Title: Control of a reactive distillation process: MTBE synthesis

Authors: Amiya K. Jana

Addresses: Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology – Kharagpur, Kharagpur, West Bengal 721 302, India

Abstract: This paper explores the closed-loop control performance of a heterogeneously catalysed reactive distillation process for the synthesis of methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE). Two fresh reactant feed streams, namely methanol (MeOH) and mixed butenes, are introduced in the column. Distillate containing mostly n-butene (NB) and bottoms enriched with MTBE are collected from the process. Obviously, the stoichiometric amounts of fresh feeds are desired. The proposed control algorithm uses a composition analyser in the reactive section of the column to detect the inventory of MeOH so that fresh MeOH feed rate can be adjusted to satisfy the reaction stoichiometry. In addition, the closed-loop configuration includes two product compositions, two liquid levels, column pressure and fresh mixed butenes rate control loops. The developed control strategy provides tight control of MTBE product composition in presence of large disturbance and measurement lag.

Keywords: reactive distillation; MTBE; closed-loop control; Aspen simulator; methyl tert-butyl ether; simulation; methanol; mixed butenes.

DOI: 10.1504/IJAAC.2011.037380

International Journal of Automation and Control, 2011 Vol.5 No.1, pp.61 - 78

Received: 07 Sep 2009
Accepted: 31 Jan 2010
Published online: 17 Apr 2015 *

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