Acetone Recovery Using Batch Distillation (original) (raw)

Design and Assembly of Acetone Distillation System

2019

Acetone and other volatile solvents are often utilized in industrial applications. Acetone is mainly used for industrial cleaning when lab material is contaminated with undesired residue. After the acetone is used to clean lab equipment, often times companies discard the solvents at a large expense. This project focuses on creating a small scale acetone distillation system to purify these contaminated solvents in order to reuse them. This paper will outline the research, design , and assembly of this system. The group assembled the contaminated acetone distillation system and provided recommendations for improvements to the system that can create a more efficient and commercialized distillation unit.

Theoretical Assessment of Dilute Acetone Removal from Aqueous Streams by Membrane Distillation

Separation Science and Technology, 1999

The removal of dilute acetone from aqueous streams by air-gap membrane distillation is theoretically assessed. A combined heat and mass transfer model that includes temperature and concentration polarization effects as well as temperature and concentration variation along the module length is employed to predict the flux and selectivity of acetone under the relevant process operating conditions. Three mass transfer solutions are heeded in the model: the exact Stefan-Maxwell, the approximate Stefan-Maxwell, and the Fickian binary solution. Although, behaviorally, the three solutions exhibit the same trends, quantitatively some differences exist between the Fickian-based solution on the one hand and the Stefan-Maxwell solutions on the other hand. The exact and approximate solutions of the Stefan-Maxwell equation showed a similar capability in predicting the process achievement under all process conditions. Predictions showed that acetone selectivity and flux were strongly dependent on feed conditions and air-gap width.

Extractive Distillation of Acetone/Methanol Mixture Using Water as Entrainer

Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, 2009

The acetone-methanol extractive distillation using water as an entrainer was simulated on Aspen Plus software package using rigorous methods. Calculation of the vapor-liquid equilibrium for the ternary system was done by the UNIQUAC model according to the experimental results obtained in a previous work. The effects of the solvent to feed molar ratio, reflux ratio, feed stage, feed solvent stage, and solvent feed temperature were studied to obtain the best design of the extractive distillation column with minimal energy requirements. The most appropriate configuration is 52 theoretical stages. The best binary mixture and entrainer feeding stages were obtained at 48 and 22 respectively with a solvent to feed molar and reflux ratio of 2.0 and 5.0, respectively. The simulation results show the effect of the main variables on the extractive distillation process.

Improved Design and Efficiency of the Extractive Distillation Process for Acetone–Methanol with Water

Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, 2015

We show how thermodynamic insight can be used to improve the design of a homogeneous extractive distillation process, and we define an extractive efficiency indicator to compare the optimality of different designs. The case study is related to the separation of the acetone−methanol minimum boiling azeotrope with water. The process flow sheet includes both the extractive distillation column and the entrainer regeneration column. Insight from analysis of the ternary residue curve map and isovolatility curves shows that a lower pressure reduces the minimal amount of entrainer needed and increases the relative volatility of acetone−methanol in the extractive column. A 0.6 atm pressure is selected to enable the use of cheap cooling water in the condenser. We optimize the entrainer flow rate, adjusting both column reflux ratios and feed locations, by minimizing the total energy consumption per product unit. The total annualized cost (TAC) is calculated for all processes. Double-digit savings in energy consumption and in TAC are achieved compared to literature values. We then propose a novel efficiency indicator that describes the ability per tray of extractive section to discriminate the desired product between the top and the bottom of the extractive section. Shifting the feed trays' locations improves the efficiency of the separation, even when less entrainer is used.

