Continuous ethyl acetate production and hydrogenolysis thereof
AssigneeCelanese International Corporation
InventorsR. Jay Warner, Wei Qi, Tatiana Sonnenberg
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Abstract
Disclosed herein are processes for alcohol production by reducing an esterification product, such as ethyl acetate. The processes comprise esterifying acetic acid and an alcohol such as ethanol to produce an esterification product. The esterification product is reduced with hydrogen in the presence of a catalyst to obtain a crude reaction mixture comprising the alcohol, in particular ethanol, which may be separated from the crude reaction mixture. Ethyl acetate from the crude reaction mixture may be recovered as returned to assist in recovering the esterification product.
Claims22
A method of producing ethanol comprising:
- reacting acetic acid and ethanol in a first reaction zone;
- recovering and condensing vapors formed in the first reaction zone in a first distillation zone as a first distillate containing less than 15 wt. % water;
- separating at least a portion of the first distillate in a decanter into an organic phase comprising ethyl acetate and an aqueous phase comprising ethanol and water;
- reacting at least a portion of the organic phase with hydrogen in a second reaction zone to produce a crude reaction mixture;
- separating at least a portion of the crude reaction mixture in a second distillation zone into a second distillate comprising ethyl acetate and a second residue comprising ethanol;
- and
- directing at least a portion of the second distillate to the first distillation zone as an azeotroping agent.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.