**Section 4** Reactive Distillation **89 Chapter 6 91** Reactive Distillation: Modeling, Simulation, and Optimization *by Vandana Sakhre*

Preface

Distillation is one of the most used processes for industrial separation, and is responsible for a great part of energy consumption. The correct design and operation of a distillation column can lead to large savings of energy. Having sufficient knowledge to make an efficient column project and establish the best operational conditions needs experience and many tests. These types of tests can be very expensive, and is one of the reasons why it is justified to use process simulation tools, because with simulation tools various virtual tests and process changes can be evaluated at a reduced cost.

A mathematical model is necessary for making a simulation and consequently many simulations are necessary for the optimization of a process. However, the mathematical model must correctly represent the quantities and reflect the state of the studied system, so that simulation and optimization can succeed. During mathematical model construction an engineer must attempt to make the model simpler. This can be done without significant loss of capacity of system properties behavior.

The book is divided into four main sections. The first section contains the introductory chapter. The second section has two chapters dealing with the modeling of the distillation process using solar distillation and batch distillation. The third section has two chapters that discuss topics related to phase equilibrium modeling and simulation, very important steps of distillation process modeling. The last section deals with the modeling, simulation, and optimization of reactive distillation processes, a technique combining both reaction and separation in a single unit operation.

The importance of distillation can be reflected by the number of variations of the process, e.g., batch distillation, solar distillation, vacuum distillation, steam distillation, and fractional distillation. In some cases the mixture being distillated creates a problem in the separation process leading to modifications such as extractive distillation, azeotropic distillation, etc. Attempts to improve product quality can be done by the addition of, e.g., pump-around, side-stripper, etc. Energy saving can be attained by strategies such as vapor compression and vapor recompression. One of the most successful variants of distillation is reactive distillation (also known as reactive distillation with side reactors), a process intensification that has been applied successfully to lots of applications and has been revealed as a promising strategy for recent challenges. This book presents just a small part of the large scientific field involving modeling, simulation, and optimization of distillation.

**Vilmar Steffen**

Francisco Beltrão, Paraná, Brazil

Departamento Acadêmico de Engenharia Química, Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná,
