Design of A PFR For the Production of 1,000,000 Tons Per Year of Ethyl Acetate from Esterification of Acetic Acid and Ethyl Alcohol

The research considered the design or size of a plug flow reactor for the production of 1,000,000 tons of ethyl acetate per year from the esterification of acetic acid and ethyl alcohol in the presence of an acid catalyst. The PFR design models for volume, height, diameter, space time, space velocity, quantity of heat generated, quantity of heat generated per unit volume of the reactor as well as the temperature effect models were developed using the conservation principle of mass and energy at steady state operation of the reactor.  The developed models were simulated using MATLAB at initial feed and operating temperature of 299.830k and 343.15k respectively and fractional conversion variation between 0 to 0.95 at an interval of 0.05. At a maximum conversion of 0.95, the PFR size specification for volume, height, diameter, space time, space velocity, quantity of heat generated and the quantity of heat generated per unit volume of the reactor was 15.2774m³, 4.2691m, 2.1346m, 2.9956sec., 0.3338sec^-1, 12821.5800j/s and 839.2536j/sm³ respectively. The effect of the operating parameters on the performance or functional parameters of the reactor are presented in profiles as shown in figure 2 to 12 and the profile behaviour or trend were in agreement with process behaviour of PFR steady state operation in various literatures. The research have shown that in order to ensure sustainability and continuous production of ethyl acetate to meet the global demand of the economic and viable product, the plug flow reactor have demonstrated a good performance characteristics as a reacting media for the esterification process especially in the energy efficiency of the process as well as the product yield.

Esterification, ethyl acetate, plug flow reactor, design, MATLAB Simulation

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