Steady State Multiplicity In The Reactive Distillation Of Methyl Tert-Butyl Ether (MTBE) Synthesis Stability Analysis
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Date
2021-06-01
Authors
Adnan, Fietriey Atiera Shahida
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Universiti Sains Malaysia
Abstract
Reactive distillation (RD) has garnered a lot of attention due to its tremendous
potential for process intensification. Due to that, the methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE)
synthesis in reactive distillation (RD) column was studied and an equilibrium model
was developed by using Aspen Plus V10. The proposed model was validated by
comparing the simulation results with the published simulation results from the
literature. The model obtained high isobutene conversion and MTBE purity for
heterogenous catalyzed system, which is desirable in the industrial MTBE production
process. The comparisons on temperature profiles and liquid composition profile of
RD column also yielded promising results. The proposed model can be used as a tool
for the analysis of multiple steady state in RD column of MTBE. It is concluded that
only single steady state of MTBE synthesis that can be found when using the same
column configuration in Aspen Plus V10. Sensitivity analysis is conducted to study
the influence of reflux ratio on the isobutene conversion. From this analysis, it was
shown that MTBE purity and isobutene conversion were maximum at reflux ratio of
7. Stable reactive distillation of MTBE can be achieved since the equilibrium
modelling has developed higher steady state solution.