Energy integration of multi-effect reactive distillation for benzyl chloride production

Based on the energy analysis of distillation column with side reactors (CSR) and refining tower (CSRRT) for benzyl chloride production, a new process with two reactive distillation stages was established. Using the steam latent heat of refining tower to heat the kettle of the first reactive distillation tower, a multi-effect reactive distillation (MERD) was proposed. Furthermore, using the reaction heat to heat the tray of the first reactive distillation tower, a multi-effect diabatic reactive distillation (MEDRD) was also investigated. The energy consumptions of the above three processes were compared under the same production requirement. The results showed that comparing with CSRRT, the energy consumption of MERD and MEDRD declined 16.8% and 33.7%, respectively.