Production of Ethyl Levulinate via Reactive Distillation
Abstract:
The purpose of this project is to design a plant for production of ethyl levulinate by esterification of levulinic acid with ethanol via reactive distillation. A vapour permeation membrane within the reactive distillation column enhances reaction conversion and reduces energy intensity of water-ethanol separation. 99.4% reaction conversion can be attained using this method. Products and unreacted reactants are further separated with downstream fractional distillation, allowing unreacted reactants to be recycled and the water by-product to be used for utility streams.
Students:
Eric Boerboom, Karlen D'Mello, Andrei Dobre, Alex Lee
