Kinetic-Thermodynamic Analysis of the Reactive Distillation Process of the Cyclohexene Hydration Using the Zeolite Catalyst

Reactive distillation could be utilized to produce cyclohexanol through the cyclohexene hydration. By means of highly active zeolite catalyst HZSM-5, the kinetic-thermodynamic analysis of this reactive distillation has been carried out to get the characteristics of the reactive distillation. Results from kinetic and thermodynamic analysis indicate that the optimal pressure of this reactive distillation process should be set to higher pressure such as 0.3 or 0.4 MPa. To avoid the recovery of cyclohexanol at the top of the column, an unreactive section should be allocated at the upper column. In addition, the inert component benzene is more unfavorable to the reactive distillation process in comparison with the inert cyclohexane.