Novel Process for Butyl Acetate Production via Membrane Reactor: A Comparative Study with the Conventional and Reactive Distillation Processes

Butyl acetate (BuAc) is widely used as a solvent in many applications, mainly the food and pharmaceutical industries. The conventional process for BuAc production both capital energy intensive. purification involves separation of from azeotropic mixture water n-butanol, which difficult to accomplish using simple distillation unit. In this study, membrane reactor (MR) via esterification n-butanol was investigated. MR Amberlyst-15 catalyst modeled validated with previously reported experimental data, good agreement achieved. ultimate conversion 92.0%, compared 69.8% reactor. This study first propose an intensified MR-based butyl production. developed rigorously simulated Aspen Plus annual plant capacity 92,500 metric tons BuAc. environmentally friendly regarding CO2 emissions, reduction 80% process. economic analysis shows payback period 2.7 years return on investment (ROI) 23.1%. promising technology that provides similar key benefits reactive (RD)