Study And Process Simulation Of Methyl Acetate Hydrogenation To Ethanol

People are paying more and more attention to ethanol gasoline as it has the advantages of higher octane number, good antidetonating quality and lower carbon dioxide emissions.However, fuel ethanol development has been seriously restricted because of its high price as it is being produced mainly from grain. In the other hand, acetic acid production capacity in our country is continuously increasing. As a result, the price of acetic acid goes down dramatically. So, producing ethanol from acetic acid has been a feasible way. This article studied the ther-modynamics of methyl acetate hydrogenation to ethanol, and explored the characteristics of the reaction and methods to reduce the side reaction; Established the process in Aspen Plus to get the overall material balance, the operating conditions of the main equipment and product quality; The separation model was optimized and the main parameters were acquired; The theoretical stages was40; The reflux ratio was3.5; The feed stage was17; The ethanol mass fraction in bottom was99%; Established the relationship between cost and△Tmin and then found out the data of△Tmin was14.5℃when the total cost was minimum; Designed and op-timized the heat exchange network basing on pinch technology and the new heat exchange network can save41.3%of utilities.