STUDY ON CATALYTIC DISTILLATION PROCESSES .2. SIMULATION OF CATALYTIC DISTILLATION PROCESSES - QUASI-HOMOGENEOUS AND RATE-BASED MODEL

In this article, the rate-based model for the design and simulation of separation processes is modified so as to be suitable for the catalytic distillation process where the column consists of three parts: a rectifying and a stripping section with trays and a packed reactive section with a specially arranged structure. The correlations given in Part I were employed for computations of mass transfer coefficients in the catalytic packing bed using the Newton-Raphson technology to solve the model equations. In order to accelerate the convergence, a better method for obtaining the initial values of iteration variables, that particularly suit this complicated problem, was advanced for the rate-based model. Using the kinetic model by Wang et al., the catalytic distillation process for the manufacture of methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) was simulated. The results are in agreement with that from practice.