Design and Control of a Vapor-Phase Conventional Process and Reactive Distillation Process for Cumene Production

The economic optimum design and plantwide control of two alternative processes for cumene manufacture, a conventional process using a vapor-phase packed bed reactor and a reactive distillation (RD) process, are compared in this work. In terms of the total annualized cost (TAC), the RD process is a significant 47% cheaper than the conventional process. This is attributed to the lower capital and energy costs due to process integration. The RD process yield to desired product is also higher. Effective decentralized plantwide regulatory control structures exhibiting good load rejection characteristics are developed for the two processes. A two-point temperature inferential control structure on the RD column is found to work well. The RD process thus appears a promising alternative to the conventional process.