Content area
Full text
Feature article
Keyword Chemical industry
Acetates are products frequently used in the chemical industry. They have a wide range of applications, especially as a solvent in the cellulose, paint, coating and rubber industry. Together with various partners, Sulzer Chemtech has developed processes for the synthesis of ethyl and butyl acetate, as well as for the hydrolysis of methyl acetate, and now offers this acetate technology for licensing. The key feature of the processes, for which patent protection has been applied, is a reactive distillation column.
Reactive distillation, i.e. the combination of chemical reaction and distillative product separation, offers several advantages in comparison with conventional processes, in which the reaction and product separation are done in series. Since the products are separated simultaneously from the reaction mixture, no chemical equilibrium can be established, and therefore the reaction velocity is maintained at a high rate. Consequently, reactive distillation is especially advantageous for equilibrium-- limited reactions. This also applies to processes for the production and hydrolysis of acetates. Furthermore, reactive distillation may facilitate the suppression of side reactions. In addition, the heat of reaction can be utilized for the mass transfer operation in a reactive distillation column. The capital investment and operating costs are therefore lower compared with the conventional processes. Sulzer Chemtech uses the structured catalytic packings Katapak-S or Katapak-SP for the reaction zone of the reactive distillation columns (see appendix) (Plate 1).
The standard scope of supply for the acetate technology, i.e. for the production and hydrolysis of acetates, provided by Sulzer Chemtech includes the process design, basic engineering, the supply of key equipment especially Katapak-S/-SP and distillation column internals as well as pilot tests and test runs (Plate 2).
Sulzer Chemtech licenses processes for the production of ethyl and butyl acetate, as well as for...