Design Assessment of Flow Reactors for the Production of 1,000,000 tons per year of Ethyl Acetate from Esterification Reaction of Acetic Acid and Ethyl Alcohol

Abstract

The economic importance of ethyl acetate as a feed material utilized in industries for the production of plastics, solvents, rubber, inks and other useful chemicals utilized domestically and industrially necessitated this research as it considered the design assessment of flow reactors (Continuous Stirred Tank Reactor and Plug Flow Reactor) for the production of 1,000,000 tons
per year of ethyl acetate from the esterification of acetic acid and ethyl alcohol in the presence of an acid catalyst. The flow reactors design models were developed from the first principle of mass and energy balance and the steady state performance models were simulated in MATLAB at same initial feed and operating temperature of 298.15 k and 343.15 k with fractional conversion range of
XA . The design assessment of the flow reactors performance was based on the yield of ethyl acetate and energy efficiency of the process. At maximum conversion of 0.95, the CSTR and PFR volume was 80.880 m3 and 15.277 m3 respectively with a percentage difference of 34.1 % while the quantity of heat generated per unit volume of the CSTR and PFR was 158.526 j/sm3 and
839.254 j/sm3 respectively with a percentage difference of 34.1 %. The comparative analysis of the design results showed that more yield of ethyl acetate is produced in the CSTR as shown in the reactor volume while the PFR performed better in terms of energy efficiency and conservation as shown in the quantity of heat generated. The study showed that both reactors (CSTR and PFR)
are suitable reaction media for esterification process but the choice of reactor depends on the designer’s need.