| | |
Summary: Design of Extraction Column Methanol Recovery System
for the TAME Reactive Distillation Process
Muhammad A. Al-Arfaj*
Chemical Engineering Department
King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran, 31261, Saudi Arabia
Abstract
This paper studies the synthesis and the design of methanol recovery system for TAME
reactive distillation process using extraction column with water as a solvent. The design
of the extraction column system has not been studied in the literature. The effect of
operating conditions such as solvent flowrate, extraction column temperature, and
number of equilibrium trays are studied. It is found that methanol could be recovered
completely from the hydrocarbon when 5 equilibrium trays in the extraction column are
used. The column is operated isothermally at an optimum temperature of 40o
C and the
optimum solvent to process ratio is found to be close to one. The recovery system
consists of a methanol distillation column which was optimized to recover methanol and
recycle water to the extraction column. Other auxiliary units are designed to
complement the overall process flowsheet.
Keywords: TAME, liquid extraction, methanol recovery
1. Introduction
|
