Simulation of Reactive Distillation Process for Monosilane Production via Redistribution of Trichlorosilane

The reactive distillation process for producing high purity monosilane via trichlorosilane redistribution reaction was simulated. Rigorous RadFrac block was employed in Aspen Plus simulation package. Accurate results could be given when the chemical kinetics was taken into account in the equilibrium stage model. A single column process was used for the verification of previous studies. The results showed that 99.9% purity monosilane could be achieved in the reactive distillation. A pumparound block was employed to reduce the condenser duty with inexpensive coolant. The effects of operating pressure, feed stage location, liquid holdup per stage and pumparound location were also investigated. The energy consumption was limited, but the refrigerant temperature was too low, which is the fatal disadvantage. Therefore, a double columns process was developed to increase the condenser temperature. The simulation results demonstrated that a reasonable temperature could be achieved by varying the recycle stream location.