Design and control of a continuous multi-product process with product distribution switching: Sustainable manufacture of furfuryl alcohol and 2-methylfuran

•A process to produce both furfuryl alcohol and 2-methylfuran are developed.•Product distributions by reactor coolant flow rate adjustment.•A single distillation column with two three-phase decanters can produce high-purity products.•A proposed control structure can effectively reject disturbances and also have transition smoothly between product distributions.

A process for the sustainable simultaneous manufacture of furfuryl alcohol (FOL) and 2-methylfuran (2-MF) is designed using commercial process simulation software. The process is designed to produce 50 kmol/hr of product, and the nominal (base case) design produces 40 kmol/h of furfuryl alcohol and 10 kmol/h of 2-methylfuran. The process is designed to permit the adjustment of the product distribution from 35/15 to 45/5 furfuryl alcohol/2-methylfuran. Energy consumption is reduced by employing a feed-effluent heat exchanger and employing a 3-phase distillate receiver at the top of the distillation column and refluxing only the organic phase. Control studies suggest that a simple decentralized control structure without controller parameter scheduling can accommodate changes in the production rate and feed composition and can also transition smoothly between product distributions.