Removal of acetic acid from water by catalytic distillation. Part 1: Experimental studies

The Canadian Journal of Chemical Engineering, 1999

Catalytic distillation experiments were carried out in a 100 mm diameter column for the removal of dilute acetic acid from water. The column was installed with a novel internal composed of alternating a dualflow tray and a catalyst basket. Amberlyst 15 was used as a catalyst to accelerate the esterification of acetic acid with methanol. The effects of various operating parameters on the acid removal were investigated. For the feed which contains 2.5 to 9.9 wt% of acetic acid in water, more than 50 wt% of acetic acid can be recovered as methyl acetate in the 1.5 meter high test column. On a realise des experiences de distillation catalytique dans une colonne de 100 mm de diametre en vue du retrait de I'acide acetique dilue dam I'eau. On a installe dans la colonne un nouveau systeme interne consistant a alterner un plateau a double ecoulement et un panier de catalyseur. L' Amberlyst 15 a ete utilise comme catalyseur pour accelerer I'esterification de I'acide acetique avec le methanol. Les effets des divers parametres de fonctionnement sur le retrait de I'acide ont ete etudies. Pour une alimentation qui contient entre 2,5 et 9,9% en poids d'acide acetique dans I'eau, plus de 50% en poids d'acide acetique peut &tre recupere comme acetate de methyle dans une colonne d'essai de 1,5 metre de haut.

Clean technology for acetone absorption and recovery

Separation and Purification Technology, 2001

This paper concerns the removal of acetone from air by absorption in water in a packed column and recovery of acetone from water by pervaporation from its dilute aqueous solution. The measurements were carried out in a laboratory scale absorption column and a laboratory scale pervaporation unit. The absorption with Sulzer-packing was a suitable process for the removal of acetone vapours: a satisfactory removal efficiency was achieved. Using a CMG OM-10 pervaporation membrane from Celfa high fluxes and separation factors were obtained for the removal of acetone from water. Models were formulated to determine the most effective operating parameters which minimize the costs. According to the experiments and calculations the proposed absorption-pervaporation system can be technically feasible and economically attractive method for vapour absorption and recovery.

Simulation and Process Integration of Clean Acetone Plant

Chemical engineering transactions, 2014

Acetone is produced worldwide by cumene hydroperoxide process. Alternatively, free of aromatic compounds acetone is obtained by isopropyl alcohol (IPA) dehydrogenation. The feedstock is azeotropic mixture IPA-water (Luyben, 2011). This contribution aims to evaluate process feasibility both in terms of reaction engineering and separation by distillation. Rational use of energy is based on process integration A process flowsheet with better performance is proposed. The dehydrogenation reaction is endothermic with number of moles increase. Higher temperature and decreased IPA partial pressure using inert (water) are favourable. Reaction kinetics in vapour phase is simulated in Aspen HYSYS ® with LangmuirHinshelwood-Hougen-Watson (LHHW) model, considering both direct reaction and reverse reaction terms, based on experimental data (Lokras, 1970). Such more realistic model is not considered in other papers (Luyben, 2011). The chemical reactor is simulated as an ideal CSTR. High volatile a...

Recovery of dilute acetic acid through esterification in a reactive distillation column

Catalysis Today, 2000

The recovery of acetic acid from its dilute aqueous solutions is a major problem in both petrochemical and fine chemical industries. The conventional methods of recovery are azeotropic distillation, simple distillation and liquid-liquid extraction. Physical separations such as distillation and extraction suffer from several drawbacks. The esterification of an aqueous solution (30%) of acetic acid with n-butanol/iso-amyl alcohol is a reversible reaction. As excess of water is present in the reaction mixture, the conversion is greatly restricted by the equilibrium limitations. The esters of acetic acid, namely, n-butyl acetate and iso-amyl acetate, have a wide range of applications. In view of the appreciable value of these esters, the present work was directed towards recovery of 30% acetic acid by reaction with n-butanol and iso-amyl alcohol in a reactive distillation column (RDC) using macroporous ion-exchange resin, Indion 130, as a catalyst bed, confined in stainless steel wire cages. Experiments were conducted in order to achieve an optimum column configuration for the synthesis of n-butyl acetate/iso-amyl acetate in an RDC. The effect of various parameters, e.g. total feed flowrate, length of catalytic section, reflux ratio, mole ratio of the reactants, location of feed points and effect of recycle of water were studied.