Performance of Reactive Distillation Columns with Multiple Reactive Sections for the Disproportionation of Trichlorosilane to Silane

With reference to the disproportionation of trichlorosilane to silane, a three-stage consecutive reversible reaction with a rather unfavorable reaction kinetics, in-depth comparison in steady-state performance is performed between the column with a single reactive section and those with multiple reactive sections, adopting the equal number of trays and the equal amount of catalyst. The reactive distillation column with multiple reactive sections appears to be considerably superior in the aspect of economic advantages to the reactive distillation columns with single reactive section and these strengths originate essentially from the additional degrees of freedom resulted from the arrangement of multiple reactive sections in process synthesis and design. Arrangement of side-condensers is also examined towards the columns with multiple reactive sections and the outcomes reveal the thermodynamic rational to adopt multiple reactive sections in process development. Although these findings are derived from the specific case study chosen, it should be regarded as the significant potential for analyzing the reactive distillation columns with intricate multiple reversible reactions and separating intricate multiple components.