The VLE of methanol+methyl acetate+1-butyl-3-methylimidazoliumbis[(trifluoromethyl) sulfonyl]imide ([BMIM][Tf2N]) and ethanol+ethyl acetate+[BMIM][Tf2N] were measured. The results show that [BMIM][Tf2N] can enhance therelative volatility of methanol to methyl acetate and ethanol to ethyl acetate notablely.The liquid-liquid equilibrium (LLE) of methanol+methyl acetate+4-(3-Methyl-1-imidazolio)-1-butanesulfonic acid hydrogen sulfate([HSO3-bmim][HSO4]) and ethanol+ethyl acetate+[HSO3-bmim][HSO4] werepredicted by COSMO-SAC model. Both VLE and LLE data were correlated by NRTLactivity coefficient model, and the correlation results agree well with those ofexperimental and predicted.The reaction kinetics of the transesterification of methyl acetate with ethanolcatalyzed by IL [HSO3-bmim][HSO4] was investigated. Three different kineticmodels, the ideal homogeneous (IH) model and the nonideal homogeneous (NIH-1and NIH-2) models, were used to correlate the reaction kinetic data. The NIH-1model was the best model because it was able to describe the reaction rate reliably.The ionic liquid catalyst was compared with the conventional inorganic acid catalystsulfuric acid and the results indicated that it was more active than the conventionalcatalyst.The RED-IL process was simulated, and high purity products of methanol andethyl acetate can be obtained in such a process. The effects of operating conditionsand structural parameters for RED-IL process were investigated. The purities ofproducts increase with the holdup in the column, entrainer ratio and catalystconcentration. An optimal reflux ratio, optimal distillate rate and feed location exist in RED-IL process.