| Abstract: | Catalytic distillation (CD) is a process where reaction and separation take place simultaneously in a distillation column. Recently, a new CD process for the aldol condensation of acetone to diacetone alcohol and mesityl oxide was developed in our laboratory. Owing to the unique structure used to support catalysts in the CD column, mass transfer data are needed to model the CD process. The mass transfer behaviour in the CD column has been studied both for the reactive and non-reactive sections of the column in our laboratory. Based on the experimental results, general correlations for the mass transfer coefficients have been established and the 95% confidence intervals for the associated parameters were obtained. The experimental results indicated that the catalyst bags did not play a significant role for the separation between the vapour and liquid phases. The mass transfer correlations developed in this study have been used successfully to model the CD process for the aldol condensation of acetone carried out in our laboratory. |
