Semicontinuous process intensification: Combining reactive extraction, reactive distillation, and binary distillation for production of 1,3-propanediol

A novel semicontinuous process that combines the functionalities of liquid-liquid reactive extraction, reactive distillation, and binary distillation into a single packed column is described. Rigorous simulations demonstrate the feasibility of the operation without flooding, and the use of only one column can lead to significant capital cost savings. This is an abstract of a paper presented at the AIChE Annual Meeting (Salt Lake City, UT 11/4-9/2007).