| Reactive distillation has received considerable interest in recent years due to its advantages of reduced capital and operating costs, and greater product yields. The application receiving most attention is the synthesis of methyl tert-butyl ether, from isobutene and methanol, because of the subsequent use of methyl tert-butyl ether as an octane enhancing additive in reformulated gasoline.; Simple distillation and simple reactive distillation, while not of practical importance in the chemical engineering industry, provide important information on the performance and behaviour of their continuous distillation counterparts. The objective of this thesis is to review and critically analyze the existing literature for simple distillation and simple reactive distillation theory and to demonstrate the utility of this theory when applied to continuous conventional and reactive distillation.; Recently, a differential equation model has been developed using constant molal overflow assumptions for the rectifying and stripping sections of a single feed reactive distillation column. However, this model formulation has only been applied to the simplest of examples where the molar liquid flow rates remain constant throughout the column. In this thesis, the differential equation model is applied to both a hypothetical ideal reactive distillation column and the methyl tert-butyl ether synthesis. Through these ternary systems in which the molar liquid flow rates vary across the column due to the liquid phase reaction, an iterative solution algorithm is developed.; The study of the methyl tert-butyl ether synthesis system also further enhances the understanding of the applicability of this system to a catalytic distillation configuration. |
