Experimental Investigation, Process Design, and Optimization Analysis on the Production of Solketal in the Reactive Dividing Wall Column

This paper aims at intensifying the synthesis process of solketal by the reactive dividing wall column (RDWC) through experiments and simulation optimization and proposes a high-efficiency production process of solketal. A lab-scale RDWC was set up to verify the feasibility of synthesizing solketal in the RDWC. The effects of different operating parameters, such as reflux ratio, liquid split ratio, molar ratio of acetone to glycerol, feeding method, and the mass flow rate of side stream, on the experimental process have also been demonstrated and analyzed. Furthermore, an equilibrium-stage model developed by Aspen Plus and verified through comparison with experiments was used for the following simulation to optimize and analyze the solketal synthesis process. The response surface methodology (RSM) was employed to optimize the multiobjective problem in RDWC. As a result, a novel competitive solketal synthesis process with an upper partition position RDWC was put forward, which could obtain 99.78% conversion and 99.22 wt % solketal product purity at a 2:1 molar ratio of acetone to glycerol and had a lower energy consumption per unit mass product of 2509.2 J·g–1 compared with other processes. The achievements of this research provide a new way to produce solketal and a significant guideline for the industrial applications of solketal synthesis in the reactive dividing wall column.