Proposição de processo otimizado para a produção de solketal a partir de glicerol

Abstract

The main objective of this work was to increase the added value of glycerol from the biodiesel production process, of which it is a co-product, from the chemical reaction of ketalization, aiming at the production of solketal in a reactive distillation column. As a basis in experimental data for computational analysis, the study by Nanda et al. (2014b) was chosen, from which an algorithm in Python language was applied to obtain the kinetic constants of the reaction. As a computational tool, the Aspen Plus software was used in simulations, sensitivity analysis and optimization. As a way to validate the methodology of this work, a comparison was initially made with the results obtained by the study by Nanda et al. (2014b). The results of the simulations performed as a way to validate the methodology of this study show similarity with those of Nanda et al. (2014b), validating the procedure of this study. Thus, making use of the concept of process intensification, the operation of a reactive distillation column was simulated. The calculated kinetic constants were then inserted into the simulator and applied in a column of reactive distillation, which aims to make this process even more attractive because in it the chemical reaction and the separation happen in the same integrated equipment. With a base configuration, some sensitivity analyses were performed varying the distillate/feed ratio, condenser pressure, reflux ratio and acetone flow in the bottom stream of the column to determine the best operating ranges of the equipment. The ranges determined by the sensitivity analysis were later used in the process optimization step. After the limits were defined the optimization step began, in this step Matlab was used to vary all 4 parameters chosen. At the end, the optimal values for each parameter were found, resulting in a glycerol conversion of approximately 98%.