Analysis of direct synthesis of dimethyl carbonate from methanol and CO2 intensified by in-situ hydration-assisted reactive distillation with side reactor

Cover of Chemical Engineering and ProcessingAuthors: Xutao HU¹, Hongye CHENG¹, Xueqing KANG², Lifang CHEN¹, Xigang YUAN³, Zhiwen QI

Affiliations: ¹Max Planck Partner Group at the State Key Laboratory of Chemical Engineering, School of Chemical Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai, 200237, China; ²National Engineering Research Center for Polyurethane, Wanhua Chemical Group Company Limited, Yantai, 264006, China; ³State Key Laboratory of Chemical Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072, China

Reference (APA): Hu, X., Cheng, H., Kang, X., Chen, L., Yuan, X., & Qi, Z. (2018). Analysis of direct synthesis of dimethyl carbonate from methanol and CO2intensified by in-situ hydration-assisted reactive distillation with side reactor. Chemical Engineering and Processing – Process Intensification, 129, 109–117. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cep.2018.05.007

Abstract: “A reactive distillation (RD) process with a gas-phase side reactor potentially promoted by in-situ hydration is proposed to overcome the thermodynamic restriction of direct synthesis of dimethyl carbonate (DMC) from methanol and CO2. A homogeneous RD model with fixed bed reactor is established in gPROMS platform. The feasibility of the process for direct DMC synthesis is analyzed. The important configuration parameters (e.g., side withdrawal stage and recycle stage) and operating conditions (e.g., reflux ratio and feed ratio) of the RD process are systematically studied…”

Comments: within gPROMS Model Builder, the authors have developed a homogenous reactive distillation model with gas-phase side reactors. Basic physical properties of pure compounds are obtained in gPROMS by creating links to external Aspen Properties via CAPE-OPEN. The authors mention that they are using a UNIQUAC thermodynamic model. From the published text, it is unclear if any mixture property was retrieved by the gPROMS model through the CAPE-OPEN thermodynamic socket of gPROMS. The authors are not mentioning the need to export a CAPE-OPEN Property Package from Aspen Properties before being able to call on that package from within gPROMS.