Print Email Facebook Twitter Design and control of novel reaction–separation–recycle processes for the production of 4-hydroxybutyl acrylate Title Design and control of novel reaction–separation–recycle processes for the production of 4-hydroxybutyl acrylate Author Moraru, Mihai Daniel (Hexion, Pernis) Kiss, A.A. (TU Delft ChemE/Product and Process Engineering; The University of Manchester) Bildea, Costin Sorin (Politehnica University of Bucharest) Date 2022 Abstract Two chemistry routes are known for 4-hydroxybutyl acrylate production: the direct esterification of acrylic acid with 1,4-butanediol, and the transesterification of methyl acrylate with 1,4-butanediol. However, very scarce information in the literature is available about industrial production, or design and operation of production processes. In this study, we propose three novel reaction–separation–recycle processes for 4-hydroxybutyl acrylate production by direct esterification based on solid catalyst. Use of solid catalysts may avoid well-known issues of the liquid catalysts like recovery and re-use of the catalyst, difficult product recovery, and corrosion. Due to the nature of the chemical system and reactions conditions, the chemistry is not 100% selective towards the acrylate, important amounts of diacrylate by-product being formed. All processes use fixed-bed tubular reactors to perform the reactions and distillation-based equipment to achieve the required separations. While all processes have a similar separation sequence, each has its key particularities: the RSR-A process accepts the loss of reactants due to formation and elimination from the process of the diacrylate, RSR-B converts the diacrylate into its reactants in the esterification reactor, while RSR-C converts the diacrylate in a dedicated hydrolysis reactor. A key element in the separation sequence is the use of pressure-swing distillation to make the difficult split of the alcohol/acrylate/diacrylate ternary mixture. All processes are capital and energy intensive. The economic analysis shows that the RSR-A process has the most favorable economics: a total annualized cost of 2 million $/y and a specific annualized cost of 100 $/t of product. A control structure for the RSR-C process is presented, the dynamic simulations showing its efficiency in rejecting various disturbances. Subject Acrylic acidEsterificationHydrolysisPressure-swing distillation To reference this document use: http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:069457a8-c5bf-4f5a-9dc3-2cad165832c4 DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cherd.2021.11.040 Embargo date 2023-07-01 ISSN 0263-8762 Source Chemical Engineering Research & Design, 177, 801-814 Bibliographical note Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository ‘You share, we take care!’ – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public. Part of collection Institutional Repository Document type journal article Rights © 2022 Mihai Daniel Moraru, A.A. Kiss, Costin Sorin Bildea Files PDF 1_s2.0_S0263876221005013_main.pdf 3.84 MB Close viewer /islandora/object/uuid:069457a8-c5bf-4f5a-9dc3-2cad165832c4/datastream/OBJ/view