Process for equilibrium-limited reactions

Abstract

A process for conducting equilibrium-limited chemical reactions that produce water as a reaction product. Specifically, a process that uses a reactive chromatography unit (RCU) to improve the efficiency of equilibrium-limited reactions, such as a process for reacting glycol ether (GE) and carboxylic acid (CA) to form water and glycol ether ester (GEE). The process includes supplying GE and CA to the RCU, where one of either the CA or the GE is in a stoichiometric deficit relative to the other reactant. The reactant in the stoichiometric deficit reacts in the presence of the catalyst in the RCU to form a mixture of GEE and water. A raffinate is separated from the mixture using the separation media of the RCU contains at least the GEE. An extract separated from the mixture using the separation media of the RCU contains at least the water.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.