Optimal design and performance analyses of the glycerol ether production process using a reactive distillation column
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Author list: Simasatitkul L., Kaewwisetkul P., Wiyaratn W., Assabumrungrat S., Arpornwichanop A.
Publisher: Elsevier
Publication year: 2016
Journal: Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry (1226-086X)
Volume number: 43
Start page: 93
End page: 105
Number of pages: 13
ISSN: 1226-086X
Languages: English-Great Britain (EN-GB)
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Abstract
The use of glycerol from biodiesel industries to produce high value-added products would increase the competitive potential of biodiesel producers. The present work investigates the production of glycerol ethers, a diesel and biodiesel additive. A single reactive distillation is proposed to overcome the low glycerol conversion and product yield that limit a conventional process. The theoretical performance of the reactive distillation is analyzed taking glycerol conversion and the glycerol ether yield into consideration. The simulation results show that the glycerol and mono-tert-butyl ether of glycerol are completely used in the reactive stages and thus, the recycle section by which glycerol and the mono-tert-butyl ether of glycerol are recovered is unessential. The parametric analysis for the reactive distillation is reported. Based on the process economic analysis from a total annual cost, the optimal reactive distillation configuration for glycerol ether production consists of two rectifying stages, eight reactive stages and one stripping stage. ฉ 2016 The Korean Society of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry
Keywords
Glycerol ether, Parametric analysis, Total annual cost
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