Phase Equilibria for Quaternary Mixtures in Esterification Reaction Systems

Abstract

This paper examines the effect of the simultaneous chemical and phase equilibrium on the conceptual design of reactive distillation processes. Esterification of acetic acid with methanol, ethanol and butanol are examined. Using commercial software, azeotropic points, residue curve maps and distillation line diagrams having been calculated. The analyzed systems have showed different behavior when phase equilibrium parameters and chemical equilibrium constants are changed. The methyl acetate system does not change the topological features of residue curve maps and distillation line diagrams. The ethyl acetate system and the butyl acetate system change the topological features of the graphs when different chemical equilibrium constants are used.