Isoamyl propionate production by reactive distillation

•Esterification of isoamyl alcohol with propionic acid was investigated.•Isoamyl propionate production via reactive distillation was studied.•Conceptual design and simulations of a reactive distillation column for isoamyl propionate production were developed.•Pilot scale reactive distillation experiments for isoamyl propionate production were carried out.•Complete conversion and pure isoamyl propionate can be produced via reactive distillation.

In this work, the production of isoamyl propionate by esterification of propionic acid with isoamyl alcohol, via continuous reactive distillation was studied. Conceptual design of the reactive distillation system was conceived from the construction of conventional and reactive residue curves maps at 101.32 kPa. The process was modeled using an equilibrium-stage approach and simulated with Aspen Plus® 7.3. Experimental evaluation of the process was carried out in a 8 cm ID × 6 m tall pilot-scale glass reactive-column, using Amberlyst® 70 ion exchange resin as catalyst contained in a KATAPAK® SP-11 structured packing. Reasonably good agreement between experimental and simulation results was observed. For a single equimolar feed, propionic acid conversions over 96% and isoamyl propionate purities over 98 wt.% in the bottoms product were obtained. Results obtained in this work can be used for scale-up studies of an industrial reactive distillation operation as a possible alternative to upgrade isoamyl alcohol from the bio-ethanol industry.