ISSN print edition: 0366-6352 ISSN electronic edition: 1336-9075 Registr. No.: MK SR 9/7 Published monthly

Hybrid process scheme for the synthesis of ethyl lactate: conceptual design and analysis

Piotr T. Mitkowski

Department of Chemical Engineering and Equipment, Poznań University of Technology, Pl. Marii Skłodowskiej-Curie 5, 60 965 Poznań, Poland

E-mail: piotr.mitkowski@put.poznan.pl

Abstract: Hybrid processes have received increased attention in the field of chemical and biochemical engineering because of their ability to overcome certain obstacles related to thermodynamics of the separation task to be carried out. Usually, in a hybrid process two processes are coupled; either reaction with separation or two different separation processes. In the design of such hybrid systems, the performance of each constituent element has to be taken into account, while their optimisation must account for their interdependency. In this paper, the methodology presented by Mitkowski et al. (2009a) is applied to design and analyse a hybrid process scheme for the synthesis of ethyl lactate. Generated hybrid process schemes have been validated through computer-aided simulations.

Keywords: hybrid process – process design – ethyl lactate – solvent selection

Full paper is available at www.springerlink.com.

DOI: 10.2478/s11696-011-0036-z

Chemical Papers 65 (4) 412–426 (2011)