Simulation, optimization and control of the process of synthesis of ethyl propionate by reactive distillation

This paper proposes the continuous production process of ethyl propionate by reactive distillation and the energy-saving heat pump reactive distillation process. The process is optimized with the goal of minimizing the total annual cost (TAC). In response to energy saving and emission reduction, the cost of CO2 emissions is considered in TAC. The results show that, compared with the conventional reactive distillation process, the CO2 emission cost of the heat pump reactive distillation process is reduced by 59.39%, and TAC is reduced by 17.09%, which shows that the heat pump reactive distillation process is more economical and more environmentally friendly. The dynamic control research of conventional reactive distillation and heat pump reactive distillation is carried out. The temperature control schemes CS1 and CS2 are respectively proposed, and the dynamic response of CS1 and CS2 under external disturbances is analyzed. The test results show that both CS1 and CS2 can simply and effectively control product quality, indicating that the heat pump reactive distillation process also has practical advantages in terms of automatic control. The above conclusions provide the basis for the design and implementation of the continuous production of ethyl propionate, as well as a reference for solving similar problems.