Bifurcation analysis for MTBE synthesis in a suspension catalytic distillation column

A rigorous bifurcation study is presented of methyl tert-butyl ether synthesis by suspension catalytic distillation (SCD). SCD is a new development of catalytic distillation (CD) in which fine catalyst particles are suspended in liquid, not only inherits advantages of CD but overcomes transfer limitations in catalyst bed. A complete equilibrium stage model is developed. Analysis results show that this system is sensitive to the operating parameters: the reflux ratio, the bottom flowrate, the methanol feed, the n-butane feed and the operation pressure, and the characteristic parameter for SCD: the solid/liquid separator ratio. The bifurcation diagram displays very intricate and highly nonlinear steady-state behavior, which can results in as many as seven steady-state solutions for identical column specifications. Especially, the results reveal that the superior column performance can be reached under practical operating conditions because the upper bound of the multiplicity range for the solid/liquid separation ratio is very small.